Coopers Sparkling Ale

Type: Kit Brew
Sugars: 1.5 Kg Liquid Light Malt Extract, 500g Light Dry Malt Extract, 300g Brewing Sugar (Dextrose)
Yeast: Kit Yeast
Additions:Water de-chlorinated with 1/2 Campden tablet.
Time in Primary: 2 weeks
Secondary method: Bottle
Time in Secondary: 6 weeks plus
O.G. 1064
F.G. 1014

 There is a deli in my local town, Louth, that sells a fairly good range of both imported and domestic beers. Having brewed a number of Coopers kits, I was interested to see they had Coopers Sparkling Ale in 330ml bottles, all be it at an eye watering price. Fair enough, this stuff has come all the way around the world.

Coopers Sparkling Ale is a bottle conditioned ale, so there is a layer of yeast in the bottom of the bottle. just as with home brewed, bottled beer. Apparently, aussie drinkers are split between those who pour the beer carefully to avoid disturbing the sediment, and those who gently 'roll' the bottle to incorporate it into the brew. I settled on the former, and found it to be a nice, crisp, malty brew that I really enjoyed.

A couple of weeks later, and I walk into my home brew shop, and what have they just got in? Some of the 'Thomas Coopers Selection' kits for the first time. Marketed by Coopers as being for those who want to put a bit more effort, in terms of ingredients, into their brewing, I had to have a bash. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at their recommended list of fermentables ~ 1.5Kg of liquid malt, 500g of dry malt and 300g of dextose, but in for a penny...

It was a while before I got this kit on the go, as it really needs to be left down to condition for at least a month, so it had to go into bottles, which I needed to acquire. One of my friendly local boozers obliged, and I set about making it up. Apart from the fancy ingredients list, the brewing process is identical to other Coopers kits. The supplied yeast looks like yeast based hundreds and thousands as it is made up of both an ale and a lager yeast, which have slightly different colours. Brewed at a steady 21 degrees C, it was left under the air lock for the normal 2 weeks, then bottled. By then, it had reached a steady 1014, slightly higher than you would get if you just used brew enhancer, for instance, as there are more non-fermentable sugar components in malt extract.

The result? Amazingly close to the original, and a really nice brew. More expensive per pint, obviously, but a worthwhile enterprise all the same. Yet another blinder from Coopers.

Brewferm Triple

Type: Kit Brew
Sugars: About 600g of Golden Syrup
Yeast: Kit Yeast
Additions:Water de-chlorinated with 1/2 Campden tablet.
Time in Primary: 2 weeks
Secondary method: Bottle
Time in Secondary: 6 weeks plus
O.G. 1064
F.G. 1010


An interesting range of kits, these, mostly comprising of Belgian beers, but with the odd pilsner thrown in. Most of them make up smaller batches than your standard kit, despite the kits themselves being in the usual size cans. The instructions are also more complicated than standard, suggesting the use of Belgian Candi Sugar, and insisting on batch priming (explained below). OK, I know many people will batch prime their brew if bottling as a matter of course, but it's interesting that Brewferm suggest this as a required step (and no bad thing, that).

I couldn't get Candi Sugar easily, and making up the required amount manually (i.e. inverting normal sugar myself) appeared a bit of a faff, so I used golden syrup, which is a partially inverted sugar. Searching online gave me the required quantities (you need to use 20% more Candi sugar than if using simple sugars, and then have to take account of the liquid in the syrup, so 600g appeared about right). I also used a smaller 15L fermentation bid, as I thought the 9L that this kit makes up would look a little lost in a 5 gallon bin!

Have a look at the original and final gravities, and you will notice this is one string brew. Online opinion suggested a good 3 month maturation would be required in the bottle, but mine was smashing after 6 - 8 weeks. But, boy, is this stuff strong. It has a slightly syrupy, spicy taste, but isn't sickly. It also has the effect of preventing your legs from working if you drink too much.

Really impressive stuff, this. One of the best brews I have ever done, and will be trying others in their range. Next time, however, I am going to to set this down in smaller bottles, as a pint of this stuff is just a bit too much.

Coopers European Lager

Type: Kit Brew
Sugars: 1kg Brewing Sugar (Dextrose)
Yeast: Kit Yeast
Additions:Water de-chlorinated with 1/2 Campden tablet.
Time in Primary: 3 weeks @ 15 degrees C
Secondary method: Bottle
Time in Secondary: 3 months
O.G. 1040
F.G. 1006


I've done this kit twice. The first time, it was the first kit I did after returning to home brewing after many years. I didn't do my research on this one, didn't brew it at the correct temperature, didn't leave it long enough in the King Keg, forgot to prime the King Keg, didn't De-Chlorinate the water, and generally ended up with a rather poor brew.

However, after getting a number of sucsessful kits under my belt, I thought I'd try this one again. Unlike many 'lager' kits on the market, this one ships with a proper, bottom fermenting, lager yeast. This means that it really needs to be brewed at a much lower temperature than those that ship with an ale yeast. I managed to find a spot in the house that was a nice steady 15 degrees whatever the time of day, and left it to ferment there for three weeks under an air lock. I also learned, from my online research, that using spray malt instead of simple sugars can throw the balance of this kit off a bit, so I stuck with 1Kg of brewing sugar.

