Coopers English bitter ideas

[mrcpea]

Hi,
Have one of these beauties and want to start it tomorrow.
Looking for fermentable ideas fro you guys in here.
I popped into Holland and Barretts and picked up 4x 454g jars of malt extract and 2x 454g jars of molasses.
I also have some 1kg bags of beer kit enhancer and 2x 500g bags of medium spraymalt.

I was thinking of 2 jars of malt extract plus 1 jar of molasses added to the kit, with the kit yeast.
Will this be OK and what ya recommend, always good advice in here

Cheers,

Rich

[Manngold]

I am planning to do this as an Xmas brew.

The kit
1Kg brew enhancer
250 g molasses.
Kit yeast.

Fingers crossed!

[WalesAles]

Hi,
Have one of these beauties and want to start it tomorrow.
Looking for fermentable ideas fro you guys in here.
I popped into Holland and Barretts and picked up 4x 454g jars of malt extract and 2x 454g jars of molasses.
I also have some 1kg bags of beer kit enhancer and 2x 500g bags of medium spraymalt.

I was thinking of 2 jars of malt extract plus 1 jar of molasses added to the kit, with the kit yeast.
Will this be OK and what ya recommend, always good advice in here

Cheers,

Rich

mrcpea,
Put them ALL in and make a Brilliant Beer! You know you want to! Go On, Do It! Go on, Go on, Do It!
Leave out the BKE because it`s sh$te!
WA

[mrcpea]

I am planning to do this as an Xmas brew.

The kit
1Kg brew enhancer
250 g molasses.
Kit yeast.

Fingers crossed!

Hi Manngold. Sounds nice.
I've done 2 of these kits now with just the 1KG of BKE. Barreled it was excennet after 6 weeks, but unfortunatly most of it was gone
Bottled it was exquisite after 4 months, but again..... you know the score

Cheers
Rich.

[mrcpea]

Hi,
Have one of these beauties and want to start it tomorrow.
Looking for fermentable ideas fro you guys in here.
I popped into Holland and Barretts and picked up 4x 454g jars of malt extract and 2x 454g jars of molasses.
I also have some 1kg bags of beer kit enhancer and 2x 500g bags of medium spraymalt.

I was thinking of 2 jars of malt extract plus 1 jar of molasses added to the kit, with the kit yeast.
Will this be OK and what ya recommend, always good advice in here

Cheers,

Rich

mrcpea,
Put them ALL in and make a Brilliant Beer! You know you want to! Go On, Do It! Go on, Go on, Do It!
Leave out the BKE because it`s sh$te!
WA

Hi WA,
Do you mean all of the above (all 6 jars and the 2 bags of DME ?)
Blimey, that would be some brew, but I like the suggestion.
Why do you say that BKE is sh$te! ? I'd be interested to know.

Rich

[tazzymutt]

I am planning to do this as an Xmas brew.

The kit
1Kg brew enhancer
250 g molasses.
Kit yeast.

Fingers crossed!

I've done this with just 1Kg of BKE and it was OK (actually it was quite good). I've also done it 100g of Challenger, 10 minute boil in wort then strain into FV. That was much better.

I would not even consider adding molasses to this without dramatically upping the hops; all you are likely to taste is molasses and quite frankly that is just about the best way I've found to ruin a good brew. Molasses is great, but you need to be careful not to completely swamp the rest of the flavours. If you really want the molasses flavour in a brew I'd start with something more like a stout or porter rather than a bitter.

As for BKE being sh$te, I beg to differ. It is great for what it is intended for; improving a kit without changing it too much. BKE is probably a poor choice if you intend to hack a brew around a lot. If you intend to completely ignore the original kit makers intention and flavour profile, why would you use another manufacturers idea of how to maintain a balanced flavour? It's just a matter of horses for courses.

Happy brewing,


Ian.

[Manngold]

Ian, thanks for that info. The only reason I was going to add molasses was that the coopers website had it as a recipe. I will have to think it over!

[twentyfootwilf]

I agree about the molasses, I've done the English Bitter using molasses a couple of times and if you do you it don't use a whole jar, I did that last time and it's overpowering. 200g of molasses is plenty, but personally I wont be using molasses again. If you want to smooth out the bitter then brown sugar is probably a better way to do it, about 250g of light brown sugar would be okay.

[stout vern]

I brewed this kit with 1k BKE & 200gms soft dark sugar to 40 pints. It took about 3 months to mature into a very nice drink. i did a side by side taste test with Newcastle Brown Ale & it tasted the same, i don't know if thats a good thing tho.

[mrcpea]

I used 2 jars of malt extract and half the molasses. I'm dry hopping with Goldings about 5 days before bottling

[twentyfootwilf]

I used 2 jars of malt extract and half the molasses. I'm dry hopping with Goldings about 5 days before bottling

That should come out as a decent pint about 4.5 to 4.7% I think. You'll get a distinct molasses taste but shouldn't be overpowering at that quantity and it will give you an idea of whether to use it again and in what quantities. I can almost guarantee it wont last long, it goes down very easily!

[twentyfootwilf]

I used 2 jars of malt extract and half the molasses. I'm dry hopping with Goldings about 5 days before bottling

That should come out as a decent pint about 4.5 to 4.7% I think. You'll get a distinct molasses taste but shouldn't be overpowering at that quantity and it will give you an idea of whether to use it again and in what quantities. I can almost guarantee it wont last long, it goes down very easily!

Sorry didn't mean to post twice!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[twentyfootwilf]

I've got a Coopers English Bitter in the FV at the moment that I've done as a session beer for necking on a Sunday lunch time whilst helping the wife in the kitchen. Don't want it strong so I've done it as per Coopers instruction ie 500g light DME but added 320g dex and brewed to 23 litres and dry hopped with 20g styrian goldings (almot as per Coopers recommendations for a simple brew) very quick to put together and Sampling from the FV it's tasting really good, just like a session bitter!

[mrcpea]

Many thanks Wilf.
It does smell lovely, slightly deeper, almost chocolate aroma, and I like it.
I will give it the 2 weeks fermentation. Just into the 2nd week, I'll add the hops.

Cheers

Richard