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Coopers Kit Results Are In

I tapped the keg of Coopers Pale Ale today and wanted to share the results with those of you that are anxiously perched at the edge of your bar stool waiting to hear how it turned out. For those of you that don't follow this blog and are not necessarily perched, I brewed a five gallon batch of Coopers Pale Ale about three weeks ago(4/26/09)to find out if was any good.


Here are the stats:

Original Gravity in 5.25 gals. 1.045

Final Gravity 1.006

Alcohol by Volume 5.3%

SRM 8

Attenuation 86%



I'm not the type of person to negatively judge a homebrew related product. Partly because I don't like to be negative but also because there are real people out there that are trying to make a living or grow a business related to home brewing and genuinely believe in what they're doing and I want to be careful that I don't cause harm. At the same time, I like to be honest and upfront with my opinion out of respect to myself and the needs of my readership to get value from this blog.



Having said that (read: covered my ass) I want to start by saying that my wife really likes this beer. It has the low hop bitterness with a focus on the malt character that she likes. This is a good endorsement as most homebrewers will attest. When the wife enjoys a beer you brewed, it goes a long way in domestic/beer harmony. I prefer a more aggressive hop profile but am not put off by the balance. If I were to make it again, I would modify the recipe by boiling for 15 minutes with the addition of some late flavor hops. (For those unfamiliar with this beer kit, the pre-hopped ingredients are simply dissolved in boiling water, chilled and fermented.) The yeast did a fantastic job fermenting quickly and floculated nicely leaving the beer very clear and dry but a little thin.



In addition, and I can't say this is yeast related but the first couple of pints had a distinct green apple (acetaldehyde) flavor and aroma but as the beer has aged, that flavor has subsided leaving a clean malt taste. As a side note, it is interesting that the acetaldehyde by product showed up in this beer considering the experiment that I'm conducting now regarding refined sugar and it's excessive use possibly resulting in apple cider flavors.


Overall, I am pleased with the result of this beer kit. It was extremely easy to make, fermented quickly, cleared nicely, tastes good and I would rate it 'quaffable'.

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Comments

Scott said…
That's great to hear! I know this is a really popular kit and so its good to hear it makes good beer from someone who knows what he's talking about!
May 14, 2009 at 6:10 AM
Mark (the Brush Valley Brewer) said…
Thanks for the experiment, Mark. I have wondered whether these "no boil" kits could actually produce good beer. Now I know.
May 16, 2009 at 6:02 AM
Anonymous said…
Yeah, like I said, in the future I would definately boil with a hop addition or two. And give it a couple weeks in the keg to mature if you're not going to bottle it. It was a good experience to check out but I would rather spend the extra time and just brew a simple extract batch to get the beer I want.
mark
May 16, 2009 at 6:40 AM
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