Coopers kits

[fatsack]

One of my roommates decided to use a coopers kit to brew his first instead of going the non-kit route. I thought it was really watery and had a weird nickel taste to it. maybe it was just his though

 

[48classloco]

Hi everyone, I'm from Australia the home of Coopers. I rekon ive made just about every kit that coopers have produced and in my opinion you can stuff em up if you let the brew temp get above 21 -22 degrees, I think the yeast tends to sweat and leaves behind the "homebrew taste" we are all trying to avoid.
The best brewing time is winter when the max ambent temp in about 15 Degrees. sit the fementer on some insulating material and pitch the yeast at 22-26 Degrees then wrap the wort in a big beach towel and just let it go.
Apply no heat, the heat from the fermentation process is enough to keep the brew between 17 -20 degrees. It may take about 10 days to ferment out.
All coopers kits contain ale yeasts that work best between 14 - 25 Degrees.
so we you are making a larger you are brewing it with a ale yeast.

 

[cyclops]

Started a Mexican Cervesa and just bottled it last Fri. I found this site just last night and with some threads I thought I screwed everything up. Now I feel a little better though after reading through this thread. I followed the instructions but substituted 2# of honey at the reccomendation of my LBS. My temp did rise over six days fermenting though as I live in FL, day six was 78 degrees when I bottled.
I do have a question though. If if want to move onto using DME and some corn sugar or honey what kind of ratio do you reccomend. Also can you please explain the boil with flavoring hops a little.

Thanks for the reassurance.:rockin:

 

[Brew_Weasel]

Let's see... free Cooper's English Bitter kit from a buddy at work. How about if I make a 2.5 gallon batch from it and add NOTHING else. What do you think? Too bitter?

I wish there was a breakdown of AAU in their kits so you could convert to see what a smaller batch would do...

 

[mikeysab]

I wouldn't go that far. Maybe 5 gallons, instead of six, but I'd say cutting it in half wouldn't be too good. Check English Bitter recipes and see if any of them use any flavorings. When you boil your dme, add the flavoring, or steep some grains to add to the kit. I just did a Winter Warmer with steeping grains, and the wort tasted fantastic. I never tried brewing coopers kits any way but the way the can says to do it. If I were to fall into a coopers kit now, I'd do something to it. They make drinkable beers, but if I'm going to spend 35 dollars on a kit, I'd rather get a kit from Norther Brewer or Williams brewing.

 

[petep1980]

See my recipes for a killer ESB.

 

[PHillBrewCo]

So I've just received the Coopers Kit for my birthday. I'm excited to get brewing but I will be making a trip to the LHBS for some stuff instead of using just the lager extract and the brewing sugar. I figure on getting another can of extract or some DME or both. Maybe some hops to dry hop or do a simple boil. Some yeast. Not really sure of the method I'll go with at this point. I've just been reading as much material as I can. Don't want to bite off more than I can chew and figure to keep it as simple as possible for my first brew. I'd prefer to make an Ale despite already having the lager extract. Any suggestions as to which way to go with mixing or not mixing the lager with another liquid extract is appreciated. Actually, any and all suggestions are appreciated

 

[petep1980]

I don't think you want to do too much liquid extract. Liquid extract is not as fermentable as dry extract and your final gravity may end up too high. FYI, it'll prob end up pretty high anyways. One of the only ways to get low final gravities is to do all grain brewing. As long as you're doing lager you'll find a large portion of the sugars unfermentable.

Welcome to the addiction.

 

[PHillBrewCo]

Thanks, Pete!

 

[DOGBOY]

Coopers is brewed in Australia,which was a colony of Englang ,which uses imperial gallons like Canada.....Therefore it is packaged to produce 5 imperial gal or 6 gal U.S.so it depends where you are...

 

[Austinhomebrew]

A lot of old school shop owners will tell you to only make 5 US gallons out of the kits. There is absolutely no benefit in doing this. Why lose 10 beers. If you want more alcohol add more malt. If you want more hops boil an extra ounce in a quart of water for an hour and add it to the beer.

Forrest

 

[ruffdeezy]

Cooper's kits are only $13 cdn at grocery stores around here but are nearly $20 us at every lhbs store I see and online.

 

[Chips]

Coopers is brewed in Australia,which was a colony of Englang ,which uses imperial gallons like Canada...

I don't think we (Canadians) use imperial gallons. Before learning to brew and trying to decipher how much liquid to add, I'd never even heard of imperial or us gallons (only 'gallon')!
Most kits here are labeled in terms of liters...although it's been a while since I've read the label of a Cooper's kit for a while. But as far as I remember they make 23 L.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

23L is 6 US gallons.

Forrest

 

[gunnyg]

gallons, litres, US, Imperial, etc., etc.!!!!!!!!!!
it's like the time of day--DST,EST, etc.
i don't give a big rat's @$$--just leave it one way or t'other, and bigbro gubmint cease butting in!

 

[Carrion]

I have a batch of the Sparkling Ale maturing in the bottle right now. I made it per the directions. There was a sale on it at makebeer.net. I'm on their mailing list. All kinds of goodies come my way.

 

[Frankdaatank24]

My first beer that I ever made was a Coppers Kit, I believe it was an ale kit, can't remember off hand, but what I do remember is that it tasted outstanding! Made me want to make more, and yea here I am here lol.

Anyways, I do remember adding more liquid malt extract to my brew, and the final hydrometer reading was around 6.5%. Highly recommend their kits!

 

[rangerbrew]

I plan on picking up a Coopers Real Ale Kit, what kind of DME should i add?

