Newbie: Cooper DIY Starter Beer Kit = Gales HSB

[hambrook]

First up a totally newbie wanting to learn. My favourite beer being Gales HSB even after it's move from it's ancestral home just up the road in Horndean, Hampshire. Also partial to a London Pride and Abbot Ale, so I have a taste for the sweeter, richer ales. And that's my Home Brew Goal, to create a sweet, smooth Ale, hey maybe even a Gales Winterbrew type brew one day.

First off; I'm trying to take advantage of the 25% off Home Brew offer at Tescos (until 22/12/14) so any tips as to what I should buy would be grateful received. So far I have:
- Coopers DIY Starter Beer Kit (Link:http://www.tesco.com/direct/diy-beer-starter-kit/213-7435.prd?pageLevel=sku&skuId=213-7435)
- Coopers English Bitter can (http://www.tesco.com/direct/coopers-english-bitter/213-9947.prd?pageLevel=sku&skuId=213-9947)
- Youngs Beer Enhancer (http://www.tesco.com/direct/beer-kit-enhancer/213-6255.prd?pageLevel=sku&skuId=213-6255)
- Youngs Beer Bottle Capper (http://www.tesco.com/direct/youngs-...xed/213-5232.prd?pageLevel=sku&skuId=213-5232)
- Coopers Crown Seals (http://www.tesco.com/direct/coopers-crown-seals/213-1626.prd?pageLevel=sku&skuId=213-1626)

Some questions:
1) Will the Youngs Beer Enhancer work / compliment the Cooper English Bitter kit?
2) If Gales HSB type beer is the end goal, what else should I add to the brew to enhance it?
3) Is there any advantage to saving bottling in glass bottles (Plenty of spares after xmas I am sure) vs the plastic screw tops
4) Do I use Coopers Beer Enhancer 1 or 2 ? I think it's Brew Enhancer 2 for ale?

Before the Tesco's 25% runs out anything else I should stock up on? Brew enhancer / Carbonation drops?

Many thanks for all help offered in advance

 

[BigJC]

As a fellow HSB fan I can assure you that the Cooper's English Bitter as it stands without any additional ingredients is incomparable to HSB.

I too would like to know how to achieve a HSB clone but I suspect it would be difficult with pre-made kits.

 

[MyQul]

I too am a fan of the rich sweet English style bitters. This often comes from a good slug of crytal malt. I think you can steep some and add it to a kit. It's not something I've done to a kit though.

Making a Gales HSB clone with kit would be difficult unless you found a kit which was very similar then you could add some steeped grains and dry hop to may be get even closer.

If you move on to extract or AG brewing, Graham Wheelers brew your own British real ale as receipes for both Gales HSB and London Pride

 

[BruinTuns]

Hello hambrook and welcome to the forum.
Have you actually bought the items on your list yet or is that what you're about to order? I ask only because I bought that Young's capper and I found it struggled with Shepherd Neame bottles which I have a lot of :drink:
The Young's beer enhancer should certainly work well with the bittter kit although I doubt very much if it will bring it any closer to a Gales HSB clone.
Yes, for the time being I recommend saving as many glass bottles as you have space for. If you get bitten by the homebrew bug you'll need far more than you imagine. I collected 160 odd during the months of getting my kit together and I now really regret the fact that I sent at least that many to recycling as I'm now busily trying to acquire them all back! If you find you have too many you can always recycle them laater.
Consensus seems to be that beer will keep better over long periods in glass than in plastic and as I like strong ales many of mine will be put away for many months. Wash the bottles thoroughly as you acquire them, you'll be glad you did on your first bottling day.
As soon as I empty one I take it to the sink and give it a vigorous triple rinse then invert it to drain. I've found this way I don't need to use a bottle brush.
The Tesco sale is tempting but as you're aiming for a fairly specific end result I'd be cautious about stocking up too much in case what you buy turns out to be less than ideal for your requirements.
Tesco had the same deals a few months ago and will no doubt do so again, it seems to be a regular thing not just a Christmas promo.
If I were to recommend any specific kits in the sale they would be the Coopers stout and John Bull IPA. Probably of no use in pursuing yor Gales clone but they are both very popular and get universally enthusiastic reviews.
Good luck

 

[MyQul]

Having thought about it their may be a way to acheive a clone or a least an approximation of the beer, a beer in a similar style if you like.

To a limited extent you can actually change a kit style from one to another but only from light to dark. e.g. you can change a English Bitter into a porter by steeping some chocolate and/or black malt and adding it to the kit.

This is all conjecture on my part as I've never done this but:

looking at the receipe you need:

Pale Malt, Torrified Wheat, White sugar, crystal and black malt as well as
Challenger and fuggles for bittering and East Kent Goldings for flavour and aroma.

So if you took an IPA kit and steeped the right amount of crystal and black malt and added it to the kit - I don't think you can steep torrified wheat, I think it's for head retention and mouth feel, and not flavour anyway . Then dry hopped with EKG. Don't use the kit yeast and use an english ale style yeast you might be able to appoximate HSB

 

[MyQul]

Have spotted a flaw in my cunning plan. IPA's are usually quite hoppy and looking at the receipe for HSB is only 26IBU, however I understand Australian pale ale is not that highly hopped so an APA kit might be a better base. Coopers do and APA but I'm not sure of the IBU.

 

[hambrook]

Thanks for the replies; yes I have all the stuff now including the Coopers DIY kit. I am aiming to have a brew day on 23 December with a goal of drinking some of at an event on 31 January. It sounds like a 10 days initial brew (subject to the stable hydrometer readings) before bottling then bottled in the supplied 750mm with 2 carbonation drops.

