New style Coopers IPA kit... any good?

[Canuck137]

2+ years into brewing I still like to do a kit sometimes... just fast and easy... I mess with them a bit, adding extra hops and doing a carapils steep usually.

Anyway, the guy at my LHBS says this "new" batch of Coopers kits are significantly better. Perhaps its fresher malt or improved yeast?

I was wondering if anyone else thinks the newer (last 6 months?) Coopers kits are really any better?

I got 2 ounces mosaic to use with it too, probably do a 20 min boil with one ounce and dry hop with the other. Thoughts?

 

[seabrew8]

Tell us about it if its good.

I'm fast becoming a fan of steeping hops for 20 or 30 minutes after the boil. You gets lots of IBUs too.

So another option is to steep for 20+ min and then dryhop.

 

[Canuck137]

Absolutely, if you are going to do kits, you have to mess with them at least a little bit, add hops, grain steep or other additive like orange peel... It can make a BIG difference...

Haven't made a kit in awhile, since they changed the labeling and supposedly formula sometimes within the past 6 -7 months. Will be interesting to see if it changed much or if I will even be able to tell lol.

 

[bucfan1234]

Like you, every once in a while I just want to throw something together quickly. Sometimes I just don't have time to put in a full brew day. Anyway, about three weeks ago I decided to order a coopers Australian Pale Ale kit (for some reason my wife and I like that one). I didn't know about any changes, but the can had newly designed label.

Boiled my Malt extract for ten minutes in 2L, stirred in the Coopers can at flameout, topped with cold tap water from the sink and pitched the yeast after it cooled a bit. All in all, it turned out good. As good as I remember it, maybe a bit better after two weeks in the keg.

Something to be said for a 30 minute brew day. lol

 

[Canuck137]

I think kits get a bad rep for a few reasons... mostly bc they are done by beginners who don't have the general "best practices" down yet, temp control, sanitation, yeast hydration, Irish moss etc...

Also, making them "as is" you won't really get the most out of them. You need to do a carapils steep, maybe dry hop, use DME over dextrose etc...

I'm not "pro-kit" exactly, no matter what you do to a kit it will never be as good as partial mash or all grain, but like you said, its nice to have a 30 min brew day.

 

[bucfan1234]

Those are great tips.

Yes, all grain and partial mash will be better, but I have made some pretty good beers with hopped can kits. One I like, is the Coopers wheat can blue moon clone. Fast, easy and pretty decent results. Wife loves it.

The best tip I ever got with the pre-hopped cans like coopers was not to boil the hopped extract, but instead stir it in at flameout. The logic being that the wort is hot enough to sanitize it and by not boiling the hop character in the concentrate is preserved.

I also like to use dry malt extract with pre-hopped cans because I think it cuts down on extract twang, which I can taste but my better half does not.

 

[Canuck137]

Well... I gotta say its not bad, not amazing I guess but for a kit it doesn't get much better. It comes off s a fairly legit IPA extract brew.

I actually think the older style Coopers IPA was more hoppy... this one is a little lighter sadly, but its also possible my hop tolerance has gone up in the past year.