How Do I Brew A Perfect Coopers Pale Ale?

[Chill1]

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.

 

[Cube]

Step one is use the yeast from the commercial beer. Use the search function for this. " re-culturing coopers yeast" as a search will bring results or check out the wiki's under the articles link on this site.

Temp control etc etc and find a recipe/clone on here.

 

[RagingBull]

Try doing a search on culturing the coopers yeast from a bottle of your fav brew. (You can drink the rest!) just save the dregs and don't lay em down and roll em over

Additionally look at adding some extra pride of ringwood hops as a boiled addition with some light dried malt.

There are some recipes going round in the recipe DB that will set you on the right track. :icon_cheers:

 

[manticle]

It's pretty much been summed up in the above responses.

Essentially the Coopers taste will come from

1. The malts they use (and how they use them and how much and so forth)
2. The Hops they use (and how they use them and how much and so forth)
3. The yeast they use
4. Their fermentation and maturation processes

1. The malts should hopefully be in the kit goo. You could add some dried malt extract as well as , or in place of whatever sugar you are using for extra strength and body.
2. The bittering stage of the hops additions should be in the kit goo. Flavouring additions may be lacking. I think they use pride of ringwood and cascade, both of which are available for purchase online or at some homebrew shops. Hops provide the bitterness when added early in a boil. They provide flavour and aroma when used later. Generally kits don't need to be boiled but you could combine some of your water, some dried malt extract and boil it, adding hops at various points along the way.
3. The yeast in the kits is different to the yeast from the bottle but as mentioned above, you can culture the yeast from the bottle. Follow the instructions linked.
4. Ferment at good ale temps. Coopers claim between 21 and 27 but keep it closer to 21 (or even a couple of degrees lower). Try and maintain a constant temp rather than allowing major fluctuations.

At the end of the day Coopers have a big brewery and lots of staff and you have a plastic fermenter and a tin so don't expect an identical product. The joy of homebrew is that you have some tweaking control over how your product turns out and YOU made it but you will struggle to replicate a commercial brew. By replicate I mean clone/exact/identical/ copy. You will still get a nice beer that comes close if you follow proper techniques and use good ingredients.

 

[Bribie G]

Yup the original yeast is essential. The yeast that comes under the lid of the tin is not actually Coopers yeast. I understand that the brewery yeast does not lend itself to being dried and pelleted so they use an outside yeast, Mauri 514 Ale yeast made in Toowoomba and a good allround yeast with good temperature tolerance.

With the Coopers yeast from the bottle it's very easy to breed it up as long as you are fanatical about cleanliness. I currently have an all grain version on the go and cultured up a good starter from the dregs of two Coopers Sparkling tallies, ready to pitch in 36 hours. You will need to ferment at below 20 degrees, preferably about 18, because if you let it go much above 20 it will push banana flavoured esters.

Coopers don't do a late hop addition, they only put in Pride of Ringwood (AFAIK) for a 90 minute boil. Also because modern Australian malts are a bit lighter than they were early in the 20th Century they colour the beer up a bit by adding some crystal type malts. I read in the BYO magazine that a good crystal malt to use is Carared. What I would do, actually, (feel free to flame me anyone) is not to use the Coopers Pale Ale kit at all. What I would do if doing a Kits n Bits version is:

Coopers Lager tin, yup that's right the Lager

150g Carared steeped in 2 litres of hot water
Boil steepings for at least an hour with 15g Superpride or 20g Pride of Ringwood and 100g sugar

1kg Light dried malt extract and a further 100g sugar

No secondary, bottle straight out of primary and prime heavily if you are doing the 'sparkling' version.

:icon_cheers:

 

[big78sam]

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.

I love Coopers Pale as well. It was my favourite but after brewing for a while I found I've became a bit of a hop head. In my last batch I added some cascade hops that give a wonderful burst of flavour. In my opinion it's better than the original. Just my 2 cents...

 

[roverfj1200]

I have taken a liking to the Pale ale.. too

Has anyone got anything new to add..

Have the yeast on the go now..


Cheers

 

[manticle]

QLD Kev sent me a bottle of coopers pale clone that was very much like the commercial but much fresher tasting. I believe a single bittering addition of PoR fresh flowers went into that as well as the recultured bottle yeast.

 

[Bribie G]

I'd go my suggestion I made last year and use Coopers LAGER kit and darken it up a bit with Carared or Crystal, and use say 20g of Pride of Ringwood to give the authentic hop. However on re reading, I'd go one step further and try a Coopers lager toucan (two tins).

