Coopers Ginger Beer Review

[jobby]

Made the coopers ginger beer just before xmas and used 1kg of brewing sugar and brewed as per instructions, bottled all this after a week and as its ginger beer i didnt expect it to clear which it hasnt but the taste is very nice and quite sharp too , found it a bit sulphur sort of smell at first but this soon goes, not a strong drink at only 2.5% but very refreshing over ice after a hard days work :

 

[Darcey]

My LHBS accidentally labled a batch of tins at £1.75, I pointed this out to the assistant who said that was the price, so I purchased a tin on a whim! Luckily SWMBO likes several commercial ginger beers so that was the aim.

I fermented using 100% sugar as stated on the pack to produce the alcoholic version using Nottingham yeast @20c for 3 weeks. I racked directly in to the Cornie Keg and carbonated to 2.5Vol/CO2. After a week of carbonation I tasted a sample and was surprised not to find the coopers 'homebrew twang' that I have had from immature beers I have tasted from the coopers range. I can only put this down to the reduced amount of malt extract in the beer and added flavourings and sweeteners this 'beer' enjoys.

The beer poured cloudy, with a nice tan colour, poor head retention but still nice and fizzy. This beer benefits from a good level of carbonation for the style. I was easily compare this to Crabbies Ginger beer in flavour but not appearance. SWMBO is very happy with this at this early stage. I am going to take it off draught and see if some maturation improves the flavour. My personal critisim is the level of sweeteners added it is JUST enough to make it noticeably too sweet giving a slight dry flavour which really should be counter acted by a strong ginger aroma and flavour which is somewhat missing. Dont get my wrong this beer is gingery but I think more aroma and flavour rather than ginger spice is required.

A very good kit especially for beginners eager to try brews perhaps too early. If you want to make something that matures quickly and is very easy to make and drink then its 100% thumbs up. If you have had trouble waiting for other beers to mature before trying brew one of these to keep your hands off your other beers! Also SWMBO is happy too!

As always i'll return with a verdict in afew weeks time and perhaps a picture!
For now..
D

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Ive done this kit a few f times and I like it. Its not "Crabbies" but still very nice. I found it best if you brew slightly stronger than manufacturers recommendation and add a splash of lemonade when drinking.
P.S. Its designed to be cloudy, so dont worry

 

[Cussword]

I have to say, I made it once &, although I've brewed a few times, I didn't get it right :x
Not touched it since :nono:

 

[johnnyboy1965]

I have to say, I made it once &, although I've brewed a few times, I didn't get it right :x
Not touched it since :nono:

What didnt you get right ?

 

[Cussword]

Tasted foul :sick:

Believe me, I did everything right, I've made alcoholic Ginger beer from scratch, but that was not nice :nono:

 

[Darcey]

Its not "Crabbies" but still very nice.

Indeed its not a Crabbies and buyers should be aware of this but it was the closest commercial example. I also find Crabbies too sweet, the obvious comparison is the clarity. Coopers IS cloudy and should be! I very much doubt a blind tasting between the two would show a 'homebrew' beer to an average drinker.

Believe me, I did everything right, I've made alcoholic Ginger beer from scratch, but that was not nice :nono:

I have made home made ginger beer and 8 months on 40 of the 43 bottles remain. Its horrid yet is one of the biggest forum topics on this forum....

 

[daryl_crossley]

I have made home made ginger beer and 8 months on 40 of the 43 bottles remain. Its horrid yet is one of the biggest forum topics on this forum....

Your not kidding... I gave 37 bottles away out of the 40 I had, We both agreed its probably similar to licking moldy wallpaper :sick:

 

[Essex_Lad]

Think I will crack one of these open tomorrow, will report back with my findings.

 

[BeerEagle]

For some reason the guys in the USA can't get this. Something to do with an ingredient which is not approved by the FDA. Ooer!

 

[gsidford]

I did this a year or so ago and found that the overriding taste was of artificial sweetener :sick: . It has mellowed with age a bit and is more drinkable now, but I won't be doing another.

 

[Essex_Lad]

just cracked one open that has been in the bottle for nearly 4 weeks.

Not too bad and even the mrs likes it (not sure if that's good or bad as that's less brew for me)

Would do this again

 

[Shanesfords]

i made this last year the woman in the home brew shop said its better than crabbies id have to disagree not enough ginger for me tasted like artificial sweetners i left it in bottles in the shed for three months and its still nasty i wont be making this again

 

[samurailord]

I made this last year and left it to mature.

I tried a few bottles straight away, and enjoyed them - plenty of ginger flavour, and a light sparkle.

Just having another as I type - much more rounded flavours now, still nice.

Got 5 x 1.5L bottles of this left - I had forgotten all about them until I read this :)

Andy

 

[oldstout]

Hmmmmmm..... :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

A thought provoking thread that has deffo made me think twice about a homemade ginger beer for the summer :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

I was contemplating a 'from scratch' brew, looked at kits, and now I'm not convinced about either :wha: :wha: :wha:


What if you were to tweak a kit like Darcey tried and added fresh ginger root and powder :wha: :wha:

Really dunno whether to bother now, the thought of cleaning and bottling 40 pints and then have 39 sit unused is too daunting for me to contemplate - unless anyone can convince me otherwise I think I may stay clear now.

:hmm: :hmm:

:

 

[shearclass]

read the many many good reviews on the 'fiery ginger beer' thread for an alternative view.

I just bought this kit to do for my sister's birthday. I am tempted to grate up a bit of ginger, boil it up, then add this to the 'wort' to make it hotter.

 

[oldstout]

read the many many good reviews on the 'fiery ginger beer' thread for an alternative view.

I just bought this kit to do for my sister's birthday. I am tempted to grate up a bit of ginger, boil it up, then add this to the 'wort' to make it hotter.

I have read the other thread - that's why I'm undecided :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

:lol:

 

[Darcey]

Personally I wont be making the Fiery Ginger Beer again. It was insipid gingerly water, a waste of good ginger / brewing space. The coopers is not perfect but its much more drinkable. Next time I am going to throw it in with an IPA kit and see what happens.

 

[lovelldr]

Personally I wont be making the Fiery Ginger Beer again. It was insipid gingerly water, a waste of good ginger / brewing space. The coopers is not perfect but its much more drinkable. Next time I am going to throw it in with an IPA kit and see what happens.

Not sure whether it's just the yeast, or the technique, or something else. But, like you, my ginger beer came out testing quite bad... Assumed it was the yeast, but maybe not, add first time if made, so can't say...

 

[Walker]

Coopers have changed the sweetener to sucralose, just tasted a bit while bottling and it's as gingerry as before but the sweetener is way nicer, so 3 weeks to carb up as directed and then into conditioning, i'd guess it wont need aslong as with the old sweeteners (they really took some time to reach a decent flavour balance), will update when possible, i am really quite happy with coopers Ginger beer right now