I've never been a fan of the northern type beers like Boddingtons / John Smiths and after reading a long thread on Coppers English Bitter seems like it can be quite hoppy and not that sweet; so was really wondering how I could sweeten the end result by adding to the kit......

Thanks for the input so far; any other ideas as to what may sweeten the end result?

 

[hambrook]

Would adding some golden syrup aid the end result? How much should I add and how much Youngs Brew Enhancer should I remove to offset the Golden Syrup, if any?

 

[BruinTuns]

I believe golden syrup is almost 100% fermentable in which case it will not add any sweetness at all. For that you need a non-fermentable sugar such as lactose, as used in sweet milk stouts such as Mackeson's.
The only places that seem to stock lactose powder these days are homebrew shops which means expensive postage (unless you live near one) but it's the preferred addition of many who prefer a sweeter beer so maybe worth it to you.
Using all malt as your sugar source would add a bit of sweetness as it's less than 100% fermentable but it would probably change the profile of the beer to some extent. It may end up precisely what you want but likely be a different beer to what the manufacturer's intended.

 

[baggybill]

Tesco's sale due to finish but... Wilkos sale due to start.

Someone told me that last year their January sale was 50% off home brew. Not sure if that's correct as it's normally 25% too but we'll soon see :grin:

 

[hambrook]

We're heading into town today, I'll see if I can get some malt extract from Holland & Barret

 

[BruinTuns]

I've only just checked in and saw your last post so you may not see this before your shopping trip.
Just to say that 'extract of malt' as sold by H&B is apparently not quite the same as the malt extract used in brewing.
The suitability of the H&B type seems to divide opinion but the good news is that quite a few brewers swear by it and, of those that say you shouldn't use it, I've not read of anyone who actually tried it and reported bad results.
I added half a jar myself to a Coopers stout which turned out well, although it was my first brew so I can't compare it with anything else. But it was slightly sweeter than I was expecting, so it's possible that H&B extract of malt just might be your ideal addition.
Maybe google for second opinions before adding more than a jar though.

 

[hambrook]

So nipped into H&B and got 2 jars of the Malt Extract and good old Poundland for a bottle of Steriliser (Sodium Hypochlorite based) and a big tray to keep the sterilising fluid in.

So half a jar or a full jar of H&B Malt Extract and should I adjust the Youngs Beer enhancer or throw the whole 1kg pack in ?

 

[hambrook]

Brewed this evening:

Coopers English Bitter 1.7kg
Youngs U Brew - Brew Enhancer 1kg (Spray Malt and Dextrose)
Holland & Barret Malt Extract 80g

Brewed to 22 Litres, Yeast added. OG 1040

Now in the boiler room with a small heater in the room to keep the heat up for the first few days; will remove Krausen Collar on day 3 (Christmas Day) and leave in the FV for 10 days total (seems to be he consensus).

Any guidance on the temperature required during this period?

The kit ships with 500 ml plastic bottles, how many Coopers Carbonation drops 1 or 2? Guidance is 1 or 2 if you want more fizz....

 

[BruinTuns]

Not having brewed this kit (yet, I have one on my playlist) I'm at a bit of a disadvantage.
On balance I'd say go with tried and tested re the enhancer and use the whole pack. Then in addition add half the jar of H&B malt. Worst case it will be drinkable, best case delicious.
Either way you can use this compartively cautious 1st brew as a starting point and next time adjust according to how close it comes to your ideal.
I tried to link to a discussion on H&B malt extract but I've just started using google chrome and links don't work on my pc the way they do in Firefox.
But if you google "holland and barrett mallt extract in homebrew beer" you should get several useful hits.
EDIT:
Crossed posts!
Good luck with your brew.

 

[BruinTuns]

I've not used carb drops but the general rule is one for ale, two for lager (per 500ml).
Suitable temperature has a fairly wide range, anywhere from 18 degrees to 24 should be fine, somewhere in the middle is ideal. More important is to avoid temp fluctuations during fermentation. A degree or two up and down is ok (although better avoided if possible) but don't let it go from lowest to highest if you can possibly help it.

 

[hambrook]

Thanks for all the advice and pointers, have set up a temperature oil filled radiator in the room to keep it constant. I read somewhere HSB was held at 21.4 degrees in fermentation so will use this as a test brew and maybe up the malt extract in the next batch

 

[hambrook]

24 hours on and lots of action from the yeast both on top and with particles whizzing round inside the brew. Temperature sat steady at 22 degrees.

 

[BruinTuns]

Ok, so far so good.
Next tip is to keep the lid on and resist temptation to keep checking up on it.
Every time you pop the lid & take a peep it increases the chances of bugs and/or oxygen getting in to your brew, both of which are undesirable.
Once you're satisfied that it's up and running leave it alone for a minimum of two weeks; I leave mine for at least three.

 

[hambrook]

Ok, so far so good.
Next tip is to keep the lid on and resist temptation to keep checking up on it.
Every time you pop the lid & take a peep it increases the chances of bugs and/or oxygen getting in to your brew, both of which are undesirable.
Once you're satisfied that it's up and running leave it alone for a minimum of two weeks; I leave mine for at least three.

Photo was taken through the semi-transparent lid. Day 3 Christmas Day evening and I will take out the Krousen Ring as smoothly and swiftly as possible. Is 22 degrees too high or OK? All the Coopers instructions say 21 - 27 degrees but general comments on here suggest 18-20 degrees?