The reason I wouldn't use the Coopers Pale Ale kit as such is because it's fairly well bittered with their hop extract already, and that doesn't leave you with much leeway to introduce POR to emulate the hop flavour of the commercial product, so a less bitter kit would be better. The reason I would try toucan is that the commercial version is all malt IIRC, or at the very most 5% sugaz so you don't want to be putting in a heap of sugar or BE2 whatever into the brew.

 

[BoilerBoy]

iIf your going to use extract some sugar will be necessary to to get the attenuation as Bribie suggested 5% would suffice.

Having said that the closest you will get that I found early on when I first started brewing was a partial mash that included some raw / unmalted wheat that gives a tartness that I find in CPA every time I try it and the recultured yeast is just obviously essential.

Generally speaking, a can of extract with some pilsner or ale malt, some unmalted wheat witn the addition of some freah POR is easily managable with most standard kitchen equipment.

Cheers,
BB

 

[roverfj1200]

On the coopers kit..

The kit would seem to be under hopped by a fair amount.. at around 15IBU and most recipes seem to be around 28IBU (Have I worked that out right) so in this case the kit could have more hopping added?

Would this be a better option? And if using extract would it be better to use a wheat than straight malt?

Cheers

 

[Stinger]

I have taken a little different approach, Taking the Coopers pale ale and shooting for more of an American Pale Ale style.

Recipe
two cans Coopers Pale Ale Extract
500gm LDME
50gm Cascade hops pretty well all dry hopped (few minutes in freshly boiled water)

used yeast from a couple of CPA stubbies that was multiplied in a wort of LDME and cascade hops that I cooked up on the kitchen stove.

Not sure if I have gone overboard on the hops a little but the calculator I have been using suggested that I would end up in the vicinity of 40 IBU (with 10 minute boil which I didnt have), hoping for the citrus flavour and aroma to punch through and approx 5% ABV

yeast went in a little cold out of the fridge and took a day to get going but now bubbling like crazy

 

[Yob]

Coopers don't do a late hop addition, they only put in Pride of Ringwood (AFAIK) for a 90 minute boil.

it's my understanding that POR is more of a bittering hop than one used for flavour or aroma? hence the 90 min. boil only?

edit :icon_offtopic: Not an attempt at a perfect CPA Clone

Iv'e got some POR in the fringe (pellets) and hesitated to dry hop it into a CPA brew and instead went for 15g Cascade and 10g Perle.. we will see how it goes..

planning other thing for the POR when I get back from OS.. this is the last I shall manage till November... B) :angry:

 

[BeerSwiller]

PoR will taste nasty if dry hopped, I have tried late additions of PoR also and seems to have.a strong herbal/dirt type flavour.... As a buttering hop I love it and CPA clone is the main brew I make now, but never will I attempt adding late in the boil again..... And never dry hop!

Just my 2c

 

[Yob]

As a buttering hop

He's from Niw Zuland

 

[BeerSwiller]

Sorry, iPhone Predictive text

 

[warra48]

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.

 

[climbatize]

I've found the Coopers Pale Ale kit can not all that bitter in comparison to the commercial version. I've been drinking their commercial Pale ale for a long time and it's just a great everyday drinker. Sparkling ale for when it's been a **** day at work. I must say that I agree with big78sam that the kit cans can really be spruced up easily with some citrusy hops. I'm only about to have a crack at my third brew, so i'm inexperienced, but I know what I like.. and fruity/floral beers are awesome. I think i'm becoming a hop head fast.

I have taken a little different approach, Taking the Coopers pale ale and shooting for more of an American Pale Ale style.

Recipe
two cans Coopers Pale Ale Extract
500gm LDME
50gm Cascade hops pretty well all dry hopped (few minutes in freshly boiled water)

I'm about to brew this combo up tomorrow morn. Only I'm going to use Amarillo, Galaxy & Cascade.

 

[woodwormm]

but after brewing for a while I found I've became a bit of a hop head.

hehe,... my mates and I all try to out hop each other now... 5 years ago it was chilli...

does anyone else find hops like chilli? the more you have the more you love, the more you need...

anyways back on topic..

my best Coopers Pale style beers have been so close to the real thing, some non-brewing mates accused me of having a coopers keg in the fridge...

i blame kegging for giving my beers a great flavour (completely believe in co2 carbonation versus priming...)

anyways the recipe was

1 tin Coopers Pale ale
1 tin coopers light malt extract
300g maltodextrin
US05 pitched and fermented at 18 celsius.

don't know how or why but sometimes i end up with that lovely coopers sour taste, maybe a yeast thing. i reckon culturing from a bottle would be better.

 

[BeerSwiller]

Couldn't see the kit yeast giving an authentic flavour , hard enough brewing AG using recultured yeast, pitching a big starter and fermenting low (16c)