Dark Lme + Coopers Dark Ale

[eddy401]

hi,
im just wondering, would adding darke liquid malt extract (1.5kg) be a good idea for coopers dark ale? or would it be too much 'dark'. id like a sort of coffee/chocolatey taste, but without using grains or anything else too difficult, and i dont think ill be able to get hold of any appropriate hops before brewday.
so i was thinking
coopers dark ale
1.5kg thomas coopers dark liquid malt extract
kit yeast

simple as, so im not expecting anything special from it, something towards commercial coopers dark ale would be nice
maybe add some coffee or cocoa? havnt researched that at all though

 

[Lecterfan]

For my taste the end result will be way too sweet (but that's me...I'd rather a drier old fashioned tooheys old - not the current batch - than a coopers dark ale). If you don't want to mess with any grains or hops or fancy yeast I would sooner try 500gms dextrose and 500gms light dry malt. The dextrose will ferment out to give you an alc content, the 500gms malt will give you some body and sweetness without the overly cloying sweetness that dark dry/liquid malt can sometimes have.

Better yet ignore me, do it your way this time and then try it different next time. Keep records and see which you prefer.

Just my 2c from my kits era. I didn't make many batches from the coopers dark cans that I liked...but then I'm not a huge fan of the coopers dark so go figure hee hee. The ones I did like had wyeast liquid yeasts and used grains, but that is not what you asked for.

Good luck, cheers...
R.

 

[michael_aussie]

coopers dark ale
1.5kg thomas coopers dark liquid malt extract
kit yeast

I agree.... go for it... and learn.
Where to you buy the 1.5kg thomas coopers dark liquid malt extract???
How much??

 

[eddy401]

ill get it from m LHBS, not sure how much, about 12-18 bucks i think, but i got the can for $2 from coles so not really any more expensive overall than usual.

I agree.... go for it... and learn.
Where to you buy the 1.5kg thomas coopers dark liquid malt extract???
How much??

 

[J Grimmer]

ill get it from m LHBS, not sure how much, about 12-18 bucks i think, but i got the can for $2 from coles so not really any more expensive overall than usual.

Please keep us posted on how it turns out. One of the guys at my LHBS claims it easier to make a light kit into a dark ale than using a dark kit so ive steered away from this kit.

J

 

[eddy401]

i ended up doing this:

100g nescafe gold coffee
400g nestle drinking chocolate
1kg DLME
added that to near-boiling water and stirred to dissolve
added to fermenter
1 can coopers dark ale
kit yeast

OG of 1040 (that was at about 26 degrees though, and im a little suspicious of my old hydrometer)

it smells really strongly of coffee which is what i wanted, i wanted cocoa but they only had home brand so i went with the drinking chocolate hoping its better quality
my LHBS sells dark liquid malt extract by the kilo, not the coopers 1.5kg cans so i just went with 1 kg after people said 1.5 might be too sweet anyway

will post back in 3 weeks or so after the first taste

 

[RobboMC]

If you like dark beer then intruduce yourself to the world of dark crystal malt.
Morgans used to make an extract of it, but sadly discontinued it, so now
the only way is to steep some grain. If you can make a cup of tea then you can steep grain,
just do it with HOT water, not boiling, by mixing 3/4 boiling and 1/4 tap water.

Try about 500g in a batch, your taste buds will thank you.

 

[eddy401]

ive seen crystal malt mentioned a lot around here, what exactly does it add? and why is it 'crystal'? for the 500g you suggested, how much water would you steep that in and for how long?

tasted the beer again out of the fermenter, very strong coffee taste and aroma, next time i might put in a bit less coffee, but hopefully it will mellow with some ageing.

If you like dark beer then intruduce yourself to the world of dark crystal malt.
Morgans used to make an extract of it, but sadly discontinued it, so now
the only way is to steep some grain. If you can make a cup of tea then you can steep grain,
just do it with HOT water, not boiling, by mixing 3/4 boiling and 1/4 tap water.

Try about 500g in a batch, your taste buds will thank you.

 

[felten]

Normal malted barley contains starches and enzymes right, when you mash them in hot water the enzymes convert the starches to sugar. In crystal malt the starches have already been converted to sugar inside the husk, which give it a crystalline appearance, hence crystal malt.

 

[keifer33]

The darker the crystal (higher ebc) the more caramel,toffe, roasted flavored they impart. Be warned and go easy on the darker ones as I was given bad info on one of my early brews and it was burnt caramel beer...horrible stuff. Don't be turned off as I have done many good ones with it.