went to lhbs very negative about coopers
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lady_brewer
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Yes I have, although it is still one of the things I am reading through... have to get around to printing off sections so that I can peruse it while at work
Atm I am poking around this site and jumping in where I am tempted to. I fully expect to be redirected, so please continue to do so!
As I sit here and drink my Coopers IPA I find this discussion really interesting. I am guilty of buying kits to start my homebrewing and thinking that was homebrewing was. It certainly was what my Dad did for years. In fact he asked if I was using Coopers when I started brewing (all of 3 months ago). I am not even sure if my LHBS sells hops or any of these other things one should have for actual homebrewing. If it weren't for the internet I wouldn't even know what I was missing!
So, some questions if I may? I am finding that my IPA has an unexpected taste. I had passed it off as a hoppy bitterness, not being very used to hoppy beers (evil commercial beer) but now I am wondering if it is more the "twang" that was mentioned that is more associated with the kits? At this point it has been in the bottle for over 5 weeks, so still not aged a whole lot, but also not very green.
I read in the link that Revvy posted that one could boil the malt from the kit (the extract? Must go find a dictionary of terms, I am sure there is one here in a sticky
Either way the dozens of Coopers I have brewed will be drank, and they have inspired me to start looking to step up my brewing.
PM me your address, and I'll send you a couple of homebrews (not at the moment- I'm really low! But in a couple of weeks) and you can see if the "flavor" you get is the same. I have an Imperial IPA that will be ready in about two weeks.
I'm not a fan of cooper's, but I've done many other extract beers with good results. In order to make a good extract beer, you need super-fresh extract (not the canned stuff), some freshly crushed grains, and some hops.
remilard
Well-Known Member
As I sit here and drink my Coopers IPA I find this discussion really interesting. I am guilty of buying kits to start my homebrewing and thinking that was homebrewing was. It certainly was what my Dad did for years. In fact he asked if I was using Coopers when I started brewing (all of 3 months ago). I am not even sure if my LHBS sells hops or any of these other things one should have for actual homebrewing. If it weren't for the internet I wouldn't even know what I was missing!
So, some questions if I may? I am finding that my IPA has an unexpected taste. I had passed it off as a hoppy bitterness, not being very used to hoppy beers (evil commercial beer) but now I am wondering if it is more the "twang" that was mentioned that is more associated with the kits? At this point it has been in the bottle for over 5 weeks, so still not aged a whole lot, but also not very green.
I read in the link that Revvy posted that one could boil the malt from the kit (the extract? Must go find a dictionary of terms, I am sure there is one here in a sticky
Either way the dozens of Coopers I have brewed will be drank, and they have inspired me to start looking to step up my brewing.
Boiling hopped extract, if anything, would increase bitterness (if there were un-isomerized alpha acids present from late hop additions). It would severely reduce any hop flavor or aroma present, and this would need to be added back by hop additions to the boil.
I would strongly recommend that you either use hopped extract as directed or by unhopped extract and hops. And I strongly recommend the latter.
Assuming there was 2 weeks before you bottled, 7 weeks is far from young for an IPA. Hoppy American Ales and IPAs are on their way out by then, IMO.
grasshopper1917
Well-Known Member
Well I have to say over the past 3 years ive probley made atleast 150 gallons of Coopers beer. I have seen alot of 'all grainers' and 'partial boilers' say that pre hopped kits make an inferior beer.
Presonally Im not a beer expert - just a regular guy who wants a beer that tatses good and I enjoy drinking. I enjoy many types of beers allgrain homebrewer,microbrewed and even regular 'BMC' beers like budwieser.
In my opinion coopers to me makes great beer. I have really enjoyed every kit I have brewed and my friends love them too - All I know is we find they taste good - they are easy and fun to make - and I like to experiment with different things to make the taste different. Coopers is a good product.
I think the only way to know if its for you is to give it a try - I love it
Cheers
Presonally Im not a beer expert - just a regular guy who wants a beer that tatses good and I enjoy drinking. I enjoy many types of beers allgrain homebrewer,microbrewed and even regular 'BMC' beers like budwieser.
In my opinion coopers to me makes great beer. I have really enjoyed every kit I have brewed and my friends love them too - All I know is we find they taste good - they are easy and fun to make - and I like to experiment with different things to make the taste different. Coopers is a good product.
I think the only way to know if its for you is to give it a try - I love it
Cheers
EoinMag
Well-Known Member
As I sit here and drink my Coopers IPA I find this discussion really interesting. I am guilty of buying kits to start my homebrewing and thinking that was homebrewing was. It certainly was what my Dad did for years. In fact he asked if I was using Coopers when I started brewing (all of 3 months ago). I am not even sure if my LHBS sells hops or any of these other things one should have for actual homebrewing. If it weren't for the internet I wouldn't even know what I was missing!
So, some questions if I may? I am finding that my IPA has an unexpected taste. I had passed it off as a hoppy bitterness, not being very used to hoppy beers (evil commercial beer) but now I am wondering if it is more the "twang" that was mentioned that is more associated with the kits? At this point it has been in the bottle for over 5 weeks, so still not aged a whole lot, but also not very green.
I read in the link that Revvy posted that one could boil the malt from the kit (the extract? Must go find a dictionary of terms, I am sure there is one here in a sticky
Either way the dozens of Coopers I have brewed will be drank, and they have inspired me to start looking to step up my brewing.
What fermentables did you add as the kilo part? If you used all dme or lme then it might be down to freshness of extract, otherwise if you used glucose as on the instructions, that'll probably be it. The twang in my experience is normally the extra fermentables added, specifically, corn sugar, cane sugar or glucose, if you use malt extract then you won't get a twang in my experience.
Coopers make some really good kits, their stout made up with malt extract is really really good and they're easy to knock out. I've only just moved onto extract brewing but Coopers kits make a really nice base for experimentation or if you just take the simple kit and kilo approach using malt extract they also make a very palatable easy to make beer.
Don't knock the Coopers, they're not the biggest kit and kilo makers in the world for no reason.
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