Coopers Blended Brew 'A'

[Monkeybrew]

Coopers Blended Brew 'A' - 23L

1.046 OG

1.7kg can of Coopers Brew 'A' IPA
1kg of Young BKE
500g of Medium DME

15g of EKG Hop Pellets - Steeped for 30mins
15g of Willamette Hop Pellets - Steeped for 30mins
15g of Hersbrucker Hop Pellets - Steeped for 30mins

15g of EKG Hop Pellets - Dry Hop
15g of Willamette Hop Pellets - Dry Hop
15g of Hersbrucker Hop Pellets - Dry Hop

Rehydrated Safale S-04 Yeast @ 20C





I brewed this tonight, and was originally going to use Amarillo as a single hop, but have changed my mind because I've already got an American hopped IPA in my keg, so decided to create my own little hop pellet blend.

The blurb for this kit says 'This American style IPA is made in the tradition of that heavier Ale. Full bodied with deep amber and reddish hues, its tropical, citrusy, grapefruit notes and toasty amber malt balances the clean, hop filled, bitter finish.' but I'm not the buying the whole tropical citrus hop thing, as most kits aren't very hoppy in my experience.

I'm going for a more English/Noble hopped IPA. Coopers state that this kit has a concentrated IBU of 830 per kilo of the kit LME, which seems very high, and will translate into approximately 50 IBU's in my brew.

The brew went as planned, so hopefully I've shaken off the rusty issues from the last couple of attempts!

The hop tea smelt good, with a sort of herbal/spicy aroma, yum!

I have decided to use some S-04 yeast in this one, purely because it goes out of date in January 2017, and it should suit this style quite well.

Here are a few pics of my process -













Cheers

MB

[brianboru]

anyupdates ?>

[LarryF]

What was your SG?

[Monkeybrew]

What was your SG?

Finished at 1.010 in the end.

MB

[WalesAles]

Finished at 1.010 in the end.

MB

Bloody Hell Monkey!
Where are your pics, tasting notes, words like BLM, etc, etc?
This must be drinkable by now? Even with your limited brewing skills!

WA

[Monkeybrew]

Finished at 1.010 in the end.

MB

Bloody Hell Monkey!
Where are your pics, tasting notes, words like BLM, etc, etc?
This must be drinkable by now? Even with your limited brewing skills!

WA

I know, totally rubbish aint I!

MB

[WalesAles]

I know, totally rubbish aint I!

MB

Yeh, Yeh, Yeh, but what does it taste like?

WA

[Monkeybrew]

Well here you go Mr WA and anybody else that is half interested.

I didn't actually add the dry hops in the end, and can't really remember why, but it hasn't been a negative decision because this beer packs quite a bit of flavour as it is.

The best aspect of this beer is it's clarity and colour, even if the picture doesn't do it enough justice. It is clear as a bell and is a very inviting reddy brown colour.

I have managed to get the carbonation pretty good and the initial half inch head tightens up to form a thin creamy coloured head that is lasting as I drink.

The body is quite light, which is a slight shame, but at the same time it certainly makes it slip down very easily.

The aroma is quite fruity, but the initial taste is quite caramely and then it's quite fruity/hoppy, then this is followed up by a well rounded bitterness that doesn't detract from the flavour, but definitely helps to refresh your pallete.

After the first 4 weeks in the bottle, this brew wasn't very nice and tasted all confused, but as I have pretty much forgotten about and left it in a cool garage over the winter, the flavours seem to have settled nicely. Certainly not my best kit brew, but I'd give it 7/10.



Cheers

MB

[WalesAles]

MB,
Looks good to me!

WA