Coopers English Bitter

[peekaboo_jones]

Hey y'all,

I usually do all grain but I picked up a kit can the other day for $6 and am going to whip up a quick keg filler.

It'll probably be more of a Golden/Red Ale
What do you think of this recipe?

21L batch
Coopers English Bitter kit
1kg light dry malt
200g CaraMunich 2
20g Amarillo and 20g Centennial hop tea (don't need bitterness just want aroma and slight flavour)
2x kit yeast rehydrated.
Ferment at 19C
Cold crash to 10c then dry hop with same hops and qty as above.

Cheers!

 

[Yuz]

I'm not the one to comment on the specifics of you recipe, but I've just sampled my latest "f.. it" batch that basically consists of:
1) Coopers Dark Ale can
2) 300g of Honey (real local stuff from the wogs' farm)
3) 10g of Hallertau MF - effectively dry hopped (pellets dropped in the can with boiling water and into the wort)
4) 3rd generation W-34/70
Made 19L, pressure fermented at 10PSI.
It's quite bitter (I'm not complaining) and is sort of like a Stout (not as strong and obviously without any coffee / roasty elements)
Quite nice... I don't know what to call it lol "April Random" maybe?

 

[Cheap Drunk]

I just got an English bitter kit. I also got be3 because i don't want a mid-strength beer. I was thinking about mashing some rolled oats with it, which I will toast first. So I'm wondering if this is a good idea, and if so do I need to mash with the be3 in order to convert the starches in the oats? And how much oats should I mash if I want to get a beer about 5-5.5%? Or should I make it up to less than 23L to achieve this. Or some combination of both.
I have some saaz and perle hops ordered. Would it be a good idea to use some of these for dry hopping? A lot of questions I know. I'm also considering just making the kit almost as is, given it seems to be perhaps the best rated Coopers kit of the lot.

 

[altone]

Well the hops don't sit right for an English for me - they are basically German hops.
I'd be looking at East Kent Goldings and or Fuggles instead.

Not sure oats are needed either but probably best to mash with the BE3 for a while if you add them.

 

[Cheap Drunk]

Well the hops don't sit right for an English for me - they are basically German hops.
I'd be looking at East Kent Goldings and or Fuggles instead.

Not sure oats are needed either but probably best to mash with the BE3 for a while if you add them.

I might just go without hops this time then. Would either of them go with a coopers Cerveza kit? I have a can of that and was thinking it could use something.

 

[Cheap Drunk]

So does anyone know if rolled oats actually need to be mashed with other malt extract, or are they already gelatinised? And after the mash, can I just chuck it straight in the fermenter, or do I need to boil for a bit? I've never done anything more than kit and kilo.

 

[altone]

So does anyone know if rolled oats actually need to be mashed with other malt extract, or are they already gelatinised? And after the mash, can I just chuck it straight in the fermenter, or do I need to boil for a bit? I've never done anything more than kit and kilo.

Well, always better to mash with some malt all the books say so, but so long as you are using rolled oats and mash them at 66 to 70 for say 30 mins
then bring to the boil for a minute or 2 it will work out fine.
But why not add some malt - it's really cheap only a couple of bucks.
Base malt - not specialty. Even malt extract should do the trick.
Were you not using BE3? you can use that, it should be enough.

Without the malt you may not get conversion but you'll still get mouthfeel from the oats.

 

[Cheap Drunk]

Well, always better to mash with some malt all the books say so, but so long as you are using rolled oats and mash them at 66 to 70 for say 30 mins
then bring to the boil for a minute or 2 it will work out fine.
But why not add some malt - it's really cheap only a couple of bucks.
Base malt - not specialty.

Without the malt you may not get conversion but you'll still get mouthfeel from the oats.

Thanks. I am going to use be3 as well as the oats, so 500g ldm, but I wondered if it needed to go in the mash. I just imagine it would make sparging a bit easier without it.

 

[altone]

Thanks. I am going to use be3 as well as the oats, so 500g ldm, but I wondered if it needed to go in the mash. I just imagine it would make sparging a bit easier without it.

Yep chuck it in the mash - I edited my post after your reply.

Sparging? weren't you doing a kit and bit?

Just mash it boil then dump into the rest of your ingredients through a sieve.

 

[Cheap Drunk]

Yep chuck it in the mash - I edited my post after your reply.

Sparging? weren't you doing a kit and bit?

Just mash it boil then dump into the rest of your ingredients through a sieve.

Gotcha. Yes just kit and a bit but I have a grain bag and no strainer. I was just going to put the oats in the bag and tip the be3 into the pot. Then put the bag in a colander and sparge.

 

[altone]

Gotcha. Yes just kit and a bit but I have a grain bag and no strainer. I was just going to put the oats in the bag and tip the be3 into the pot. Then put the bag in a colander and sparge.

Well the oats in the bag will work but sparging those oats is probbly not needed. Won't hurt though.

 

[Cheap Drunk]

Well the oats in the bag will work but sparging those oats is probbly not needed. Won't hurt though.

I wasn't hoping to get any more out of the oats, more trying to reclaim any of the be3 that might get stuck to the oats and bag.

 

[altone]

I wasn't hoping to get any more out of the oats, more trying to reclaim any of the be3 that might get stuck to the oats and bag.

In that case if you're going straight into the fermenter use cooler water just to wash that stuff out

 

[Cheap Drunk]

In that case if you're going straight into the fermenter use cooler water just to wash that stuff out

Cheers mate

 

[Cheap Drunk]

So I mashed 375g of oats for an hour along with 1kg of BE3. Very porridgey btw. Put it in the FV along with the 1.7kg English bitter can. Pitched yeast at 26.5°C because it had taken 90 minutes to get to that point. OG was 1.042. Does that OG seem a bit low? Does to me.