Coopers IPA tastes like $---T

[yewtah-brewha]

I brewed this up and bottled a month or so ago. I do not like the tase. The wife says it tastes like muhrr spice. I think shes right. Short of dumping it. Is there anything I can add to this to soften the blow, sometimes people will eat green olives or add lemon to corona, has anyone advice! It carbs fine and retains a nice head, I have been drinking it at about 36 degrees. Help me help my taste buds. I also dont get much of a buz, I think cause It takes me so long to drink it. about 20 bottles left! YIKES!

 

[Euripidez]

Have you ever had an IPA before you brewed it? Did you make it right? What was your hop schedule?

 

[BryceL]

Use it to cook with! Marinade some steaks and grill them up.

 

[EyePeeA]

Anything Coopers tastes like $--T. So do most pre-made kits with their worthless instructions and forced upon ingredients. Upgrade, bro.

 

[BlackRock]

You could make Chili with a bottle in it. Maybe do a beer batter waffle or pancake as well. It might also taste better with age. If you have it bottled then no need to dump it, just make another batch and store those guys. Try one every once in a while and see if it gets better over time, who knows.

 

[unionrdr]

I make some good beers out of Cooper's cans. It just takes imagineering. They just don't wind up the beer they started out as.
And the Cooper's IPA is the English version. Not one tiny bit like American. That's the difference. Their's are more bittering than anything to make it last the months long trip to troops in India.

 

[chumprock]

And the Cooper's IPA is the English version. Not one tiny bit like American. That's the difference.

This is likely why the results were different than your expectations.
Did you add any additional ingredients, or was it just a hopped extract in a can?

 

[Shooter]

I make some good beers out of Cooper's cans. It just takes imagineering. They just don't wind up the beer they started out as.
And the Cooper's IPA is the English version. Not one tiny bit like American. That's the difference. Their's are more bittering than anything to make it last the months long trip to troops in India.

I'm developing a house IPA around the Coopers IPA can. I add steeping grain and do a series of late hop additions to a ten minute partial DME boil before throwing in the can. I also usually swap out the kit yeast and dry hop. It's not the cheapest route, but it's the easiest beer I make and results in a surprisingly drinkable beer for little effort.

 

[yewtah-brewha]

Have you ever had an IPA before you brewed it? Did you make it right? What was your hop schedule?

pre-hopped I had no control. and I probbaly shouldn't have boiled it for 45 minutes as the can stated to just add hot water!

 

[yewtah-brewha]

Anything Coopers tastes like $--T. So do most pre-made kits with their worthless instructions and forced upon ingredients. Upgrade, bro.

This was my 3rd brew. I have since been doing allgrain, 2nd batch of allgrain and sofar so good. I will try an all grain IPA as I have had them and thought they were good.

 

[yewtah-brewha]

This is likely why the results were different than your expectations.
Did you add any additional ingredients, or was it just a hopped extract in a can?

yes, I added no additional hops! I did do a pound of dme thats it!

 

[yewtah-brewha]

I'm developing a house IPA around the Coopers IPA can. I add steeping grain and do a series of late hop additions to a ten minute partial DME boil before throwing in the can. I also usually swap out the kit yeast and dry hop. It's not the cheapest route, but it's the easiest beer I make and results in a surprisingly drinkable beer for little effort.

If I ever get another can of coopers anything, I will try your method.

 

[skw]

pre-hopped I had no control. and I probbaly shouldn't have boiled it for 45 minutes as the can stated to just add hot water!

Boiling it for 45 min surely didn't help it. I brewed the coopers IPA just recently with US-05 yeast and cascade sry hopping and it came out just fine.

What was the pitching and fermentation temperature?

 

[unionrdr]

I'm developing a house IPA around the Coopers IPA can. I add steeping grain and do a series of late hop additions to a ten minute partial DME boil before throwing in the can. I also usually swap out the kit yeast and dry hop. It's not the cheapest route, but it's the easiest beer I make and results in a surprisingly drinkable beer for little effort.

This sounds very similar to what I've been doing with Cooper's cans since my 2nd or 3rd batch. Makes a good beer with a few add ons.

pre-hopped I had no control. and I probbaly shouldn't have boiled it for 45 minutes as the can stated to just add hot water!

Ah,here's the problem. NEVER boil pre-hopped extract for any amount of time. It destroys the designed in hop profile. Add pre-hopped extracts at flame out. This is about the same as how the instructions tell you to add it in the FV with boiled water. Except it's now in the brew kettle with everything else & can be steeped to pasteurize before chilling.
This preserves the hop profile,which will now add to whatever hop/malt/steeping grains flavors you add to it. I have the Thomas Cooper's Select Heritage Lager in bottles now that I added a micro mash too to turn it into a dark hybrid lager.

 

[Yooper]

If I ever get another can of coopers anything, I will try your method.

I wouldn't bother. It's easier to just start with a quality kit that doesn't need tweaking to be good, or just buy plain DME or LME to start with.

 

[unionrdr]

I wouldn't bother. It's easier to just start with a quality kit that doesn't need tweaking to be good, or just buy plain DME or LME to start with.

While using,say,a midwest E/SG kit,the Cooper's cans will surprise you if used in basically the same way. Another fun way to experiment with different beers when your starting out. That's what I did for a couple years with Cooper's cans,Munton's DME's,& hops. Work up a good brewing process & it'll open up all kinds of new ideas. Adding partial mash to Cooper's cans seems to be the new craze just starting up. Even craigtube's doin it. I just bottled one a week ago with this method of adding PM to the Cooper's Heritage lager can.