 

[Shooter]

Light DME usually does the trick for most beers.

 

[SMOKEU]

I plan on picking up a Coopers Real Ale Kit, what kind of DME should i add?

Don't bother with DME. Add a few Coopers kits together instead.

 

[Ol' Grog]

Going to try one of these. Someone school me. If I'm going to make 5 gallons, do I need to add DME still? Do I need to boil this stuff like we do with say a Brewers Best kit? I'm not a hop head and these being pre-hopped, I shouldn't have to add more hops, correct? Sorry for the ignorance, but haven't had a lot of time to research this and I want to try another "type" of extracts. Thanks.

 

[Shooter]

Going to try one of these. Someone school me. If I'm going to make 5 gallons, do I need to add DME still? Do I need to boil this stuff like we do with say a Brewers Best kit? I'm not a hop head and these being pre-hopped, I shouldn't have to add more hops, correct? Sorry for the ignorance, but haven't had a lot of time to research this and I want to try another "type" of extracts. Thanks.

You'll need to add more fermentables. Even if you go for five gallons, instead of the full six, you're still going to be a little short. For a six gallon batch I normally add an additional pound each of dextrose and light DME and 1/4 pound of malto dextrin. I've done this with both the Mexican Cerveza and the Sparkling Ale. You can also add LME or even a second Coopers can. I boil the additions for about ten minutes and then I take it off the heat and add the can of LME.

I wouldn't say either of the two I've made have been very hoppy. So, if you're not big into hops, I think you'll be fine.

 

[EoinMag]

Going to try one of these. Someone school me. If I'm going to make 5 gallons, do I need to add DME still? Do I need to boil this stuff like we do with say a Brewers Best kit? I'm not a hop head and these being pre-hopped, I shouldn't have to add more hops, correct? Sorry for the ignorance, but haven't had a lot of time to research this and I want to try another "type" of extracts. Thanks.

Try the stout kit made up to 6 US gallons with a kilo of medium DME, it'll make a lovely stout.
Just boil the additions, not the main kit.

 

[JDC03270]

You'll need to add more fermentables. Even if you go for five gallons, instead of the full six, you're still going to be a little short. For a six gallon batch I normally add an additional pound each of dextrose and light DME and 1/4 pound of malto dextrin. I've done this with both the Mexican Cerveza and the Sparkling Ale. You can also add LME or even a second Coopers can. I boil the additions for about ten minutes and then I take it off the heat and add the can of LME.

I wouldn't say either of the two I've made have been very hoppy. So, if you're not big into hops, I think you'll be fine.

Sorry about all the questions.

okay I'm brand new to this and think I want to use coopers for my first time.

For a 6 gal batch your saying i'll need: (to make a better beer)
2# LDE
2# Dextrose
1/4 # malto dextrin
and 5 oz corn sugar for priming.

am I missing anything?

and then just make it the way that the can says even with the added stuff?

does this go for every type of coopers can? (think I'm going to make the wheat one first)

Thanks for the help!

 

[Ol' Grog]

I ordered the "extra" pack from AHS with the Coopers kit. That was about 6 weeks ago. Haven't tried it, it's on deck. But, it smelled and looked good when I racked it. I mean, nothing out of the ordinary from doing full extracts, partials or even late additions. It was a bit darker than you'd get with late additions, but that is understandable.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

Sorry about all the questions.

okay I'm brand new to this and think I want to use coopers for my first time.

For a 6 gal batch your saying i'll need: (to make a better beer)
2# LDE
2# Dextrose
1/4 # malto dextrin
and 5 oz corn sugar for priming.

am I missing anything?

and then just make it the way that the can says even with the added stuff?

does this go for every type of coopers can? (think I'm going to make the wheat one first)

Thanks for the help!

For one can it is 1 pound dme and 1 pound of corn sugar 1/4 pound of Malto Dextrin (optional but improves the beer)
and priming sugar.

 

[Shooter]

For one can it is 1 pound dme and 1 pound of corn sugar 1/4 pound of Malto Dextrin (optional but improves the beer)
and priming sugar.

Yep, exactly what I do for six gallons. If you order from Austin Homebrew Supply it's easy, because you can just order their additional fermentables pack. Another thought, I normally just use the included Coopers yeast on these kits. It's only a small 7g packet for a full six gallons of beer. I've never had an issue when I rehydrate, but yeast fuel might not be a bad addition.

 

[JDC03270]

Thank you for the help guys!

 

[jturie]

I've been using Coopers since my re-start of HB. I think they make very good beer, although someday when I go All Grain I might look back and laugh.

I added 3# Light DME (Munton's) to their IPA can and it was fabulous and easy. Their stout is also great. I will move on because I want to start "traditional" extract brewing with hops, liquid yeast and crystal malt etc., but no complaints from this old newbie.

 

[Shooter]

I've been using Coopers since my re-start of HB. I think they make very good beer, although someday when I go All Grain I might look back and laugh.

I added 3# Light DME (Munton's) to their IPA can and it was fabulous and easy. Their stout is also great. I will move on because I want to start "traditional" extract brewing with hops, liquid yeast and crystal malt etc., but no complaints from this old newbie.

Pfft, I certainly wouldn't worry about it. I've started moving slowly into mashing, but I still brew the occasional Coopers kit because I enjoy it and I get beer out of the process. It's not the best beer, but every time I cook, I don't always make steak, sometimes I eat ramen noodles and, you know what, they're damned good!

I don't know, some people need to defend their AG habit like they need you to see their shiny new truck. Compensating for anything?!?!?