Thomas Coopers Brew A IPA

[jackgym]

Hi, anyone tried the newish Cooper's kit beer, Brew A IPA?

 

[damoninja]

Not the kit but the Cooper's brewed one kinda sucks IMO.

 

[Grott]

Hi, anyone tried the newish Cooper's kit beer, Brew A IPA?

Yes and not a bad drop IMO, hoppy enough for me and refreshing. I use the light liquid malt extract with good results.

 

[gdupagne]

Yes I found it had a real malty caramel taste when it was young but matured into a great beer. Could do with adding extra hops for sure

 

[mongey]

I tried it twice when it first came out and it made decent beer. both batches were def high in the caramel stakes

I think I get better beers with the pale ale and real ale with some additions though.

 

[PaulG79]

I've got one just bottled at the moment, used the lower alcohol Coopers recipe, 500gms ldm + 500gms dex. Bitter and thin tasting, straight off the wort but I think it'll mature into a nice beer. I made the craft IPA recently, the Diablo one, it turned out quite nice but it has this almost medicinal fake hop taste, I guess cos they were trying to cram as much hops into the tin as you'd get from a commercial strong IPA. I hope the Brew A isn't like that, cos then it would need dry hopping for sure.

 

[jackgym]

I just tried my Cooper's brew IPA after being bottled for 2 weeks.

I used this recipe:
1 tin Coopers Brew A IPA
1.5kg light dry malt
US05 yeast

Not a bad drink, fairly bitter but that was subdued a bit because of the amount of malt.
A better indication will be after another 2 weeks, then I can decide if it needs any additives.
I'm a big fan of just using a simple recipe without having to boil hops etc. but sometimes that's necessary.
Not a big fan of dry hopping as the effect disappears too quickly.
I prefer a 10 minute and a 5 minute rolling boil at the start which adds flavour but not too much bitterness.
(especially with the Brew A as it is already fairly bitter).
A lot of brewers seem to chase aroma, but I prefer to boil hops to extract taste more than aroma.

I would appreciate any alternative (or better) advice you may have.

 

[Aussie Mick]

I brewed this: http://store.coopers.com.au/recipes/index/view/id/124/

I substituted the hops for Cascade and Amarillo.

After kegging and force carbing it was very bitter, but very quickly transformed into a really nice beer

 

[PaulG79]

http://store.coopers.com.au/recipes/index/view/id/8/

This is the one I did a couple weeks back that I mentioned above.

After 2 weeks I'd have to say it's not very good. Has a nice bitterness and I don't mind the less malty IPA's, but it's got a yuck sweet cidery tang to it. Not sure if I used too much dex or whether it just needs time, or the bottle wasn't clean enough. But anyway. Definitely not infected. I think beers like this show up the limits of K+K, with Coopers I always seem to have more success the simpler the beer. And it shows they're not wrong when they tell you to go nuts with the LDM. I have a suspicion I might just not like the flavour with this kit because I brewed a couple of the old Coopers IPA can before they changed ranges over, and I didn't like that either.

 

[PaulG79]

Anyone got any tips for the Coopers fermentables? I've been making more adventurous beers with real ingredients which are good, but I like to have a decent supply of cheaper less alcoholic beer around - and the Coopers stuff is great, I don't have to think ahead since I live next to a Big W.

Eg, would BE2 plus 500G LDM produce a better result than this recipe? BE1? BE3 + LDM? I don't really know anything about the differences you can expect from the diff. concentrations of dex, malto etc.

 

[Grott]

Personally with kit and kilo brews I don't like dextrose as I feel this leans towards that "kit tang" people talk about. My preference for the Coopers kits is the liquid malt extract with the dry coming in second, these in my opinion produce a top drop. The different Coopers enhances contain varying amounts of malt, dextrose and maltodextrin and are the cheaper option.

 

[PaulG79]

Thanks Grott. I've had some success with BE1 and BE3 making low alcohol recipes like Lawn Mower Lager, and the Dark Ale. I did that to save money on the dark ale but it was still nice. Needed more malt though. One thing I notice is head retention seems to be better with the brew enhancers than when I use all malt. Not a big deal really. If you use the LME, what sort of alc/vol should you expect for a kit + a tin? I thought they would produce a lower alcohol beer.

Think I'll give the liquid malt a go though, I'm not so bothered about the price anymore - would rather have a decent beer. I've tried the malt pouches for the craft range and you can tell the quality difference immediately.

 

[Grott]

With a 23 litre brew a 1.5kg tin of liquid malt will give you 5.1% alcohol. If you want a lower level use half a tin of Coopers or the pouches and that will give 4.1% without really weakening the flavour of your drink. Cover the other half of malt in the tin with glad wrap or seal the pouch and put in the fridge for your next brew. (Note:- it thickens in the fridge so before using, warm up by placing in a sink of hot water).
For head retention buy a bag of maltodextrin and add 150gms to the wort.

 

[PaulG79]

Thanks for the advice, 5.1% is probably fine, it's the 6.5% in the craft recipes (added malt) that commands a bit more respect. Too easy to drink and then you remember it's Wednesday and you've got work tomorrow . And you think the flavour is a step up from the dry malt? I'm gonna try both and see what I like better, got lots of random ingredients lying around.

 

[Grott]

Must admit I like the Mr Beer 8.5 litre IPA's but they are strong in terms of alcohol. I keg into a 9.5 litre keg and usually just have the one or two to start my drinking session off.

 

[PaulG79]

I made the Diablo one recently with 500g LDM, it was pretty decent I thought although I think it got drunk before it was at its best. And I'm not sure if LDM was a good idea . Have you tried the Long Play IPA? I've seen a few reviews saying its better. Been thinking of buying the collar and brewing it to 10 litres just to take the edge off a bit and get some more value for money out of it.

 

[Grott]

Long play is the better, just add the yeast and no other additives and I think you'll find it a lot better.

 

[PaulG79]

That's good to know, I was a bit disappointed with the Diablo. I feel like it wouldn't really be a good beer without extra hops and I don't know if that's the message you want to be sending to novice brewers who might've got the kit for Christmas or something. It tastes like it's got a bunch of different hops in it and the flavour sorta blends into this fake mediciney taste. Might've been better if they tried to keep it simpler.

 

[Chuckie]

Hi, anyone tried the newish Cooper's kit beer, Brew A IPA?

I've brewed it twice now. Both times it tasted like rubbish. I like IPA's but this new tin is just not any good IMHO.

 

[Grott]

I've brewed it twice now. Both times it tasted like rubbish. I like IPA's but this new tin is just not any good IMHO.

Well what did you brew with, dextrose, enhancers, malt? What temperature did you ferment at, how long ect?
You just need to tell us what you did for each brew so we can eliminate any real fault in your processes. Just saying something is rubbish is not really fair without some detail.