 

[andy6026]

Ok, yesterday I just bought a can of the coopers pre-hopped IPA for my next batch, so I'm glad this thread already exists. I also bought 1 kg of Medium DME, and 100 grams of fuggles hop pellets.

Please give me some guidance here on when to add things to the pot, as unionrdr suggested on my last batch that I'm not to boil the pre-hopped extract for an hour.

So what actually ought to get boiled, the Medium DME? If so, all of it or some of it? And for how long?

Add the coopers can at flame out...

And what about the extra hops I bought? I don't have a secondary so no intention of dry hopping. My LHBS told me to ad the hops at flame out.

So what gets boiled, if anything, and for how long?

Thanks!

 

[unionrdr]

Ok, yesterday I just bought a can of the coopers pre-hopped IPA for my next batch, so I'm glad this thread already exists. I also bought 1 kg of Medium DME, and 100 grams of fuggles hop pellets.

Please give me some guidance here on when to add things to the pot, as unionrdr suggested on my last batch that I'm not to boil the pre-hopped extract for an hour.

So what actually ought to get boiled, the Medium DME? If so, all of it or some of it? And for how long?

Add the coopers can at flame out...

And what about the extra hops I bought? I don't have a secondary so no intention of dry hopping. My LHBS told me to ad the hops at flame out.

So what gets boiled, if anything, and for how long?

Thanks!

Use half the DME in a partial boil of 2.5-3.5 gallons. 28 grams of hops @ say 20 minutes & again @ 10 minutes. Add the Cooper's can at flame out,since it's still boiling hot. Stir to dissolve,cover & steep for a few minutes to pasteurize. Which happens @ 162F. When the beer hits FG & settles out clear or slightly misty,you can dry hop in primary with a hop sack for a week. Many of us do it in primary now. After the week dry hop,prime & bottle.

 

[andy6026]

ok great! Thanks very much. And sorry to pester, but let me just make sure I've got your terminology correct with this recap:

1) Boil 2.5-3.5 gallons of water, and add 500 g of the DME and 28 grams of the hops which together will continue to boil for 20 minutes.

2) With 10 minutes left, add the other half of the DME (500 g) and another 28 grams of hops.

3) At flame out ad the can of coopers and let it steep for a few minutes at around 162F.

4) Bring it down to pitching temp (and is this where I add the remaining water?), pitch yeast and ferment as normal.

5) Once FG is achieved, dry hop the remaining hops via sack in the primary for about a week.

6) Bottle as normal.

Have I summarized the instructions correctly? My apologies for being a bit slow here...

Thanks once again.

 

[unionrdr]

ok great! Thanks very much. And sorry to pester, but let me just make sure I've got your terminology correct with this recap:

1) Boil 2.5-3.5 gallons of water, and add 500 g of the DME and 28 grams of the hops which together will continue to boil for 20 minutes.

2) With 10 minutes left, add the other half of the DME (500 g) and another 28 grams of hops.

3) At flame out ad the can of coopers and let it steep for a few minutes at around 162F.

4) Bring it down to pitching temp (and is this where I add the remaining water?), pitch yeast and ferment as normal.

5) Once FG is achieved, dry hop the remaining hops via sack in the primary for about a week.

6) Bottle as normal.

Have I summarized the instructions correctly? My apologies for being a bit slow here...

Thanks once again.

Stir in half the DME first. Then add the first round of hops & set the timer for 20 minutes. Then at 10 minutes,ad the second round of hops. At flame out quickly stir in the remaining DME & the Cooper's can completetly. What I meant was that the wort will still be boiling hot when you do the late flame out additions. Cover & steep a few minutes. since it's still 180F plus,it'll pasteurize,since that happens at 162F,& you're way above that at that point.

 

[andy6026]

Got it now. Thanks very much!

 

[unionrdr]

Aaaaalllrighty then!

 

[Shooter]

This sounds very similar to what I've been doing with Cooper's cans since my 2nd or 3rd batch. Makes a good beer with a few add ons.

Yeah, it's really not bad at all. If I had time to brew all-grain every time I would, but with the kids and other errands, I have to brew something else a good 50% of the time, sometimes partial mash, but usually an extract batch. If I'm REALLY pressed for time, but want to get beer in the pipeline, this Coopers IPA kit is kind of my go to.

 

[BigJack]

pre-hopped I had no control. and I probbaly shouldn't have boiled it for 45 minutes as the can stated to just add hot water!

Here is the issue. By boiling a no-boil kit, you made it waaaaaaaaaaay too bitter.

 

[BigJack]

Anything Coopers tastes like $--T. So do most pre-made kits with their worthless instructions and forced upon ingredients. Upgrade, bro.

Bull. Kit beers done right can be damn good.

 

[yewtah-brewha]

Boiling it for 45 min surely didn't help it. I brewed the coopers IPA just recently with US-05 yeast and cascade sry hopping and it came out just fine.

What was the pitching and fermentation temperature?

I followed the instructions. it think it was 65 and my house temp is about 70

 

[yewtah-brewha]

good to hear that some of you are having success with the kits. I agree I shouldn't have boiled it not even for a minute. If I do another kit. I will boil water to kill any bacteria, and then chill the water to 180 and then add the canned malt. I wish this thread was here when I was starting mine! I watched a vid and the guy took hot tap water and added it to his bucket, I would not do that. I will soon have my bachelors in beer brewing if I have all you as professors!

 

[yewtah-brewha]

I should tell you, I took a few of the ipa's along with some amber ales to my moms house this weekend, she puts her stiens in the frezer to chill them. we poured one in a pre-chilled stein. I swear it wasn't that bad, infact she liked it better than the amber ale that was my favorite. It was the best one of the batch todate for sure!