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Monday 8 August 2011

Coopers Dark Ale

Type: Kit Brew
Sugars: 1 Kg Medium dry malt extract (Muntons), 250g Unrefined Brown Sugar.
Yeast: Kit Yeast
Additions:Water de-chlorinated with 1/2 Campden tablet.
Time in Primary: 2 weeks
Secondary method: Keg
Time in Secondary: 2 weeks plus (nearly 3)
O.G. 1044
F.G. 1012

I thought I would give this one a whirl, as I was interested as to exactly what a 'dark ale' was. I used the same additions as with the 'Ditch's' stout below, as there was a fair amount of opinion on Jim's Beer Kit forum that this was the way to go.

After the usual 2 weeks in the FV, it went into a King Keg. I was originally going to bottle this one, but ran out of time on bottling day, so into a King Keg it went.


It took nearly 3 weeks to become drinkable, more really, as it improved with age. Perhaps I should have bottled it after all. Did I like it? Well, yes and no. I was hoping for more caramel / choc malt notes, as with some German Dunkel or dark lagers, but it was a bit bland for my tatse. It was better towards the end of the barrel, and I may try this again with a lager yeast and some additions to try and get to a Dunkel type of outcome, but that will have to wait until the cold weather arrives later this year. I suppose the biggest problem was that I had never drank a bottle of Coopers Dark Ale produced by their brewery, so I had no datum point.

Verdict? Interesting, but a little disappointing. Yikes, I've actually found a Coopers kit that I can give a less than 10 out of 10 review to!