Heads up boys Tesco have the coopers kits at £10.13

[bigtoe]

no idea why they upped the offer price by 13p but its still a nice saving....off to pick some up now

[far9410]

I'm sure our tesco's don't sell home brew stuff!

[bigtoe]

I'm sure our tesco's don't sell home brew stuff!

order in for collect from store

that way they do sell it...specially just for you

[Exiled Bradfordian]

Yep you'll find it on Tesco Direct (as opposed to Tesco Groceries)

[Pinto]

Cant get into my local tescos to check - they're still carting away the mix of broken electricals, smashed flatscreens and squashed chav's left over from friday....

[Exiled Bradfordian]

The Tesco Direct sale has a 25% off homebrew sale. Some reasonable offers if you need owt:

BKE £3.75
Coopers Brew Enhancers 1 and 2 both £4.13
FV £7.13
Youngs Harvest lager, stout, bitter, scotch heavy, and barley wine £8.25
Geordie and John Bull kits less than a tenner

My wife is still asleep. I'm going to order a Coopers Stout and a FV before she wakes up.

[bigtoe]

Picked up 5 tins last night, in store they are still £10 each...

2 x coppers stout
2 x coopers APA
1 x coopers Real Ale

Not sure what to do next, think it will be APA with 1.5KG DME with added hops during DME boil with a dry hop to finish, just deciding which hops now

[SquireKnott]

Am I alone in thinking Coopers kits are crap?

I've done two APA's and a Real Ale all with disappointing results

[bigtoe]

Well I have done 3 kits now, first was Ditch's stout although I added 454g black treacle with the 1KG DME...and it came out superb, i mean so good its bordering on addictive.
The second was real ale, which I tweaked with 1KG light spray malt and a hop and ginger addition, although the ginger is a little weak the brew came out quite hoppy with plenty of biscuit after taste and a hint of sweetness....very pleased with it although i wanted more ginger in there which I will work on when i next have a go. The last is again a twist on Ditch's stout but this time only 750g of DME with the treacle and 500g demerara sugar, this one has come out near 5.4% where the first one was mid 4's and looks to be even better. Both stouts were brewed short to 20L and the Ale was short at 21L. This second stout is kegged in my KingKeg and is just carbonating up now, im hopeful it will have settled enough to drink over Xmas.

all 3 have no hint of home brew tinge at all.

Now other kits I have done have not faired as well, no idea if they were on the shelves to long etc but they had varying levels of home brew tinge to them. After the first brew I did i was extra careful to clean, sterilise and rinse everything to extremes, the FV was held at 18C constantly etc and the tinge is still there...so im hoping they will mellow in the bottle, I just did not get that with these coopers kits so im keen to stick with them for now, although not stock brewed, all will have DME and hop additions etc as i research recipes and give them a go.

Did you brew them straight with no additions etc?

[SquireKnott]

Well I have done 3 kits now, first was Ditch's stout although I added 454g black treacle with the 1KG DME...and it came out superb, i mean so good its bordering on addictive.
The second was real ale, which I tweaked with 1KG light spray malt and a hop and ginger addition, although the ginger is a little weak the brew came out quite hoppy with plenty of biscuit after taste and a hint of sweetness....very pleased with it although i wanted more ginger in there which I will work on when i next have a go. The last is again a twist on Ditch's stout but this time only 750g of DME with the treacle and 500g demerara sugar, this one has come out near 5.4% where the first one was mid 4's and looks to be even better. Both stouts were brewed short to 20L and the Ale was short at 21L. This second stout is kegged in my KingKeg and is just carbonating up now, im hopeful it will have settled enough to drink over Xmas.

all 3 have no hint of home brew tinge at all.

Now other kits I have done have not faired as well, no idea if they were on the shelves to long etc but they had varying levels of home brew tinge to them. After the first brew I did i was extra careful to clean, sterilise and rinse everything to extremes, the FV was held at 18C constantly etc and the tinge is still there...so im hoping they will mellow in the bottle, I just did not get that with these coopers kits so im keen to stick with them for now, although not stock brewed, all will have DME and hop additions etc as i research recipes and give them a go.

Did you brew them straight with no additions etc?

First APA I just added Amarilo then the second BKE and hops (don't remeber which) then BKE, chinook & Citra for the real ale.

Brewmaker IPA at £12.99 full price seems a far better kit

[adamzworld]

Thanks for the heads up, am very tempted by their Australian Pale Ale, is it any good? There seems to be some glowing reviews for it on the Tesco website.

[bigtoe]

Thanks for the heads up, am very tempted by their Australian Pale Ale, is it any good? There seems to be some glowing reviews for it on the Tesco website.

we shall see, decided its my next kit to experiment with...

[adamzworld]

Thanks for the heads up, am very tempted by their Australian Pale Ale, is it any good? There seems to be some glowing reviews for it on the Tesco website.

we shall see, decided its my next kit to experiment with...

Keep me posted as to how it goes. Still have a couple of Golden Ale and Wherry kits in the shed waiting to be brewed, but for a tender I might buy one of these ready for brewing in the spring.

[bigtoe]

First APA I just added Amarilo then the second BKE and hops (don't remember which) then BKE, chinook & Citra for the real ale.

Brewmaker IPA at £12.99 full price seems a far better kit

Interesting...what was the issue with them, as mentioned i have seen more issues with the other kits I have done over the cooppers to date, these include St Peters Ruby Red , Donner and Blitzed and Suffolk Old strong Ale, im supping the Old Strong Ale on the run up to christmas and the cold seems to suit it, had a couple last night and it is becoming a little mooreish however the Ruby was awesome very young but not as good now 2 months in the bottle and the Donner and Blitzed...very home brew tinge flavoured. The first kit i did was St Peters IPA, short brewed only to push it to 6% and this had a home brew tinge also....I have another as i had a feeling i left cleaning solution in the secondary which I use to bottle from so its getting a second try.

I would give Ditch's stout a go, brew it to 20l, bung in 1tin x 454g of black treacle and 250g demerara sugar along with 1kg of dark spray malt, the hard part is keeping the FV at 22C and watching for the mountain of spew the kit produces when fermenting....once done though it really is something to behold. My dad admitted its the best stout he ever had and was totally amazed how it was brewed etc.

I will probably give the brewmaker IPA a go also, however looking at next winter now before i sup all the kits i have here and im ready to buy again.

[alexlark]

The Coopers APA is good for a lager convert! Lol
Seriously though, it's a cracking 1 can kit.