Kit brewing -Coopers/Muntons/etc.

[JohnB]

Hi Folks,
I'm brewing a "Coopers - Real Ale" and it is now in the barrel. A quick taste as it went in suggested it was quite hoppy and rather bitter and a little on the watery side, perhaps lacking body. I followed the recipe on the Coopers site and did as they suggested with 1Kg enhancer. OG was 1040 and FG was 1008, brewing temp was 20 DegC. I also used their little yeast packet.

I have read several forums (fora?) and quite often these kits are used as base malt for partial brews. But surely the kits are pre-hopped, yet some people add even more hops into the brew; even when sticking to the suggested brew volume 23L. First question is: are these kits really meant to be a base malt to a more mouthfulness (sorry - only word I could come up with) brew? I've even seen one comment/recipe that reduces the volume to a 15L batch from a 1.5Kg can.

Also some folks brewed this kit and suggested it was fine after 3 months in keg - really? I have to wait 3 months before I can drink my beer?

Is there any way of speeding this up? Please, please help, I am beerless!

Thanks,
JB.

 

[Clint]

Did you prime the keg with sugar? If so,in a warm place ,it'll take a week or two to carbonate. Then move it,if you can to somewhere cool. It's getting cooler outside now so maybe a shed or outhouse or maybe the garage,to condition,for a couple of weeks at least. Then I'd sample it to see how it is. It may take weeks to be as you want it and to fully clear but that's a personal preference. There's no set rules but generally if left it'll improve

 

[Covrich]

Hi Folks,
I'm brewing a "Coopers - Real Ale" and it is now in the barrel. A quick taste as it went in suggested it was quite hoppy and rather bitter and a little on the watery side, perhaps lacking body. I followed the recipe on the Coopers site and did as they suggested with 1Kg enhancer. OG was 1040 and FG was 1008, brewing temp was 20 DegC. I also used their little yeast packet.

I have read several forums (fora?) and quite often these kits are used as base malt for partial brews. But surely the kits are pre-hopped, yet some people add even more hops into the brew; even when sticking to the suggested brew volume 23L. First question is: are these kits really meant to be a base malt to a more mouthfulness (sorry - only word I could come up with) brew? I've even seen one comment/recipe that reduces the volume to a 15L batch from a 1.5Kg can.

Also some folks brewed this kit and suggested it was fine after 3 months in keg - really? I have to wait 3 months before I can drink my beer?

Is there any way of speeding this up? Please, please help, I am beerless!

Thanks,
JB.

What Clint said is all fine, with regard to the other things what you will find is those people are pushing the boundaries a bit in improving and bump up the kit to something a little better. A lot of kits especially one can kits where you add a bag of fermentables some are okay some can be a bit bland ect so people start taking it to the next step that's all.. A lot of people start this way and like a lot of us end up milling our own grain mashing and boiling with fresh hops ect.. But it is a personal preference thing

That is purley FYI and not something you need to worry about for this brew at least. If you are interested for your next brew looking to maybe improve or add something to it feel free to ask.

 

[JohnB]

Hiya Clint, Covrich. Thanks for the info. I wondered about boosting flavour and can see that by reducing the volume of water, it will also increase the OG. Eventually I do want to get into all grain, but happy to experiment for now. And thanks for the offer, I'll be back with questions no doubt when things go horribly wrong with me stout (a future project!).

I might try a partial grain brew using this kit as base sometime and add some crystal and chocolate and see what happens.

Now, my Coopers Real Ale. Yes, Clint, it's in the keg and primed; I used 3.5 oz of Silver Spoon dissolved in about 1/2 pint of wort gently warmed, added to the keg and the final temp was 18 DegC. I must say the wort cleared really well in the FV and on transfer over to the barrel, it seemed fine, but a quick taste test seemed a bit watery and very bitter. Anyway, I have checked for a seal on the barrel and everything is fine, it's gassing up (I cracked the tap to check) and there's no leaks, so now I'll wait for a couple of weeks then and see what it's like.

I'm currently drinking 5 gallons of Muntons Nut Brown (not all at once) - and it is really nice, I'm both impressed and hooked. And completely lost with grains and yeasts and hops and mashes and boils, but it'll all fall into place. I found a web site that gives hundreds of recipes for all grain brews and will pick a really simple one to practice on. I just need to sort my boiler then I'm up for a go at AG brewing.

Thanks again.
JB.