How Do I Brew A Perfect Coopers Pale Ale?

[np1962]

How Do I Brew A Perfect Coopers Pale Ale?

Get very rich, and make the Coopers family an offer they can't refuse, and buy the brewery.

Other than that, the advice in earlier posts is good.

That Lion Nathan bloke tried that. They wouldn't sell! God love the Coopers family. :icon_cheers:

 

[AndrewQLD]

I'm interested to get some ideas on how to get the Coopers Pale Ale kit to closely match the commercially produced version.

To date I've tried two kits using the same approach ... essentially the Coopers Pale Ale kit, Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 and Nottingham yeast (due to the currently colder temperatures in Canberra). Whilst both brews have turned out good, there are a few differences which I'd like to resolve:

1. When first taking a mouth full of the commercial version, the immediate taste has a strong very distinct flavor, whereas my home brewed version seems similar but much weaker in flavor/strength.
2. The commercial version has a nice bitter aftertaste that holds in the throat for several seconds after drinking, whereas my kit version doesn't seem to ... basically there is very little aftertaste.
3. When drinking the commercial version I seem to notice the effects of alcohol much quicker than when I'm drinking my home brewed version ... ie. If I drink 6 beers of the commercial version the effects of alcohol are very noticeable; however, if I drink 6 beers of my home brewed version the effects are minimal.

Coopers Pale Ale is by far my favorite beer, so I'm really trying to get my home brew to taste as close to identical as possible, and I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to do this.

1. That distinctive taste is from the yeast, the most important thing you can do is use the yeast, recultured from a bottle of CPA or CSA. You will need to culture up to a 2 lt starter. Make sure you ferment on the cooler side, 16-18.

2. The bitter aftertaste is not just the hops, CPA is fermented down to 1.004-1.006 and is quite highly carbonated. The combination of low F.G and high carbonation along with the Bittering hops leaves a dry bitter aftertaste.

3. As for the alcohol effect I could only guess, perhaps like me you tend to drink a beer you really like a bit faster and tend to notice the effects quicker?

Andrew


Edit: Just noticed the OP was from 2009, talk about being behind the times, I must be getting old.

 

[Nevalicious]

1. That distinctive taste is from the yeast, the most important thing you can do is use the yeast, recultured from a bottle of CPA or CSA. You will need to culture up to a 2 lt starter. Make sure you ferment on the cooler side, 16-18.

2. The bitter aftertaste is not just the hops, CPA is fermented down to 1.004-1.006 and is quite highly carbonated. The combination of low F.G and high carbonation along with the Bittering hops leaves a dry bitter aftertaste.

3. As for the alcohol effect I could only guess, perhaps like me you tend to drink a beer you really like a bit faster and tend to notice the effects quicker?

Andrew


Edit: Just noticed the OP was from 2009, talk about being behind the times, I must be getting old.

Andrew, your version of CPA clone in the DB is one of my house beers! Fantastic! Thanks for sharing all those years ago.

The yeast and the ferment temperature are the clinchers though.

Get those right and you're two thirds there I reckon.

:icon_cheers: