Wilko Hoppy Copper

[adamzworld]

Over the weekend I brewed up a Hoppy Copper kit. I used 1kg of beer enhancer, rather than sugar and also added 200g of DME. It's been in the FV for three days, the air lock was bubbling away like mad, but now it's stopped completely. I'm going to leave it at least a week before I take a gravity reading, but it already smells great! If it tastes anything like as good as it smells then I can't wait until it's ready to drink!

Has anyone else done this kit with beer enhancer and DM?


Cheers,



Adam

[marcarm]

I'm doing the exact same thing!

Started mine last Thursday, used Dme instead of sugar and brewed it short to 21l.

No airlock activity now after a vigorous few days, but it's nowhere near finished yet.

Mine also smells good, hopefully it'll turn out pretty good for £7.50!

[adamzworld]

It does smell good doesn't it, definitely hoppy!

I've just taken the lid off for a cheeky peak and there seems to be no activity on the surface, no bubbles rising to the surface. Its been sitting in the kitchen so do you think the yeast could have been killed off?

I'm wondering now whether I should chuck in another packet of yeast to get it going again, what do you think?

[pmjmay]

Hi, I kicked off a Wilko hoppy copper a couple of weeks ago, and I thought I had killed off the yeast after a few days but it turned out it had finish fermenting. I did mine with 500g DME and 500g brewing sugar. I made a right hash of it thinking I had a stuck fermentation but in the end I barrelled it and am now waiting for it to condition. I posted a question about it yesterday as I was worried I screwed it up. Based on my experience I think you should check the gravity now. It's probably ready to go in the barrel.

[adamzworld]

Hi, I kicked off a Wilko hoppy copper a couple of weeks ago, and I thought I had killed off the yeast after a few days but it turned out it had finish fermenting. I did mine with 500g DME and 500g brewing sugar. I made a right hash of it thinking I had a stuck fermentation but in the end I barrelled it and am now waiting for it to condition. I posted a question about it yesterday as I was worried I screwed it up. Based on my experience I think you should check the gravity now. It's probably ready to go in the barrel.

I hope your's turns out okay in the end. I was going to take a gravity reading this morning, but thankfully there seems to be activity in the airlock again so I'll leave it well alone. I might also use a water bath with heater, I don't usually use this until the winter months, but the temp does seem to be dropping overnight.

Let me know how your brew turns out.


Cheers,



Adam

[pmjmay]

Hi Adam, yes I hope mine turns out ok. I will let you know. I hope your works out too.

Cheers

Paul

[timmydog]

Hello all,

After about 4.5 years away from brewing (FYI, my eldest son is almost 4), my loft conversion has got to the state where I have space to brew in. My first brew was a Hoppy copper kit too. I added 1kg of dextrose and 1kg of light DME and dry hopped for a week with 25g of (very old) first gold whole hops that were clogging up the freezer.

Used gervin English ale yeast because it was the middle of the hear wave that we had and I wanted clean flavors, plus it was always reliable for me in the past.

Bottled it on Sunday. The first of the 4x 250 ml bottles that I did will be tasted at the weekend!

The sample from the dead space in my bottling, err, cask was about a pint and tasted lovely, if a bit sweet, but I had just added priming dextrose.

I'm sorry to say it but I'm quite excited.

Going to brew something else tomorrow!

Looking forward to seeing how yours turn out too, .

Tim

P.S. I can post my s.g.s of you're interested.

[adamzworld]

Thanks for all your replies. Took a gravity reading on sat and the gravity has dropped so will check again in a couple of days to see of it's moved. Drank the contents of the sample jar and it tasted bloody lovely!

[Baldrick]

Hello

I've made this as my first ever attempt - used standard granulated sugar, & didn't brew short. It's been conditioning in the bottle(s) for 15 days now, & I intend to try it this afternoon. It did smell ok when I siphoned it off, so I am optimistic that both myself & the guinea pig (my "idiot friend", who will drink anything with the promise of alcohol content!) will survive the experience. I'll let you know later.....

[adamzworld]

I've only just started drinking this recently, as have resisted the temptation to drink it up to now! To be honest I'm quite disappointed by the taste. Its been conditioning in a pressure barrel and when I've tried it, its got a slightly metallic taste. Any idea what would have caused this? I thought the Copper referred to the colour of the beer, not the flavour!!

[SquireKnott]

I picked one of these up today for £8.

Planning on adding 1kg of BKE - what would be a good hop addition?

[adamzworld]

Unfortunately I don't have any experience of adding hops yet. I hope yours turns out better than mine did and maybe the extra hops will help!

[tony4938]

I'm about to start this and it was recommended to use use East Kent Goldings hops and possibly some treacle!

[monkhouse]

I did this kit a few weeks back, used 1kg dextrose and about 400g of soft brown sugar, I left it in fv for 3 full weeks (don't usually leave brews this long in primary but had a hectic month sanding all the floors in house so had to wait for all dust to settle!) and when I bottled it was so bloody clear I feared it wouldn't carbonate and tbh I was right, bottled with 75g of sugar batch prime. It been in the bottle a fortnight and what I'm left with is a nasty flat zero-head cider-type, strong (5.4%) piss water. Lovely brew.
Probably won't do it again!!

[adamzworld]

I did this kit a few weeks back, used 1kg dextrose and about 400g of soft brown sugar, I left it in fv for 3 full weeks (don't usually leave brews this long in primary but had a hectic month sanding all the floors in house so had to wait for all dust to settle!) and when I bottled it was so bloody clear I feared it wouldn't carbonate and tbh I was right, bottled with 75g of sugar batch prime. It been in the bottle a fortnight and what I'm left with is a nasty flat zero-head cider-type, strong (5.4%) piss water. Lovely brew.
Probably won't do it again!!

Oops! Maybe this just doesn't keep well. If my experience is anything to go by then I don't think it does! Think I'll stick to the Coopers one can kits next time as I'm yet to convinced by the Wilko's ones.