Coopers English Bitter - a hop tweak?

[tazzymutt]

I put a Coopers English Bitter on yesterday made to 23 litres using 1 kg of BKE (The instructions suggest 500g but that sounded like it would end up rather thin). The OG was 1044 which seems about right for a drinkable session beer.

I have not made this brew before and always like to make a kit to the instructions first time around so that I have something to compare with following any tweaks in subsequent brews. I'm thinking I will let this one run it's primary ferment then bottle half and add hops to the second half before bottling that. I have a choice of Challenger or Fuggles at present and options include a hop tea or dry hopping (or both).

The last time I added hops to a brew was to Wilko's "Hoppy Copper" and boy did it need some hops added to live up to its' name? On that occasion I used around 25g of Northern Brewer which I put in a cafetiere and added near boiling water to, left 15 minutes then plunged the plunger and added to the bottling bucket (after bottling half the brew "straight") before syphoning into bottles. The result was an OK brew that has improved with age, but really is not very different to the unmodified brew (even when tasted back to back).

I'd like to stick at just one hop so that I can get a better appreciation of what the hop added but which one, how much of it and how best to add it? Suggestions anyone?

Happy brewing,


Ian.

[Monkeybrew]

I think that I would do a Fuggles hop tea (maybe a short boil) and a Fuggles dry hop.

I've never thought about adding a hop tea at that stage of a brew. This is giving me ideas for my first Coopers Sparkling Ale brew that is on the cards, as I also plan to bottle some has standard and was going to dry hop some too.

Cheers

MB

[Petrovitch]

Can I suggest dryhopping the beer when it is conditioning - I have found this makes a massive difference to the hop character of a kit beer without affecting bitterness or taste particularly.

When the beer is finished rack off onto 20g of something in a weighted hop bag for 5 to 7 days before barreling/bottling is a good starting point. I dry hop all of my beers now, even the malty unhoppy german ones (it replaces so much that is lost when they make concentrated malt).

[tazzymutt]

Thanks for the replies folks.

I reckon I may go for 20g of Fuggles steeped in the cafetiere (starting temp?) and then add that to a fresh FV with a hop bag of 20g for a few days (probably 5 to 7) then prime and bottle. This is for half a brew remember, does that sound heavy handed with the hops?

Any further thoughts?

Happy brewing,


Ian.