Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale

[SiMania]

With Te$co doing Coopers kits for a tenner and me coincidentally ordering the 2 kits needed for this, I've decided to brew an Extra Strong Vintage Ale, possibly for a Christmas tipple.

For those of you who have tried it (Monkeybrew has!), which year is the best? I have some Nelson Sauvin, Centennial, Citra and Amarillo in my stock box with 350g of Crystal Malt, just need some Dextrose and perhaps more hops if I go with 2014 version. Any comments from experience appreciated.


ESVA 2012

1.7kg Australian Pale Ale beer kit
1.7kg Real Ale beer kit
1kg dextrose
30g Nelson Sauvin hop pellets
Commercial Coopers Ale yeast (or both sachets of kit yeast)

ESVA 2013

1.7kg Australian Pale Ale
1.7kg Coopers Real Ale
1kg Coopers Dextrose
300g Crystal Malt grains (optional)
25g Centennial hop pellets
25g Citra hop pellets
25g Chinook hop pellets
Commercial Coopers Ale yeast (both sachets of kit yeast or yeast of your choice)

ESVA 2014

1.7kg Australian Pale Ale
1.7kg Real Ale
500g Dextrose
300g Crystal Malt grains (optional)
25g Bravo hop pellets
25g Ella hop pellets
25g Galaxy hop pellets
11g Lallemand Nottingham Yeast

[Monkeybrew]

Out of the 2 ESVA's that I did, I would say that the recipe with Nelson Sauvin hops was slightly better and quicker to condition than my own 2012 recipe with Galaxy and Apollo.

I can still remember drinking my 2011 ESVA from a PB on the run up to Xmas

Cheers

MB

[SiMania]

Come on JBKers. I need some steering here and if it all goes to shit I can't just blame monkeybrew for it being crap. I'm home at the end of the week so will likely be putting it on then so need a plan prior to starting so I can pretend I'm a project manager in my hobby and don't just pretend to be one at work.


Can I buy a kilo of dextrose at the supermarket or do I have to trek to a homebrew shop or a wilkos or *shudders* te$co direct?!?!?!

[Exiled Bradfordian]

I don't think Tesco Direct sell Dextrose—they sell BKE though.

You might get dextrose in the supermarket or chemists sold as glucose powder.

Malt extract is available in liquid form in Holland & Barrett or Waitrose but I've never seen it in any other supermarket.

HtH!

[6470zzy]

Come on JBKers. I need some steering here and if it all goes to shit I can't just blame monkeybrew for it being crap. I'm home at the end of the week so will likely be putting it on then so need a plan prior to starting so I can pretend I'm a project manager in my hobby and don't just pretend to be one at work.


Can I buy a kilo of dextrose at the supermarket or do I have to trek to a homebrew shop or a wilkos or *shudders* te$co direct?!?!?!

I like the hop schedule of your 2013 recipe the best. If it were me, I would make the 300g of crystal mandatory and rather than bunging in a whole kilo of dextrose I would cut that in half and then add 500g of honey in its place. Much better for the beer in my opinion flavour-wise.

Cheers

[Monkeybrew]

Wilko sell 1kg bags of dextrose, and they are probably still on offer at the moment.

Cheers

MB

[SiMania]

Might get a chance to pop into wilkos tomorrow so will get some if they have it.

I have no Chinook though so if I go with the 2013, what can I substitute it with?

[WestyTwaalf]

Hi Si,

I made the 2013 version and it was "bloody luvely Mun" as Mr Wales would say. One of the best toucans I have made.

The amirillo goes well with centennial to save buying more hops. Never used Nelson so cant comment on them.

[SiMania]

I was on the M6 yesterday so stopped into Leyland home brew on the way home so have picked up the chinook I need for the 2013 version along with the dextrose (amongst other stuff that caught my eye).

I'll probably put it on tomorrow once I empty fv1 of the ditch's into the corny and bottle the coopers ipa from fv2.