Coopers Dark Ale K&bits

[Boognish]

so i want to try and make a dark ale that tastes as close to the real thing as possible.... i have been brewing dark ale kits with a kilo of dry dark malt and US-04 with some success for a while now but after buying a sixer of coopers dark i could definately taste an english style hop in there so i bought 25gm of fuggles with the intention of chucking them in with a kilo of dry dark malt and then the tin of goo...

my question for suggestion is:

how long for should i be boiling the fuggles hops for... i dont really want to dry hop them but i dont want to put too much bitterness into the brew as the can is already pre-bittered....

im thinking of boiling 500gm of DDME with 5 litres of water and chucking in 12.5gm of fuggles @ 20min and the other 12.5gm @ 10mins?
then of course chucking in the rest of the DDME and the kit into the fermenter with some safale US-04

i had some amarillo left over in the fridge so i tried experimenting with that in a dark ale K&K a while ago... it turned out ok... it was interesting... interestingly pleasant. but not really a sessionable beer so i am thinking fuggles or kent goldings aroma will be the chestnut that i am looking for to compliment the maltiness of a good dark ale

 

[Jonez]

so i want to try and make a dark ale that tastes as close to the real thing as possible.... i have been brewing dark ale kits with a kilo of dry dark malt and US-04 with some success for a while now but after buying a sixer of coopers dark i could definately taste an english style hop in there so i bought 25gm of fuggles with the intention of chucking them in with a kilo of dry dark malt and then the tin of goo...

my question for suggestion is:

how long for should i be boiling the fuggles hops for... i dont really want to dry hop them but i dont want to put too much bitterness into the brew as the can is already pre-bittered....

im thinking of boiling 500gm of DDME with 5 litres of water and chucking in 12.5gm of fuggles @ 20min and the other 12.5gm @ 10mins?
then of course chucking in the rest of the DDME and the kit into the fermenter with some safale US-04

i had some amarillo left over in the fridge so i tried experimenting with that in a dark ale K&K a while ago... it turned out ok... it was interesting... interestingly pleasant. but not really a sessionable beer so i am thinking fuggles or kent goldings aroma will be the chestnut that i am looking for to compliment the maltiness of a good dark ale

I will soon be bottling a dark ale (tooheys) experiment. 300g brown sugar and 600g dex
on 20L. I only had cascade, tettnanger and super alpha hops, so went with cascade just to see what happened. I thought this may not work well but wanted to experiment.

I tasted the wort before piching the yeast and was surprised it was so good I could have drank all the sample if I wanted to. (not so for all the other beers I have made) this has been bubling for more than a week now at about 18C

 

[petesbrew]

so i want to try and make a dark ale that tastes as close to the real thing as possible.... i have been brewing dark ale kits with a kilo of dry dark malt and US-04 with some success for a while now but after buying a sixer of coopers dark i could definately taste an english style hop in there so i bought 25gm of fuggles with the intention of chucking them in with a kilo of dry dark malt and then the tin of goo...

my question for suggestion is:

how long for should i be boiling the fuggles hops for... i dont really want to dry hop them but i dont want to put too much bitterness into the brew as the can is already pre-bittered....

im thinking of boiling 500gm of DDME with 5 litres of water and chucking in 12.5gm of fuggles @ 20min and the other 12.5gm @ 10mins?
then of course chucking in the rest of the DDME and the kit into the fermenter with some safale US-04

i had some amarillo left over in the fridge so i tried experimenting with that in a dark ale K&K a while ago... it turned out ok... it was interesting... interestingly pleasant. but not really a sessionable beer so i am thinking fuggles or kent goldings aroma will be the chestnut that i am looking for to compliment the maltiness of a good dark ale

I'd say make it a 60min & 10min additions. Those amounts should give it just a nice hint, not an overload, of bitterness. I did 11g amounts of Styrian with a stout kit and it was just perfect.

 

[earle]

how long for should i be boiling the fuggles hops for... i dont really want to dry hop them but i dont want to put too much bitterness into the brew as the can is already pre-bittered....

I'd say make it a 60min & 10min additions. Those amounts should give it just a nice hint, not an overload, of bitterness. I did 11g amounts of Styrian with a stout kit and it was just perfect.

Given that you don't want to add much bitterness I wouldn't recommend the 60min addition. You won't get any flavour fropm it and it sounds like flavour is what your after. The 20min and 10 min additions that you suggest would add probably a few IBU but also flavour.

 

[Mickthe]

Just thought I would add that I have been making a similar brew and been steeping a dark ale grain pack from the lhbs (choc malt and crystal) and it has been a winner with a fuggles short boil and 04 yeast.

My latest variation leans towards a brown as i have used some Caramalt LME and also thrown in some treacle, it's probably just a touch on the sweet side at the moment (2-3 months in bottles) but it has been a corker just the same.

Mick.

 

[RobboMC]

The Coopers Dark Ale kit is a fairly basic one, it's a shame Coopers don't make a Dark in the Brewmaster range,
so it needs quite a lot of extra flavour. However this makes it a good base for dark kits and bits recipes.

Get some crystal grain and steep in hot ( not boiling ) water, boil in some Fuggles, Goldings or Halletau for 10-20 minutes
and you will have yourself a good dark beer. A small amount ( 100g ) of Black or Chocolate grain is nice as well.

The Muntons Nut Brown Ale is really quite dark and almost black and is a better quality kit, but at twice the price so it should be.
If you only add malts to this kit ( no sugars or dex ) you will have a world class result. Adding a can of Morgans Master Blend dark
is a truly wonderful dark brew.

 

[phinnsfotos]

I've got a can of the Coopers Dark ale sitting at home and I've been wondering what to do with it. Some good ideas here.

I"m thinking:

Coopers Dark Ale
1Kg Light Dry Malt
100gm CaraMunich II
100gm Chit Choc Malt
50gm Roast Barley (not so sure about this one)
20gm @ 20mins EKG
US04

We'll see how we go.

 

[Pennywise]

That looks like it'll come out good (apart from yeast choice, but I just don't like S-04). Don't think you'll find any choc chit any more, apparently they don't make it anymore, which is sad cause I really like it compared to regular chos malt. Here's one of mine (well it's a few beers really) just for comparison.


21L batch
Dark Ale kit
1kg LDME
200g Dex
300g Choc Malt (or 200g Carafa Spec 3 and 100g CaraMunich)
30g EKG @ 10 mins (or 15 @ 30 & 15 @ flameout)


Yeast choice seems to be different all the time for me, I've used Wyeast 1084, 1968, 1028, 1056, 1098 all with good results. I really can't decide which I like the most, but if I had only one it'd be 1084 I guess. Just gotta keep an eye on temp cause 1084 throws some diacetyl IMO

 

[felten]

What's a good alternative to choc chit available in aus? Something like TF chocolate pale? :icon_offtopic: