Coopers IPA review

[Klemay83]

Got this one maturing in bottles at the moment. Not 100% impressed with it. but i'll leave it another few weeks before having anymore, its been bottles for about 6 weeks already. it i did mine with a can of light malt extract and dry hoped with 25g of Simcoe for 3 days. The beer is quite dark for an IPA, more of a red ale colour. Smells great, i just wished it tasted like it smells. Starts of not to bad then has a really sharp, bitter aftertaste. Mine is slightly under carbed. I didn't have regular sugar at the time, only caster sugar and didn't adjust my ratio properly. i'll leave this one alone for another month i think and see what its like. Meanwhile i'll be bottling my Woodfords Wherry today and getting the ingredients together for a stout for the Autumn.

 

[Spike101uk]

Currently drinking one of the nicest pints I've ever drunk, this coppers ipa I made with a coopers brew enhancer 2 , 500g light dried malt extract, us-05 and kit yeast and dry hopped 50g cascade, primary for 18 days and filtered and force carbed in corny keg and been there 2 months, and it's wow really fruity and rounded , smooth to drink, bottle a few that I can't get even an inch in to be glass before it's foamed up, this is my favourite homebrew and probably in the top ten beers I've ever drunk .

 

[LarryF]

Got one of these carbing up, I did it with Danstar Windsor and a North Downs hop tea and dry hop. Really looking forward to it, had to move the crate near a rad as the lower house temps slowed it all down but moving the crate nearer the rad has worked a treat and I'll try a first one this weekend.

 

[Richy25]

Hi guys can anyone help me with the recipe for brewing this coopers IPA?

I have the coopers tin, plus 500g light spray malt plus i have 1kg of wlikos brewing sugar.

The tin says to add 1.5kg of cooper malt to make 23 litres? Yes but of what final percentage!?!?!?!

I have another 400g spray malt knocking about.

Should I just chuck it all in brewing sugar and all?

OR keep adding till I get to a % i desire?

thanks Richy

 

[terrym]

@Richy25
You can work out the %ABV by using the BF calculator here (see also calculators at the top of the HBF home page)
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator
Make sure it is on metric, punch the volume in, say 23 litres in all places at the top of the page, under fermentables add 1.7kg LME, then the quantities of sugars and malt extract you want to use to get your target ABV, increasing /decreasing the quantities as required. I found it is very accurate for kits since it doesn't need to take into account mashing efficiences as in AG.
So as an example if you use kit can plus 900g spray malt and 600g dextrose (corn sugar) your target ABV would be 4.68% with an OG of 1.044.

 

[Richy25]

@terrym thanks mate, i'll get onto that now.

 

[Richy25]

thanks man i finally understand that calculator.

 

[terrym]

thanks man i finally understand that calculator.

It also initially took me a little while to sort it out, and it does have its little idiosyncracies, but when you have cracked it its really very useful for putting recipes together

 

[Richy25]

ok so my coopers IPA sitting happily at 19 degrees C, and is doing the business with a start OG of 1.050 (finally remembered to take one) .

So my half baked plan is to make nice and hoppy.
I have these 50g each.

I got the 1st gold on Terrym's recommendation and the cascade as I like.

I basically want it nice and banging hoppy, as realized quite soon I'm a hop head.:)

Any advice should I; dry hop one, tea the other? dry hop both? Only use one hop, split batch one hop each? not keen :) quantities?

I know I should be more scientific and try the IPA straight but I'm going down this route :) He who dares Rodney......

All any advice most welcome....

