Re: Willco's hoppy copper.

[cask is best]

Thank God for that. Someone who likes it. Just got this on the go this morning with 1kg spray malt. Bought the can first then read some of the posts on here. Well only time will tell i suppose. Will report back after around a month. :

 

[Lesinge]

This was the first ale I tried after starting off with the Young's Lager starter kits, and was looking forward to drinking real beer rather than bland (although not too bad) lager. I was so disappointed at how thin it was but having looked at all the info on these forums about beer getting better in bottles with age, I left it. Nine months later (and 20 brews later) I tried it..nope still thin, uninspiring and not something I would do again.

However, just in case it puts you off Wilkos single can brews, I did the golden lager and that is quite a nice smooth drink with ahead that lasts, so there is some hope there...

 

[Riddo]

I've taken to playing around with the 1 can kits and did this to a hoppy copper that i picked up half price from wilkos in june. Boiled, in a muslin bag, 250g crystal malt for 30 minutes.Took off heat, removed CM bag. Added 30g cascade hops in another muslin bag, left 30 mins. Emptied both H copper and a 1.5kg tin of light malt extract in fermenter, and added saucepan contents (after pulling out hop bag) Topped up to 40 pints. Pitched yeast and then on day 4 dry hopped a further 25g cascade for about another 10 days or so before bottling. After 6 or so weeks it's turned into a fine brew. Not thin in the least, and i recommend for 1 can kit ales, buy a big bag of crystal malt and use 250g per brew as above, it smells lovely, adds body and flavour. If you do this, it's advised not to squeeze the bag on removing it from the saucepan, just let it drip (can't remember why) Perhaps if not using extra malt (tinned or spray) in place of sugar, it wouldn't hurt to increase crystal malt by another 100 or so grams. Anyone else been tweaking in this manner?

 

[iceo]

hoping to get this on tomorrow going for a 20L, a jar of golden syrup(maple flavoured) got 2 fruggle hop teas thinking 1 dry hopping and than another as a tea with my priming sugar at bottling/kegging

got a few other hop teas would it better to use 2 different ones or just the same?

 

[micky1882]

Just bottled this tonight after 10 nights in the fv, brewed it with 500grams brewing sugar and 500grams of Tate n lyle and got to say its tasting quite good!

I'll leave it a week in the spare room and a week or two outside then I'll be tucking in I reckon after I've finished the Wilkos stout :drink:

 

[cask is best]

Bottled tonight 23lt half t spoon T.N.L 3 weeks in fv tasted ok allready but not holding my breath from reports on here.
S.G was 1045 and had to bottle tonight and it's only gone to 1015. No activity in the fv bubbles etc. I always have problems getting my gravity down to 1010/08 or below. [Maybe my hydrometer is a few points out] Although i took the reading at around 66f nearly 19c instead of the 21c mark. Will keep it at room temp for around 5 days then move it to a cool place and crack one around the end of the month and report back.
abv 4%

 

[jondread]

I would like to share my opinion on this kit. This is actually the first kit I tried out (literally my first brew), and I am pleasantly surprised. I followed the instructions exactly and bottled half, kegged half. 3 weeks after bottling/kegging I have sampled my first bottle, and it wasn't so bad, but I think that the kegged beer is definitely better.

I am currently drinking a pint of that now, after 3 weeks in the keg and it already tastes pretty good. It isn't amazingly hoppy, though the name would imply. Head was good when I initially poured it but it went pretty quickly. I used about 40 teaspoons (one per pint) in the pressure keg, then tapped it from there into bottles (each with 1/2 a tsp of sugar in) and it has carbonated nicely itself. I do like the lovely copper colour, that definitely has lived up to its name. If this was served to me in a pub I wouldn't have any complaints!

This was the first pour, second time around I got a much much better head. Quite smooth tasting too. Very happy :) So for a first attempt I think this kit has been a great way to introduce me into homebrewing. I'm quite satisfied and very surprised at how it turned out. My plans are now to finish the keg off, and stick the bottles in the garage until Christmas and see if they'll improve.

 

[MattN]

I'm glad you like it, I think that is great value. Mine was slightly darker than yours However I only made it up to 18 litres. The one that I am about to do I will go to 20.

