Coopers Real Ale

[Rento]

I brewed one of these on the 23rd of Feb:

1Kg Coopers Brew Enhancer 1
23L water at 23 degrees, let drop to 21 for 2 weeks, krausen collar removed after 3 days.
OG 1040
FG 1013 after 14 days
Bottled in 43 Coopers Pet with 1 carb drop each.
2 weeks warm, 2 weeks in the garage.

The result (exactly 4 weeks after bottling)?

Very clear and very drinkable! It's a light and refreshing ale, not hugely flavoursome as yet, but to be honest I am well impressed! I wasn't expecting it to be quite ready yet, but it's a fine pint with a good head and with the usual Coopers clarity...they all seem to clear so easily!

If you've not tried this and want an easy introduction to a light ale, I'd recommend giving it a try.

R

 

[Sone]

Started this kit on 19th March and bottled on the 2nd April. Really looking forward to this one

21l water
1KG muntons beer enhancer
OG - 1042
FG - 1008
Batch primed with 100g sugar and will leave in warm for 2 weeks then somewhere cool to condition.

Will update when I have a proper taste but the samples I tried are very promising! Good to hear it's very drinkable :thumb:

 

[mickthetrick]

just mixed this kit up
500g muntons medium spray malt (as thats what i had in)
1 x 454g tate & Lyle golden syrup
mixed to 20 litres

sg 1042

hopefull end up with a nice session ale

 

[Jbell]

Cool, I am going to attempt my first ever batch of homebrew soon, this seems like a good beer for a beginner to making real ales, I'll post the results!

 

[Sone]

Not been very impressed with this one to be honest, worst kit I've brewed so far but can't put my finger on why :hmm: It just doesn't taste very nice! I'm going to leave it a bit longer but it has almost been 3 months now.

Anyone else got any opinions on this?

 

[mickthetrick]

my one is still in the keg untouched Sone. i'll try it this saturday night and get back to you what i think of it :thumb:

 

[Sone]

Cheers, look forward to what you think :thumb:

I'll try a few more bottles of it over the weekend too, it's strange as I quite enjoyed it when I tried some after about a month and the samples I tried during fermenting were all promising!

 

[mickthetrick]

tried it tonight .
to be honest its turned out quite nice. i would be happy if i was served it in a pub. only had 4 pints but i could of sunk a few more no problem. come out the keg with a decent head and really clear.
nice enough session ale to me :thumb:

 

[Deejie]

Liking the sound of this... Any updates...?
Cheers!

 

[Sone]

I'm still not enjoying this unfortunately, could be something I did wrong as it was one of my first ever brews that I did. Everyone seems to give the kit decent reviews so maybe my temps were too high at the time? I'm tempted to do the kit again but if it turns out similar I'll be gutted :lol:

 

[fbsf]

I did one of these, and it was ok. Not great, just ok. I preferred the Aussie Pale Ale I did of theirs, I thought the Real Ale needed a bit more malt flavour (I used a beer kit enhancer 1 IIRC). If I were to do it again, I'd just use a kilo of Dry Malt rather than a kit enhancer.

 

[mattfryer]

I picked up one of these today with a view to using it as a base for a modified kit..
Will keep the thread updated on the outcome.

 

[mickthetrick]

done this kit as i brewed it before using golden syrup but bottled it instead of kegging it.
kegged version was really good. conditiond lovely and nice head .
bottled version, tastes nice but no head at all. kind of reminds me of bottled old speckled hen but maybe a little more bitter. its very clear also.
prefer it kegged but not disappointed in the bottled verdict as its still nice.

 

[Lawrie]

I'm planning to do this kit after Christmas ( providing santa remembers to bring me the heating pad I asked for ) It will be the first beer kit I've done in over 20 years and I'm going to brew it to the "unreal ale" recipe I found on the Coopers website ( brew kit enhancer 1 and 500g light DME ) The only thing I had trouble deciding on was whether to bottle or use a pressure barrel so I've reached a compromise by buying a 2 gallon barrel and some bottles so I can try both. Once I get going with it I'll post some reports on my efforts.

 

[GavH]

Look forward to the review Lawrie! I've been considering this as a base for experimenting with various hop combos. Be interested to see how yours turns out.

 

[RaffCPH]

I used this one as a base for a steam beer which was on the coopers site. Kit, 500 light dme, 30g northern brewer pellets and used wyeast 2112. Only been in the bottle since the 18/11 but turning out to be a very nice pint indeed although I think it is a bit overhopped (the recipe called only for 25g). Well worth doing.

 

[Slate Miner]

On recommendation made this kit at the beginning of August using light spray malt & tap water.

OG was 1034, which is a bit low, I put this down to perhaps not stirring in the spray malt well enough, however after 3 months in the bottle it's just dawned on me that I only used 500gms instead of 1000gms of spray malt No wonder the resulting brew was a bit 'thin' and lower in strength than expected :lol: Anyway I've ended up with a not unpleasant ale @ 3-3.2% ABV just lacking a bit of body.

Also noticed that there's no head, don't know if this is down to the lack of spray malt of some other factor. Will give it another go in the future though.

 

[GavH]

Got a can of this in my brew cupboard and struggling to decide HOW best to do it.

Thinking a can of Coopers LME (colour undecided) and dry hopping with either a Fuggles/Goldings combo or else using either Galaxy or Cascade.

Has anyone with experience of this kit got any thoughts on the above?

 

[Slid]

Got a can of this in my brew cupboard and struggling to decide HOW best to do it.

Thinking a can of Coopers LME (colour undecided) and dry hopping with either a Fuggles/Goldings combo or else using either Galaxy or Cascade.

Has anyone with experience of this kit got any thoughts on the above?

Sounds like a great idea to me :thumb:

Go for it - as they used to say in the 1980's.

 

[AndyO]

I brewed this at the beginning of February with 500g light DME and 500g of Coopers BE1
OG was 1039 and FG 1010.
All bottled in 500ml bottles, primed with 1 level teaspoon of table sugar.

Tried a few of these last night after only 3 ½ weeks in the bottle, clear with a reasonable head.

I like this, a very pleasant and enjoyable ale, very moorish.

If I ever brew this again I think I will try it with the full 1kg of BE1 as per the Unreal Ale recipe on the Coopers web site
:thumb: