Comparison Taste Test - Kit V Kit+bits V Fwk

[Digger11]

This is my plan,

I have 3 brews going (or about to go). They will all be used as Xmas gifts for work colleagues, friends and brothers-in law.

They will all be asked to rate them out of 10 and clean the bottles and give back to me (if they ever want to receive more of my home brew in the future).

1. Standard Coopers MicroBrew Kit. Just Coopers Ale I think (Coopers Yeast under Lid).
2. Dr Smurto's Ale - the Kit version that includes the Steeped Caramalt and Amarillo Hops (US-05 Yeast0.
3. Grain & Grape Fresh Wort Kit #1 (US-05 Yeast).

Each bottle will be labelled with different colours (Red, White, Blue).

Will be interesting to see what the opinons are. I'll report back after the new year - I need to wait us, as Xmas is not until December, and I also want all of the brews to age for at least 2 months in the bottle.

The reason for doing this is that most of the beer I brew will be for this group as I don't drink much of it myself, but I am keen to go AG, but don't really have the time if the Kit or FWK tastes as good (to them).

Digger.

 

[thanme]

Cool idea

Look forward to hearing the results.

 

[brettprevans]

great idea. you just need someone to knock out an AG golden ale for you so you can have all 4 versions.

 

[lopeman]

anyone come back with results?

 

[Digger11]

Here are the results (you beat me by about 3 days lopeman !)

I gave 6 bottles (2 of each type) to 4 friends/relatives for Xmas.

1. Standard Coopers Kit that came in the brewing kit.
8/10 , 9/10 , 9/10 , 10/10.
- most commented on how smooth to drink it was

2. Kit version of Dr Smurto's Ale.
4/10, 0/10, 3/10, 5/10.
- the 0/10 tipped it out.

3. FWK with added Tettnanger Hops (as per Grape & Grain website).
5/10, 7/10,6/10,8/10
- most liked it a bit.

So overall the results were in line with my own taste tests. I am starting to think that I did something wrong when brewing the Dr Smurto's Ale. It has got a bit worse with age, not better as I expected. It doesn't taste off - just very very strong - I think the Amarillo totally overpowers it.

Fo all 3 brews - I followed identical process. 2 weeks fermenting at 20c, 1 week in fridge to clear, bottled with Coopers sugar drops.

So strange results - I am now brewing a plain old Coopers Canadian Kit at the moment and will see what that tastes like.

Is it possible that the new Coopers Kits are really quite good ? I really want to try BIAB but want the beer to taste better than a Coopers Kit for my effort.

 

[glaab]

mate, you must've stuffed up the DSGA, it's an excellent drop. Did you do the boil in straight water?

 

[bum]

mate, you must've stuffed up the DSGA, it's an excellent drop. Did you do the boil in straight water?

I've had a batch sitting around since September and I'm still not halfway through it. It is pretty ghastly. No infection detected. No temp issues during fermentation. I just reckon the Sparkling is a **** kit. All I get is twang with some nice aroma bolted on top.

 

[Digger11]

mate, you must've stuffed up the DSGA, it's an excellent drop. Did you do the boil in straight water?

I used water from the tap, if that is what you mean. In Melbourne the tap water is pretty good so I have always used it with no problem.
It has a really really storng flavour that I am pretty ure is the Amarillo. It smells really strong too - but is not an off smell and taste, jsut a really strong one. A bit hard to descrbe.

 

[glaab]

I meant did you use straight water or water with DME/ sugar in it? I've made it with Sparkling/ Real Ale and the old Aust Bitter and extract and they were all good.

 

[Digger11]

I used

1 can Thomas Coopers Sparkling Ale
1 can Coopers Wheat Malt

 

[bum]

He means in the hop boil. He's trying to estimate the gravity of the hop boil to see if very high hop utilisation is your problem. The recipe is (almost certainly) designed to have the hops boiled in 1040 wort.

 

[Digger11]

Sorry - yep I added 1/2 the can of Malt which was supposed to get the boil to around 1040. I followed Dr Smurto's instructions from another thread.

