Coopers cans

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Dally

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Long time lurker on this forum. I usually steep grains and use extract when i brew. I found some coopers cervesa and english bitter on sale and grabbed them hoping for a quicker brew day.

It recommends adding brew enhancer. Ive read that i can add malt extract, dextrose etc. i dont have any of that on hand. My HBS is closed today but i want to brew. Will this beer be any good out of the can or should I wait?

Thanks

I was wondering if i didnt add
 
The brew enhancers, 1 and 2, are dextrose and dextrose with DME. I had read on the Coopers' forum that using one can, and brewing half the volume, will provide an acceptable beer.

I have no experience with the Coopers kits though.
 
I've brewed all kinds of beers from the Cooper's cans. There's some ideas in my recipes. I like the English Bitter with a 3lb bag of Munton's plain light or extra light DME & an ounce of UK/EKG at 15 & 10 minutes for some flavor. I'd wait till I could get some DME & hops myself. Especially with the English Bitter. Makes a great bbq mop sauce & tastes great with smoky bbq! And the BE2 is dextrose, light DME & maltodextrin. Works fine, but I like the Munton's plain DME better.
 
Are these cans pre-hopped? Halving the volume may result in a beer that could be to bitter. Check out the IBUs if they are pre-hopped.
 
Yes, they are pre-hopped with pride of ringwood for bittering, generally. That is, bittering only in the Original Series. The others have flavor additions, but I don't know when, what or how much?...
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I think i will wait and add dextrose.

Cheers
 
Dally said:
Thanks for all the feedback. I think i will wait and add dextrose.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Dextrose will not behave any differently than normal table sugar. If that's all you need, just use the sugar in your house. I'd add the sugar to a cup or so of water, heat and stir to get it into a solution and sterilize, then add to beer.

Technically, you should use 10% less table sugar (by weight) than dextrose, but that's probably splitting hairs.
 
Another option, if you are going to wait to brew, is replacing half the weight of the sugar planned, with light DME to maintain more body in the beer.
 
Interesting! I have a Cooper's "Real Ale" (expired a year ago) in the primary. I believe I just used a pound of sugar with it , and some safale yeast. I wonder if it will turn out or be too weak because I didn't pump it up with some DME?
 
For the last two years ive only used these coopers kits. They turn out great.
 
Dally said:
Long time lurker on this forum. I usually steep grains and use extract when i brew. I found some coopers cervesa and english bitter on sale and grabbed them hoping for a quicker brew day.

It recommends adding brew enhancer. Ive read that i can add malt extract, dextrose etc. i dont have any of that on hand. My HBS is closed today but i want to brew. Will this beer be any good out of the can or should I wait?

Thanks

I was wondering if i didnt add
Click to expand...

The brew enhancer 1 is thought to be 600g dex and 400g maltodextrin.
Brew enhancer 2 is thought to be 500g dex, 250g of maltodextin and 250g of LDM.

You can produce very good beer from Coopers cans.

I usually steep about 200g (~7 oz) of crystal and add 1kg LDM as a starting point.
 
The VP of my company won a local competition, and the recipe was published in Brew Your Own magazine. Cooper's Lager, 1 pound extra light dry malt and 1 pound corn sugar. It's a great thirst quencher and very easy.
 
Does anyone do Cooper's cans withOUT boiling? It seems I read a lengthy discussion on this, and have since been doing all my cooper's kits by just boiling, and then going off boil and adding the extract, etc. and done. I heard boiling will alter the hop flavor already in the extract.

I did this no boil technique last year, but I can't remember if it was the batch that turned out well or not. So, I tried again this year with a one year expired "real ale". For some reason, the brew shop guy recommended just using 1lb of dextrose with that to amp it up. It's been in primary for over a week now. I tasted some the other day, and it looked and tasted ok for flat green beer.
 
mrorange38 said:
Does anyone do Cooper's cans withOUT boiling? It seems I read a lengthy discussion on this, and have since been doing all my cooper's kits by just boiling, and then going off boil and adding the extract, etc. and done. I heard boiling will alter the hop flavor already in the extract.

I did this no boil technique last year, but I can't remember if it was the batch that turned out well or not. So, I tried again this year with a one year expired "real ale". For some reason, the brew shop guy recommended just using 1lb of dextrose with that to amp it up. It's been in primary for over a week now. I tasted some the other day, and it looked and tasted ok for flat green beer.
Click to expand...

No need to boil the can.

Just heat in a pot of hot water and put it in the fv.

If I'm doing some late hopping, I do a boil of about a gallon with LDME.

Some of the cans have late hop additions which boiling will ruin. But not the original series, so boiling the real ale won't really do much. .... other than perhaps make it darker.

Most Coopers cans go really well with about 2 pounds of light dry malt and a half pound of steeped crystal. + desired hops. That should get you to ~4.7% ABV if using US05 or BRY97.
 
Never boil hopped extract, as it'll ruin the hop aroma/flavor profile. I add the cans @ flame out. I do partial mashes mostly, but will also still use plain light or extra light DME ( what you Aussie's cal LDM) for the boil & hop additions. Since the wort is still boiling hot at flame out, & pasteurization happens in seconds @ 160F, Bob's your uncle. You'll get lighter color & better flavor adding the can @ flame out.
 
unionrdr said:
Never boil hopped extract, as it'll ruin the hop aroma/flavor profile. I add the cans @ flame out. I do partial mashes mostly, but will also still use plain light or extra light DME ( what you Aussie's cal LDM) for the boil & ho additions. Since the wort is still boiling hot at flame out, & pasteurization happens in seconds @ 160F, Bob's your uncle.You'll get lighter color & better flavor adding the can @ flame out.
Click to expand...

Interesting so for the bitter you just boil the DME/hops? The standard one hour?
 
seabrew8 said:
Interesting so for the bitter you just boil the DME/hops? The standard one hour?
Click to expand...

Since his bitter recipe appears to be with 15 and 10 minute additions. I would just bring the DME to boil and start the 15 minute addition once it's boiling. The can added at the end provides all the bittering. I don't see a need to boil the DME any longer than necessary.
 
Yeah, I should've mentioned that. I forgot. I boil it like 20 minutes total to do the hop additions when they're only flavor &/or aroma additions. Makes for a quick, tasty pipeline filler! :mug:
 
unionrdr said:
Makes for a quick, tasty pipeline filler! :mug:
Click to expand...

Trying to keep three taps, plus a nitro tap going has gotten me pretty busy. That's why one of my taps is pretty much dedicated to a couple of alternating recipes based on modified Coopers cans and another is dedicated to quick sweet ciders. Leaves me two taps for larger extract, partial mash and all-grain batches, as time permits.
 
Pretty much it for me too. Or in this case, siphoning off 1 gallon out of the 6 gallon batch of bitter to make malt vinegar. I bottled the other 5 gallons, & still got 55-12oz bottles @ 2.1 Vco2. Quick ale for those weeks or days when I don't have time for mashing & need a pipeline filler. Gotta leave for jury duty soon...oh goody...
 

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