Coopers Kit & Goldings, Amarillo and Fuggles - what to try?

[thomascrabs]

Hi,

Over Christmas I got the following (including the hops as gifts!):

Coopers Real Ale Kit
Coopers Beer Enhancer No. 2
Fementis Safale S-04 Yeast (and some S-06)
Styrian Goldings Hops 100g
Amarillo Hops 100g
Fuggles Hops 100g

I've only ever done kits before.
So the big question is what to do with this lot? My basic plan was to do either dry hopping or a hop tea but does anyone have any other idea to throw into the hat?

Does anyone have a decent recipe for dry hopping / hop tea, for the hops I have? (I like a range of ales from a Landlord to IPAs)

 

[thomascrabs]

Bump!

Not found anything myself although individually the hops seem fairly common.

 

[GavH]

The Real Ale doesn't seem to be much of a favourite around here. I've got one to do and am also mulling over how best to do it. Presently thinking about a can of Light LME and dry hopping with something and brewing short to 20/21L.

I think your Fuggles and Styrian Goldings would be a good mix.

 

[thomascrabs]

I've been spending a lot of time looking into dry hoping and hop teas etc and the one thing I didn't realise was that these two methods wouldn't add any additional bitterness. I'm now slightly regretting using this kit, but only a little.

I've also read somewhere that I can re-use the hops as bittering hops in the future for when I start extract / AG, so I'm going to procure a drawer in the freezer!

Anyway, I think I will do a bit more research and probably try dry hoping first in a pressure barrel before transferring to bottle (not tightening the cap too much on the PB).



Am I correct with the re-use of hops and using the PB for dry hoping? :wha:

 

[kev]

Are you saying you can take the hops out the beer after dry hopping, store them then bring them out to use as bittering hops?

I would strongly advise against that. Not worth the hassle or risk for £1 of hops.

K

 

[thomascrabs]

Hi Kev,

That's what I've read from doing a google search as follows:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=re-us ... +bittering

...but I'm far from an authority in this!
May only be a few £s but I'm all for getting the most out of ingredients and equipment.


Thanks,
Thomas

 

[GavH]

Just got some Goldings and Fuggles today to do in a Coopers Real Ale. Might even throw in a can Dark LME rather than the 500g of Hopped DME and sugar i had originally intended, just for the sheer badness of it! :twisted:

 

[thomascrabs]

Just got some Goldings and Fuggles today to do in a Coopers Real Ale. Might even throw in a can Dark LME rather than the 500g of Hopped DME and sugar i had originally intended, just for the sheer badness of it! :twisted:

I thought I was a rebel using the brew enhancer 2 but that's just madness! :nono: :evil:

 

[GavH]

Just got some Goldings and Fuggles today to do in a Coopers Real Ale. Might even throw in a can Dark LME rather than the 500g of Hopped DME and sugar i had originally intended, just for the sheer badness of it! :twisted:

I thought I was a rebel using the brew enhancer 2 but that's just madness! :nono: :evil:

Must admit, that might have been the drink talking, although curiosity is getting the better of me the more I think on it.

 

[thomascrabs]

Bit of an update.

I did a coopers real ale kit with brew enhancer and s04 yeast. Fermented for 2 weeks, then dry hopped with about 30g of fuggles in primary for just under a week, then crash cooled for a few days before bottling.

Been in the warm for 2 weeks now and yesterday put one in the fridge to have a sneaky taste. Although not blown away it certainly had a clearer look and taste and had a nice hoppy aroma and a bit of a hoppy taste.

Still a hint of that kit taste though so next time might move onto biab!

 

[Sandimas]

Here's a suggestion (caveat - I'm not an expert, got this from a Hobgoblin clone recipe, other might be able to tweak this):

- Boil up 6 litres or so of water then boil 30g Styrian Goldings and 30g Fuggles for 30 minutes.
- Add that to the Coopers Real Ale and make up as normal, with Enhancer, maybe brew short 20L or 19L
- Use the S-04 yeast rather than the Coopers
- After 2-3 days fermenting, when the fermentation has died down a bit, add 15g Styrian Goldings and 15g Fuggles to dry hop

I'm just bought the ingredients above to try this with a Coopers Dark Ale rather than the Real Ale kit you have, we'll see how it turns out.

 

[thomascrabs]

I've never really understood if boiling hops just in water will provide any bitterness as that doesn't result in isomerisation? If not why bother boiling them or does that give you flavour instead of just the aroma that dry hoping gives you? :wha:

 

[clibit]

Boil the hops in water with some malt extract. And if you use malt extract, and steep some grains, you can do away with kits and make an extract brew with fresh hop flavour, and fresh grain flavour from the steeping grains. Use dried extract to avoid the risk of liquid malt twangy flavour.

Fuggles and Styrian go well together and are used in many British ales. Amarillo is a very fruity American hop, nice.

 

[Strongarm]

Goose Island IPA uses Styrian (bittering and late) and Fuggles (late) along with late Centennial and Cascade, both of which aren't too dissimilar to Amarillo, so should be a good combination.

 

[thomascrabs]

I have a 15ltr pot on the way to try some extract brews. Although adding hops to a kit helps, fundamentally it's still a kit so it's thin and has that kit taste. Maybe due to sediment more than anything, but that's another question. I have noticed that the hoppy aroma seems to be an initial thing in the bottle so dissipates near the end (I'm using 2ltr pop bottles) and the last bit of the bottle just tastes like the kit.

I think the summary of my kit improvement test is that it helps improve kits a lot, but its still not as good as I want and the temptation of moving to the next level in brewing is too much. :thumb:

Next purchase probably a landlord extract kit :hmm:

 

[thomascrabs]

Just having a bottle of the coopers described above and it's developed a real fruity twang and lost a bit of the hoppyness. Anyone any thoughts on why? Was expecting to loose some hoppyness. Is the fruitiness just a result of the flavour imparted by the yeast over time?

Its a 2ltr bottle so going to have to finish it and try another to compare :