 

[terrym]

@Richy25
If you have not used a particular hop before its always a good idea imo to try it on its own first. So my advice is to select one of your two hops and use that, unless you want to split the batch. The Brew A IPA kit which you have purports to be an American style IPA so perhaps the Cascade is the way to go if you only use one hop. But its your choice. Next decide on whether you want to go the hop tea or dry hop route or a combination of both. Hop teas are generally more about flavour than aroma. Dry hopping the reverse. But its often a question of personal choice. Some add hop teas some dry hop. But I have made up a hop tea (10g pellets to 100ml water) and then chucked that in when the primary has done and then left it for few days as for a dry hop. There isn't really a right or a wrong way. Finally decide on the quantity of hops to use. However if you dry hop you will not dilute your beer, whereas a hop tea will dilute it, so you need to take that into consideration, especially if you use a lot of hops. And the quantity of hops you use is also personal choice. What you think is fine I might think is too much and someone else not enough. But if you are professed hop head perhaps you should use 50g of of one hop for the 20 plus litres of beer you have, bearing in mind people do use a lot more in some beers. But if you want it even hoppier split the batch and use 50g of each hops in each of the split batches. All that said you don't really get to understand how much to use until you have done dry hopping or hop teas on a few brews.

 

[Winterbournebrewery]

Cascade all the way. 50gm is nice , I would do a double dry hop one at high krausen maybe 20gm & the rest 3 or 4 days before packaging. You will get a hazy hoppy beer. My last 21ltrs of pale ale had 300gm of hops in total ! Galaxy , mosaic & Citra, hazy bright & full on. Good luck on whatever you choose. You can’t fail with cascade. Terry is right always try single hop , understand it’s profile & then you can blend.

 

[Richy25]

@terrym cracking advice man, and thanks for taking the time to lay it out for me. You definitely fast tracked me in the knowledge department.

Splitting the brew and separate hopping to me seems like the best option to quickly gain some personal "hop knowledge". As I really am stabbing around in the dark to avoid a lackluster pint at the moment.

I'll go 50g in each this time as the 50g in the previous festival kit stag seemed good for me.

The coopers kits were all down to £10 in my local Boyes store with 6 month on date still.So might go and grab another few to try.

@Winterbournebrewery your beer sounds like a taste sensation!

Can i ask is your hop bill around £20?!?

Is your brew a New world type IPA?

I think I'm probably on route to a hop heavy brew life to be honest

enjoy

Rich

 

[terrym]

@Richy25
Not sure what your Boyes store has in stock by way of other Coopers kits but the Coopers stouts are up there with the best if you fancy a stout. And I tried most of the Coopers kits and some were better than others but always ended up back with the Australian PA which is a bit uninspiring on its own as a kit and kilo, but for me an ideal base for boosting with extra hops, grain steeps or mini mashes. And if you fancy a lager for the summer now's the time to brew a Euro lager and then condition it for 3 months ready for summer drinking.
Most of the Coopers kit reviews are here
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/beer-kit-reviews-a-z-part-1-2.77650

 

[Winterbournebrewery]

@terrym cracking advice man, and thanks for taking the time to lay it out for me. You definitely fast tracked me in the knowledge department.

Splitting the brew and separate hopping to me seems like the best option to quickly gain some personal "hop knowledge". As I really am stabbing around in the dark to avoid a lackluster pint at the moment.

I'll go 50g in each this time as the 50g in the previous festival kit stag seemed good for me.

The coopers kits were all down to £10 in my local Boyes store with 6 month on date still.So might go and grab another few to try.

@Winterbournebrewery your beer sounds like a taste sensation!

Can i ask is your hop bill around £20?!?

Is your brew a New world type IPA?

I think I'm probably on route to a hop heavy brew life to be honest

enjoy

Rich

Hi Rich , yes crazy price to make beer but the galaxy was £8. Alone ! I love the big thick IPAs that Verdant make so loads of oats etc... this style only works in a keg really. It oxidises in the bottle. This is just & quick easy way to brew a beer but expensive.

 

[foxy]

Off topic, but do you guys get Coopers Vintage ale in the UK, some buy it over here and cellar it for a few years. I have had it on tap (as well as in the bottle) but it is served at around 2 or 3 Celsius so that doesn't do it any favours.
A great beer which I would like an AG recipe for.