 

[glaab]

A good little experiment Digger but I's sceptical about the results. 10/ 10 for Coopers K&K ? My brother makes the Pale Ale [w/ BE2] and I'd give it 5/ 10 at best, but that's just my opinion. DSGA I'd give 8-9/ 10 just going by the extract. Plenty of times I've had guys here push LCPAs / LCBAs / Gage Rd IPA out the way to get at a bottle of extract/ K&B DSGA and done it myself. Just outa interest I'll bookmark this and do the same experiment and report back. My brother Leith will donate a few Coopers Pale Ale w/ BE2 [ he doesn't know it yet] and I'll use DSGAs extract [ fermenting now ] and find something else for the third beer.

 

[Digger11]

Good idea Glaab. Make sure it is a blind test like I did.

I tried an "olds wife bitter" last night, and expected it to taste like one of my stornger brew as on the bottle it talked about hops and IBU's and all of that stuff.
But surprisingly it was extremely mild compared to my brews number 2 and 3.

For some reason my brews 2 and 3 are really really strong - in taste and aroma. I am 99% sure I followed the recipes to a T though.

 

[svyturys]

I used water from the tap, if that is what you mean. In Melbourne the tap water is pretty good so I have always used it with no problem.
It has a really really storng flavour that I am pretty ure is the Amarillo. It smells really strong too - but is not an off smell and taste, jsut a really strong one. A bit hard to descrbe.

I accidentally did a similar experiment over Xmas. I presented my guests with 5 beers and let them serve themselves. The next day I did a bottle count and found that my more heavily hopped ones, (including a DSGA ) were barely touched. My lightly hopped quaffers featuring Cascade, POR and Cluster were the clear crowd favourites. I didn't mind since that left me with nice hoppy stuff to go with. I think it's got a lot to do with tasting experience, as none of the guests were homebrewers or micro fanatics.

Cheers

 

[Rod]

I give an assortment of beer to my two sons under the same rules
as your test

we three evaluate each brew on a 1 to 5 scale

My reason for doing this was I did not want to make brews that
I liked but they did not

One son likes the lighter low hopped brews and marks the heavier brews lower

The other son likes the heavier brews and marks the lighter beers lower

I like them all , the difference being not better or worse , but different

maybe your test has similar results

I tend to have a lighter brew for thirst and heavier brew for several drinks

 

[Digger11]

All very interesting.

I think I will brew a FWK again but not add any hops and see if that is to my liking.

That is probably the closest I'll get to all-grain without buying all of the equipment and will give me a good guide to see if Kits are good enough for me.

I am busting to try BIAB, but am worried that what I brew will be inferior to my (and my friends) taste buds to a very simple Coopers Kit.

 

[Bribie G]

The golden ale might just be suffering from 'extract twang'. I didn't brew for a month and nearly ran out, so I did a quick all-extract brew to catch up. I used the finest of malt extracts and hops and trusty US-05, fermented it cool - totally textbook. However it turned out tasting not much better than the extract brew my old man used to make up in a plastic garbage bin back in the 1960s using God knows what hops and yeast. I find that most kits don't have that twang to the same degree, particularly the Morgans lager styles for some reason.

As suggested in an earlier post an AG version of the Golden Ale would have been interesting as a test beer. Also some people (including myself) don't like most of the popular US hops such as Amarillo and Cascade. I prefer my citrus, grapefruit and passionfruit in a fruit salad, not my beer glass. Whenever I try a new beer such as Fat Yak or a Little Creatures offering I invariably shudder "here we go again :icon_vomit: ". The beers I make for the family and friends that get rave reviews are invariably my Carlton clones with a low hop rate of POR and maybe a bit of Saaz in the finish "ooh better than a Crownie"

If I were doing a taste test I'd do a straight Coopers or Morgans Lager, an AG Carlton clone with a bit of Euro Hop aroma and a FWK Pilsener.

edit: Digger you would have heaps of brewers living near you in E. Melbourne - maybe you could get along to someone's brew day and try a few AG samples, or is there a Melb club you could join? Give HoppingMad a PM.

 

[Khellendros13]

The problem is, IMO, that POR bittered and low flavour beers have been the aussie standard for a long time. It would be interesting to know the age and default beer of the 4 subjects.

It's a bit like trying to introduce Dio or Iron Maiden to your country music loving mum...some things are just not meant to be.

 

[Yob]

Naa mate, things have changed since 2010… lol