As warned in the instructions, the yeast gave off a rather 'bad egg' smell at various times during fermentation, and that was still detectable at bottling time. Although I was determined to leave this for the advised (online) 3 months, I opened a bottle from time to time to check progress. After 2 - 3 weeks, it still had a rather sulphuric king of twang and wasn't nice at all. Over the coming weeks, this dissipated and gradually it started to taste like a proper lager.

After about 3 months the result was totally transformed. A lovely, crisp, Beck's like lager that has great carbonation. Not an especially complex beer, but nice and refreshing all the same.

If you like Becks, give this one a go. Just be prepared to bottle it, and wait. Oh, and don't forget the lower fermentation temps!

Burton Bridge Summer Ale

Type: Kit Brew
Sugars: 1kg Muntons Brew Enhancer (500g Light Dry Malt, 500g Dextrose)
Yeast: Kit Yeast
Additions:Water de-chlorinated with 1/2 Campden tablet.
Time in Primary: 2 weeks
Secondary method: King Keg
Time in Secondary: 21 days
O.G. 1044
F.G. 1010

I had some reservations about buying this, as the nice lady in my favourite home brew centre explained that it was manufactured on behalf of Burton Bridge Brewery by Muntons. After my last experience, I wasn't overly confident. However, my Dad brews one of their bitter kits on a regular basis so I thought I'd give it a go.

Fermentation went without a hitch, leaving it in the FV for my usual 2 weeks. Very slightly darker than the ale pictures, but no much, it was looking hopeful. I had a little taste after2 weeks, but it wasn't ready so I spent another week drinking brought beer, as I had run out of home brew that was ready ~ more on that later.


After three weeks, it is a quite nice pint. Still a little green, or young, but quite drinkable. It has developed a slightly darker shade, but it is still a pale ale, and is quite light and refreshing. Not overly hoppy, either, but with a nice bitter edge. Would I recommend this kit? Yes, I think so, although I'd be tempted to bottle it and give it at least a month before drinking, as I appears to improve with age.

Next up ~ Coopers Original Series Stout 'a la Ditch'.

Temperature control on a budget

Having recently moved house, and no longer having access to a room that was kept at a fairly steady temperature by an oil burning range, I took temperature readings of various parts of the house, both when the central heating was on, and when it wasn't. The difference was sufficient to have me worry that I wouldn't be able to find anywhere with a steady 20 degree Celsius temperature that I find ideal foe most brews, those with real lager yeast excepted.

As is often the case, an excellent solution to this was provided by reading various online forums ~ fish tank immersion heaters, such as this;

Rated at 25 watts, it isn't going to chomp it way through too much electricity, and by placing the fermentation vessel in a builders bucket, filling with water so that is covers the part that has wort / beer in it, you can then drop the immersion heater in this and not have to worry about sterilising it, or unplugging it when you remove the FV for hydrometer readings, etc.

Total cost? I got 3 of the heaters for about £25, and the buckets are about a fiver each. So now I can have three brew on the go, all at a steady temperature. The brew pictured is a Coopers Original Series Stout, attempting to climb its way out of the FV! More on that anon...

Beer Review #2 : Samuel Smiths 'Old Brewery Pale Ale'

Brewer: Samuel Smiths

Brew: Old Brewery Pale Ale

A.B.V. : 5.1%

Format: Bottle

Score: 8.5 / 10

Review: Yum, yum yum yum, yum yum. Yum.

Oh, I actually have to review this as well? Ok then...

If your palette is all Sierra Nevada when it comes to pale ales, you will be uninspired by this brew, as it is a traditional English Pale Ale. The first thing you will notice is that its copper colour is much darker than many 'modern' pales ~ but then this is a traditional beer. It isn't as highly hopped as modern pales, either. But, by God, it's tasty. Despite it's darker colour compared to the new comers, it is still a light in body ale with a nice bitterness. I could happily sink several of these among friends in a session without feeling bloated. No strong malty taste detected by me, but then I think I have a fairly insensitive palette to malt (which I do enjoy in other beers). Like many English traditionals, and the hops provide more bitter than aroma. But, as I have said, yummy yum yum yum. It works.

Beer review #1 : Morland "Hen's Tooth"

I'm intending to review any beer that I drink that is worth reviewing, for two reasons. The first is that it might help anyone who reads this blog to get an idea of what I like and don't like, and compare it with their own preferences. For instance, if I describe a beer as 'so full of hops that my head fell off', and you felt it could have done with a couple more tonnes of cascade in there, then you can adjust my opinions of my own brewing efforts accordingly. The other reason is that it fills my blog out a bit and gives me something to prattle on about. Hope someone finds them useful.

Brewer: Morland

Brew: Hen's Tooth

A.B.V. : 6.5%

Format: Bottle

Score: 5 / 10

Review: A darker 'copper coloured' bottle conditioned ale, that pours to a 1-2 cm head of fine bubbles rather than foam. Hoppy aroma, that has a light body, similar to an American Pale Ale. The hops add an American Pale Ale type bitterness, but no fruity flavours. The head disappears quite quickly leaving only a thin layer of bubbles as the pint is drank. I found this beer a bit odd, it's dark enough to fool you into thinking it might have a bit of body or obvious malty taste, but it is actually quite crisp. Not an unpleasant beer, but I can't help feel it is neither one thing or the other, and doesn't succeed as being an interesting new style. If your Gran has just given you 20 bottles of this for Christmas, don't despair, it is quite drinkable, but I wouldn't intentionally seek it out, which is a shame, because I kind of like the idea of bottle conditioned ales, and no, not just because I want to re-culture the yeast in them!