Coopers Kits?

Northern Brewer General
1

Has anyone had any luck with these kits? These are the only kits locally available to me, and I feel like doing some brewing this weekend. If I had more time I’d order from NB, but that take about a week as I’d have to drive across the border to get it. Anyways, I looked at the cans of Coopers, but the instructions are different than the NB kits. They don’t say anything about the boiling for an hour or anything else. They also say to add 1kg of sugar? If I was to buy one of these kits and brew it the “normal” way( 60 min boil, cool, pitch yeast) would this turn out okay, or are they formulated to be made their way? As well, they all say they contain hop? I think I would add my own if I could, as I’ve still got some left from my last NB order.

Thanks

2

I know we’ll probably start a hue and cry about the “plebian” Cooper’s Kits. I’ve always found they produce a quite drinkable, if somewhat generic, beer. I usually start with one of these when I want a quick and dirty beer. I just toss in whatever I have laying around. If you have some DME; toss it in, if you have some corn sugar, toss that in too. Extra hops are always beneficial too. I usually boil them for about 20 minutes, just to make sure everything is sanitary and dissolved. I say, have some fun with it. You WILL get beer. I’ve been brewing forever and go back and forth from extract to all grain to partial mash. I just like beer. This is a fun hobby, not stamp collecting. There ain’t no rules if you just want to drink your beer. “Relax and have a homebrew”. :cheers:

3

^

This is a great post.

I would agree with steinbrau and just go for it. You’ll make beer and as long as your sanitation is good and your fermentation is great.

4

+1. That’s the best part about this hobby. No matter what you are making beer. Sure, it could be great or it could be crappy, but none the less it is beer. Heck, you might make something that you really enjoy and that is easy to make.

5

I’ve made two of these (they are readily available at my local brew shop) and I thought both made an awesome beer (especially at about $20 for two cases) The dark ale was particularly good. They definitely have a time window where they taste great (3-7 weeks after bottling), so I recommend drinking it with gusto. Also, I was considering trying one of them and just adding an extra ounce of hops or subbing honey for malt extract. What can you loose?

6

I have heard their dark ale is good as well, but have never brewed coopers.

7

Well I’ve always found Coopers OK. They use the same beer yeast across their range, it’s a private strain (dried for Coopers Brewery only) and it is very decent on lagers but only so-so on different ales.

Try a Lesaffre SO4 on ales and you’ll see a major difference.

8

I believe that one of the reasons that you don’t have to boil the Coopers kits for 60 minutes is because they (or at least a lot of them) already have hops in the liquid extract and therefore it isn’t necessary to boil for 60 minutes to get the proper bittering from the hops.

I could be all wrong here but I think it is the same with other 20 minute boil kits also.

9

You might want to look up “CraigTube” on the youtube channel. Fellow Canadian who has said that Cooper’s are the easiest for him to get. Another youtube person is “SteelJan”. Both has posted those kits with success.