Next up...Coopers IPA

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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Jaoqua

Next up...Coopers IPA

Post by Jaoqua » Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:16 pm

Brew #2 is going to be a Cooper's IPA (1.7kg) kit.

I have bought a pack of Munton's light spraymalt to go with it but the kit says also add 300g of dextrose. Although brewing sugar was on offer (is that dextrose?) I am intending to just use granulated sugar.

Also I went looking for S04 but there wasn't any; just Young's dried yeasts and some 'turbo yeast' in a slightly alarming packet. So the plan is to use the Cooper's yeast.

I have previously asked for advice on hopping up a beer and Steve gave an interesting suggestion (boiling the hops first in the water before making up the kit), but for this first IPA I'm going to just stick with the kit.

So...
* Does anyone have any recommendations for using a Cooper's IPA kit?
* Is the Cooper's yeast any good or is it worth ordering some S04 online?
* One half-plan of mine (for the future) is to make up 40 pints of IPA from two 1.5-1.8kg IPA kits in order to get a stronger beer and more hops (obviously not adding any sugar). Is this advisable?
* I'm going to us a Camden tablet to prepare my water first. As I understand it Camden tablets retard the yeast (amongst other things) so is there anything I have to do between crumbling the tablet into the water and then making up the kit?
* Is it worth using finings when kegging?

Lastly, those of you who keg from the FV via a tap, how do you attach a small tube to the tap? I've had a look at the tap on my (new) FV and it looks like I can jam the tube into it OK, but the beer will leak down the sides.

JayBee

Post by JayBee » Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:46 pm

Great choice. I`ve just finished bottling my second one tonight as I loved the first. I intended to use the supplied yeast the first time but it seemed a bit lifeless when I tried to rehydrate it and although it may have been OK I just don`t have the confidence in a small sachet so used an S-04 that I had got in reserve. I would always keep something in reserve anyway nowadays and the 11.5 gram sachets are well worth it at £1 or just over.
I use 1 kilo of light spraymalt and around 100 grams of brewing sugar to assist things and have found that making the brew up to no more than 20 litres is the way to go. I use 3 bottles of 5 litre bottled water as well, I think it is 95 pence a bottle and removes the worry of treating water or using tap water which may or may not be good quality.
As much as I enjoyed my first IPA I thought there was something missing and after nosing around on here I realised it was the aroma so I bought a pack of finishing hops ( Goldings ) again at just over £1 so well worth it and added to the brew. Its just a shame that it will be 3 weeks or so until I can report the results but I have used a couple of the kids small pop bottles for testing samples which may not last too long.
For bottling I have bought a tap and I think its called a "little bottler" which fits snugly over which makes the bloody awful job of bottling a lot easier and avoids waste ( must get a bottle tree next ).
I bought finings a few months ago but never needed them so shouldnt worry, mine cleared really well in the bottles which I primed with half a tea spoon of brewing sugar.
Good luck, its a really good kit.

Tidyguy

Post by Tidyguy » Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:42 am

im halfway through brewing this kit- first ever brew of any kind at all. its been bubbling away for 4 days in ma cupboard now, and activity just seems to be slowing. used 800g of beer enhancer kit (from art-of-brewing.co.uk) instead of sugar. OG as 1.033, current SG is 1.006, giving an estimated abv of 3.49% - does this seem about right? gonna leave it in the fermenter until monday when ive got a day off, then barrel. any suggestions of what sugar i should barrel it with? didnt bother with any hops etc as its my first ever brew

maxashton

Post by maxashton » Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:37 am

If you can get it, glucose is a good bet. Failing that, ordinary cane (table) sugar at a rate of 1/2 tsp per pint or 1 tsp per litre.

Jaoqua

Post by Jaoqua » Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:38 am

Thanks, all.

As a result of your posts I will get some S04 or similar. I may also get a packet of Goldings too. JayBee, what exactly did you do with your hops?

I will use granulated sugar in place of dextrose this time and see what I think. If I have to brew another 40 pints, with dextrose, on another occasion, well, I can live with that.

I am still concerned about the camden tablet so I'll post that as a question on its own.

JayBee

Post by JayBee » Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:38 pm

It depends how much you want from your hop bag. If you want bitterness and aroma then steep it in a cup of hot water and then add the water and hop bag to the fermenter at the start. I just wanted a little aroma so I dropped the bag in the FV for a week. I`m still finding my way so didnt want to add anything dramatic until I find out a bit more about which hop suits my tastes.
I only used table sugar the once and was a little disappointed with the result although that may have been the result of something else being my first brew, also a Coopers kit.
After that I bought a bag of brewing sugar and liked the results using it for bottling so will stick to it in future.
Tidyguy, it sounds as if you could have added a little more to the mix to give a bit more body and up the OG, some spraymalt would have been good especially if you`ve gone for the full 40 pints. I made mine up with 1kg light spraymalt and 100 grams of brewing sugar and topped up to 35 pints which I find is about right for a 40 pint kit, for my tastes anyway and I got an OG of of 1044. You should get a nice light tasting IPA, it takes a couple of goes and some trial and error to find how to make it to your own taste anyway. I`ve only made 5 brews myself and it almost sounds like I know what I`m talking about.
Don`t be worried about asking questions on here as there are plenty of people with loads of experience to share.

Tidyguy

Post by Tidyguy » Sat Aug 02, 2008 12:15 am

sorry for hijacking your thread Jaoqua, just seemed to make more sense to post my questions in here than starting a new thread.

JayBee - with regards to adding extra sugar, what would happen if i was to chuck in an extra load of sugar(say 200g) now? would it shaft my brew completley? or would i end up with a stronger beer?

got a kilo of glucose with my kit, so will use that for priming.

stevezx7r

Post by stevezx7r » Sat Aug 02, 2008 12:28 am

TG, if you just want to increase the ABV, use less water :wink:

Adding too much sugar (T+L) will make the beer taste cidery, although 200g probably wont be noticable and will increase the ABC slightly.

Also, if you wanted to add hops you can do that once you rack it to either secondary or barrel. If you plan on racking to seconday, get a muslin bag and add say an ounce (28g?) and throw it in for a week. If you want to barrel it do the same but leave it for the whole maturation/drinking process for a real nice hoppy ale :wink:

Tidyguy

Post by Tidyguy » Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:19 pm

Kegging Day finally! beer has been reading an SG of 1.004 for 3 days now, so i guess its ready to barrel. Ive got a kilo of glucose for priming, any ideas on how much i should be using? its a 20 litre brew

Damfoose

Post by Damfoose » Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:01 pm

From the instructions in the 2 kits ive done / am doing and all the research ive managed to do over the past few weeks most people say 80 grams or their abouts . The kit instructions ive got say 80 grams mixed well in 250 ml of boiling water let cool to room temp and bung it in the bottom of the barrel then carefully siphon the brew into the barrel job done leave for at lease a week 3 if you can bear the strain ..

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