Advice on a planned brew!

[phynes1]

Hi All,

Beginner here. Just wanted to get peoples opinion on a brew I’m planning.

Just to give people a bit of background on my brewing experience. My first brew was a couple of weeks ago (coopers english bitter), this is currently bottled a few days now. My second brew was coopers IPA, which is in the fermenter a few days. Both were brewed with a 1.5kg can of LME, and no other additives.

I’m planning to put my next brew on whenever the IPA comes out of the fermenter. My plan is to take a step up in terms of complexity, as feel I am familiar with the process now. I’m planning to brew a higher strength, more hoppy IPA. Planned ingredients as follows:

- 1.7kg Can Coopers IPA
- 1.5kg Can LME
- 1kg Dextrose
- ?kg Hops

What do people think of this plan? And how do they think it will turn out, flavour strength, etc?

What type of hop would suit this? And how much?

Anyone have any tips on brew day, fermenting, bottling, aging, etc?

Note; the equipment I’m using is the basic coopers starter set.

All advice will be much appreciated.

Ph.

 

[timrox1212]

I don't have any experience with coopers kits but all I can say about the hops is look at a few clone recipes of your favorite IPAs. Look at the hops and pick a piece from each one. This is what I did for all my recipes in the beginning.

 

[masskrug]

I would take a step out of Cooper's World and create your own.

Do you have access to unhopped LME, steeping grains (crystal), maybe some DME? What hop varieties are available to you at the moment? Take a look at some ideas here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/

 

[45thparallelhopper]

I started brewing the extract kit that can with my supplies and it turned out pretty good. I would personally advise you like the others so far to step away from the coopers and get a little creative. Try making your own extract recipe, or partial mash, or AG(if you have the equipment). Variety is the spice of life, and beer shows that God loves us

 

[Math0]

Coopers cans make drinkable beers but nothing more. If you want to make a tasty beer that matches your preferences, you must do an extract or all grain brew.

I started too with coopers cans for my first 2 batches then got tired of making a 6/10 beer. The best way to do it if you want to gain experience would be to do a partial mash and use the coopers can. I remember a nice result using the can was:

Coopers australian lager
3lbs honey malt
200g honey
Coopers yeast

This made a nice honey flavored strong beer. Insane head retention too. All that to say that there is a way to make a good beer with those cans but it is very limited. Good luck

Sorry, one last thing: I am pretty sure with the ingredients you have, you will get a beer around 6-6.5% bottled.

 

[Trox]

There is a great recipe section on this website, I would recommend to go through the style of beer you are wanting to do next, find a recipe that sounds close to what you want and go from there.

 

[unionrdr]

Coopers cans make drinkable beers but nothing more. If you want to make a tasty beer that matches your preferences, you must do an extract or all grain brew.

I started too with coopers cans for my first 2 batches then got tired of making a 6/10 beer. The best way to do it if you want to gain experience would be to do a partial mash and use the coopers can. I remember a nice result using the can was:

Coopers australian lager
3lbs honey malt
200g honey
Coopers yeast

This made a nice honey flavored strong beer. Insane head retention too. All that to say that there is a way to make a good beer with those cans but it is very limited. Good luck

Sorry, one last thing: I am pretty sure with the ingredients you have, you will get a beer around 6-6.5% bottled.

opening line not quite true. I spent the first couple years recombining Cooper's cans,plain DME's & hops,etc. to make various beers. I have an AE (All Extract) IPA the OP might like to try under "my Recipes" under my avatar.
You can check other member's listed recipes this way. My AE IPA recipe is called "BuckIPA". It uses a Cooper's can with DME & hops. for a nice IPA that isn't hard to brew.

 

[Math0]

opening line not quite true. I spent the first couple years recombining Cooper's cans,plain DME's & hops,etc. to make various beers. I have an AE (All Extract) IPA the OP might like to try under "my Recipes" under my avatar.
You can check other member's listed recipes this way. My AE IPA recipe is called "BuckIPA". It uses a Cooper's can with DME & hops. for a nice IPA that isn't hard to brew.

It was more like my opinion on the matter. Either way, is it less expensive to brew all grain than use the can (most of the times)

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

If you already have the Cooper's can, then go ahead and use it; but if you can, I would try working out recipe of your own, using extract as the base and a small amount of specialty malt for color and flavor.

If you are really ambitious, you can try stepping up to the next level, with a small partial mash. The following is a bit complex for a new brewer, but should not be overwhelmingly difficult; it is based on an all-grain recipe I have had good luck with in the past.

1.5kg light DME
1kg amber DME
500g biscuit malt (or aromatic malt, or victory malt)
500g Maris Otter malt
500g carapils malt
250g crystal 45L malt
60g East Kent Goldings hops, First wort hops
30g Challenger hops, 60 min. boil
60g East Kent Goldings, dry hopping
Wyeast 1275 (Thames Valley Ale) Yeast

Make sure you buy the grain pre-crushed.

Get a grain sock (a mesh bag) that is big enough to hold all the grain loosely, and three smaller hop socks, one for each of the additions. Heat 10L of water to 70*C, and add the grain sock and one of the two EKG hop socks. Hold the temperature for 30 minutes, then remove the grain sock and let it drip out (but don't squeeze it). Once everything is out of the grain sock, set it aside and bring the wort to a boil. Add the amber malt extract and the Challenger hops, and boil for 55 minutes. Add the light extract, mix it in, and boil for another five minutes. Cool the wort to 50*C or lower, then carefully pour it into your fermenter and add another 10L cool water. Once the wort is down to 20*C, add the yeast. Ferment the beer for ten days, then add the second set of EKG hops. Let it settle another seven days, and then bottle.

If you can't get some of these ingredients, or are unsure about how to do what I am suggesting, ask around for advice.

 

[unionrdr]

You got that right math0! Thomas Cooper's Heritage Lager can is now 25 bucks just about anywhere. the rest are some 18-20 dollars. I still like to use them once in awhile. Pb/pm biab got good to me,& I even use Cooper's cans as the extract sometimes.
And NEVER boil a pre-hopped Cooper's can,or any other pre-hopped extracts for that matter. It messes up the hop profile designed into them. Add Cooper's,etc cans at flame out while the wort is still boiling hot. It's safe to do,since pasteurization happens about 160F in seconds...not boil temp.

 

[phynes1]

Thanks everyone for the stellar advice. I'm def gonna incorporate some of the suggestions above. Any further advice would be appreciated.

Ph.