Coopers IPA review

[calumscott]

Coopers seem to be the pick of the bunch as far as 40pint one-can kits go. They get a lot of good press and rightly so in my opinion.

I brewed this one as the tin suggested with 500g spray malt and 300g dextrose and it, as is common with coopers beers, went off like a rocket. Well more like a gooey volcano actually. Don't brew it on your shag-pile!

The end product is a nice, well balanced, if a little thin, pale ale which could do with a bit more hoppiness if truth be told.

Perfectly drinkable in it's own right, I think some little tweaks would make this a really very good beer. Maybe a dry hopping and no sugar but all DME, maybe a full kilo to give it a bit more ooomph...

In summary, a perfectly decent pint as is but with the potential to be the base for something really quite nice.

 

[calumscott]

Opened one of the "keep it for ages" stash of these yesterday.

4 months in the bottle hasn't made a great deal of difference flavour-wise but head retention and carbonation were definitely improved. A nice pint, slightly improved...

 

[Shanesfords]

it was very nice one of the first kits i done made as per instructions but needs some sort of hop addition it s a bit bland otherwise
but one ill make again

 

[supercooper]

Has anybody tried adding Hopped Spray Malt to this? Sounds like it might be a good idea?

Its next on my list to brew, so perhaps I'll try it and report back

 

[microbrewuk]

I've got a tin of this in storage, and am going to kick this off as my next brew! Will definitely dry-hop to give it some more bite, after reading the review earlier!

 

[Rich747]

Brewed this with 500g light DME, 700g dextrose and 1L Goldings hop tea (10 min boil).

Been in the Cornie 3 weeks.

So far, my best brew yet and I LOVED the Ruby Red and the Wherry!

 

[LeedsBrewer]

I just bottled my Coopers IPA - took forever (note to self, get bottling tree and washer!) am going to do the wherry and st peters red next, then hopefully move on to extract brewing.

 

[barry44]

Gents,

Coopers IPA was my first brew and is now approaching 8 weeks in the cold after 2 in the warm to condition.

It was brewed with the coopers brew enhancer 2.

I have sampled it over the weeks and never been too impressed with it, finding it quite harsh early on.

The harshness has largely dissipated but it is still not a brew that i am enjoying drinking at the moment.

I had read on here that people considered 8 weeks to be the turning point for this brew and that anytime after that it was a good 'un.

With this being my first brew, i had a couple of problems form wondering if i had rinsed the VWP sufficiently to actually dropping the can lid into the wort and fishing it out so there is a good chance that the taste may be compromised by these factors. So as a comparison, i am wondering if anyone with knowledge of the kit, made correctly, could point me in the direction of a store bought bottle to compare the coopers kit with?

Bear in mind that i am in Scotland and the supermarkets, whilst getting better, do not stock a lot of decent beers up here.

Many thanks guys.

Barry

 

[LeedsBrewer]

Yeah the Coopers IPA was my first batch. Its only been in the bottle for 2 weeks but i'm not all that impressed with it. I'm hoping it will improve with age. It seems a little watery and tastes like I was expecting homebrew to taste... It's ok... drinkable but nothing special. If I were to do this kit again i'd do 1kg DME (instead of the 500g DME and 300g dextrose that the instructions say) and i'd probably only top up to 20L.

Just bought a Woodforde's Wherry from Wilkinsons - £18. I've read billions of reviews on here that say it's great so I have higher hopes for this batch.

 

[Jeff]

I am going to give this one a go, read through the forum and some good reports, as a newbi not sure about adding hops, I have 100gms of Fuggies can some one advise if these are ok to add and if so what's the procedure?, also I want to use 500 grams of medium spray malt with 500 grams of brewing sugar, could do with a little advise. My plan is to bottle and store the end result.

Would also welcome suggestions on what to add to the bottles (500ml) for the 2nd fermentation, apologies if my questions are a little basic but still very much in the learning process.

Jeff

 

[LeedsBrewer]

If you are wanting to dry hop then i'd read this how to... viewtopic.php?f=30&t=7279

I did this kit with 500g light DME and 250 Dextrose. It is a little weak in taste but for my first ever kit im pretty happy with it. It is getting better with age.

For bottling I find it easier to batch prime. I add 90g ordinary sugar to a pan with a little water in and boil it up for a few minutes. Then cool it down to room temp by placing the pan in a sink of cool water. I add the sugar water to a bottling bucket and then siphon my brew into the bucket. This ensures that the sugar solution is evenly mixed in and that all of the bottles are evenly primed.

The other option is adding half a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle before filling. I would find this a faff though.

 

[DamageCase]

I'm looking at experimenting with one of these when I've got a bit more cash for additives. I've read quite a few reviews saying it comes out a little thin so I'll likely brew it short to 20 or 21 litres, use a kilo of beer enhancer and add a "hop tea" in the primary stage. I quite like strong American style IPAs so I'm thinking Cascade hops for the tea. Has anyone done something similar and could advise me? Alternatively, the John Bull IPA is priced around the same and is a 1.8 kilo kit, but I've not read much about them.

 

[LeedsBrewer]

i wont be trying this brew again (certainly not at the price i paid at kirkstall lhbs) at about 12 quid it'd be ok though. It's too weak and should def be short brewed. It also could do with dry hopping. I was happy with it for a first batch but you'll be disapointed with it if you stick to the instructions. I've heard that the betterbrew ipa is really good though.

 

[JB3]

Just brewed this today as my 2nd ever brew. 500g light dme and 500g brewing sugar. If its drinkable i'll be happy :-)

 

[Rwilts]

Got to say this was my favourite brew of the year. :thumb:

 

[mmaguy41]

I brewed this as my third brew, with 500g of medium dme and 1.1kg of honey. It was lovely, still one of my favorite kit brews ive done, if i did it again i would do a hop tea or dry hop to add a bit of freshness but i thought it was a great pint.

 

[JB3]

Sitting drinking a few of these as i type, been bottled for 3 weeks. As its only my 2nd brew ever, i am more impressed with this than i was with my first brew (BrewBuddy Lager :sick: ) Not very hoppy but quite drinkable, decent head on pouring but it soon disappears. Overall a successful brew me thinks :

 

[Monkeybrew]

JB3, seriously if you like this, the next step to a two can kit will give a noticeable increase in quality and enjoyment.

Read around on here to find a kit you like the sound off but generally two can kits are worth the extra expense.

 

[JB3]

Monkeybrew I have a Milestone Crusader in my FV at the moment, leaving it till the weekend so it will have had 2 weeks to ferment out.
I cannot wait to see / taste the difference between the 1 can kits i have done so far and this which will be my first 2 can kit.
RE my first post -

Just brewed this today as my 2nd ever brew. 500g light dme and 500g brewing sugar. If its drinkable i'll be happy :-)

I am happy.
Cheers
Many Happy Brews to All
:thumb: :

 

[warnie]

This was my first brew, done to 21ltrs with the BKE2.

Only gave it 1 week in the fermenter as it was down to 1010 very quickly and I wanted to get another on quickly to build up stocks. Bottled on the 26/1 and I gave it only 1 week in the warm before transferring to my garage. I did try one or two after the 1st week and it was very drinkable. Now though it's fantastic, so good in fact that I gave a friend a bottle after we'd come back from a few pints of Bathams Bitter and we both agreed that this was not an inferior pint at all. Although I must admit the Bathams was very sweet for some reason.

I've got a better brew IPA on at the minute after I heard it was meant to be better than the coopers so I've got really high hopes for it.

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