 

[iceo]

well im bottling mine in the morning i hope . mix of a bottles and a mini keg. not sure how much sugar im going to prime with . 19L ish , the mini keg can only have 15gram sugar max. so not sure want i will need for the other 13L
going to make up a hop tea and add my sugar to that for the batch prime

 

[fergi007]

Hi all this is my first post since joining the forum and have had a good read of this review as I wanted to make the most of my hoppy copper. I did brew this beer for the first time about 6-8 months ago and made the mistake of sealing my bottles immediatly after filling resulted as you are probably shaking your heads and gigling a beer that you could barely open, let alone pour without it foaming everyehere. So anyway ive been home brewing for about a year now and figured it was time to tweek my beers a litte. So I have started with this brew of hoppy copper. What I have done this time is first of all swapped out half my sugar for 500g LDME, secondly I following reading on the forum left my ber in my FV for 10 days rather than bottling immediatly after fermentation has finished and thirdly I picked up a challenger finishing hops which I made up a tea and added it all to my FV for the last three days and may I say the results habe been quite impressive. The beer has developed a good body any has cracking hoppy flavour and it has only been conditioning for 2 weeks so far.

 

[MattN]

Nice one!

And welcome.

Matt

 

[redhousebrewing]

Having one more go at a Hoppy Copper - short brewed to 20 litres, 500g beer enhancer and 750g brewing sugar.
Will go heavy on the dry hops to hopefully get it to match its name.
Also going to bottle it and give it 3+months to condition.
My 2 previous Hoppy Coppers have been ok but uninspiring.

Here's hoping...

 

[cask is best]

Well it's been in the bottle now for just under a month. Opened one poured let it settle had a nice head to begin. soon dispersed but kept a slight head to the end. As others have said it is thin. I brewed to 23lt. Taste well what can i say i thought it didn't taste of anything is the best i can say really. I'll have another one or two and see if it has the desired relaxing effect if nothing else. Not even the homebrew twang. Here's hoping it will [And should] improve over time.

 

[Big d]

I've just started drinking mine now. Brewed it to 20lt and barreled into my very old rotokeg. Its a decent enough session beer but nothing to get excited about . I probably would brew again for a light summer drink

 

[boab42stout]

home brew chemichal twang with nea hops in it ok for a light summer cheap drink not unpleasant

 

[DamageCase]

Since people are adding so much to these kits to up the body/hops. Wouldn't it be easier to just wack 2 tins in together with a packet of yeast at 40 pints and have done?

 

[MattN]

I didn't add anything to it, it has been in the bottle for a couple of months and I think it is great.

Had a couple tonight!

Matt

 

[kRooGa]

Done this one a few times now. First time was my first ever ale brew (I usually make wine :-)). First time, I followed the instructions and ended up with a pale, not very hoppy obviously homebrewed beer. M'eh, I thought.

So having read reams of info on here I decided to fiddle with it a bit. So, second attempt I added a tin of Lyle's Golden Syrup. Result: still pale, still not very hoppy but a little better than before.

For the third go I made a Christmas brew with it. I added a muslin pouch filled with 2 cinnamon sticks, 4 cloves, 2 oranges cut into quarters with skin on and a teaspoon of nutmeg. Result: still pale, still not very hoppy but a very palatable xmas brew.

I've got another one on the go now and this time, as well as the required kilo of sugar I've added 500g of dark muscavado sugar and a tin of black treacle. Result: still in the fv, but early signs are good. Gravity down to 1.010 from 1.046, much darker (although still more of a pale ale than a copper bitter) with a caramel flavour in the background, still not very hoppy but the sample from the trial jar tastes great.

Next time will be the same muscavado and treacle combo with some extra hops chucked in :thumb:

In conclusion, brewed as intended, it's ****. Thin, light and pretty flavourless. Ok for guzzling around the barbie. But when it's only a tenner, or sometimes reduced to 8 quid, it's great for experimenting. I'll continue to buy this one and fiddle around with it, until I get enough gear together to try my first biab :

 

[cask is best]

Since people are adding so much to these kits to up the body/hops. Wouldn't it be easier to just wack 2 tins in together with a packet of yeast at 40 pints and have done?

That would double the cost. Say it's a tenner now. would rather put the other tenner to and buy a wherry

 

[Frogbrew]

I'm drinking this now, too soon really I know(bottled 10 days ago) but I'm liking it.
Brewed short to 20l, 750g brewing sugar, 250g muntons msdm, sg 1044/fg 1012 after 10days. All bottled and bottle primed.
Brewed before using just brewing sugar to 23l and was a bit too pale and watery.
I couldn't resist buying another in the sale at 7pound 50, a bargain IMO. Also got the Mexican cerveza at same price so will get that going tomorrow .
I would recommend this kit at the price usually 10pound, tweak it to your liking..