Any Ideas for a Coopers Old Dark Ale?

Ilike'emfizzy · Post by **Ilike'emfizzy** » Tuesday Oct 11, 2005 8:00 am

Hey guys,
my brother just gave me all his homebrew stuff ( I dont know why!) and I got a very old can of Coopers Classic Old Dark Ale. Its just gone out of date, but im gonna try it anyway........why not!

Would adding any dry light malt be ok, or should i just stick to the brew enhancer for this one?

Also, what do i do if fermentation doesnt start? Ive only ever used the dry yeast that comes with the cans.
Can I get more yeast from a homebrew longneck somehow?

Cheers

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Tuesday Oct 11, 2005 10:27 am

I made a nice Classic Old Dark Ale once with half a kilo of dark liquid malt extract and one of the Coopers Brew Enhancers (I think it was Brew Enhancer 2), it came out a nice dry dark ale about 5.5% alc.

Throw out the yeast that came with the can - the use by date is more for the yeast than the malt. You can either follow Olivers tip elsewhere on this site for re-culturing the yeast from a longneck of Coopers, or you can just pop down to your local HBS and pick up a packet of Safale or similar.

Cheers

Merlin

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Tuesday Oct 11, 2005 12:06 pm

Concur with what Merlin said.

Cheers,
Greg

Wassa · Post by **Wassa** » Tuesday Oct 11, 2005 1:44 pm

I brew a lot of Dark Ales as I am a Tooheys Old drinker and it is my preferred style of beer.

What I would do is use what The Country Brewer calls a Stout Mix. This is 600gm of dark dry malt with 400gm of maltodextrin. I boil;d the stout mix in 2 litres of watrer and add the can. I then transfer to fermenter and fill to 20 litres and add a Willamette Hop teabag and ferment with Safale.

I am actually going to be putting down this recipe with a Coopers Dark and a Tooheys Dark (2 seperate brews) in the coming weeks.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Tuesday Oct 11, 2005 2:18 pm

Wassa,

You've mentioned in previous threads that this recipe of yours is close to Tooheys Old. Let us know how the two kits stack up against one another.

I've got a couple of bottles of coopers dark ale sitting here waiting to have their yeast harvested for a starter. Was gunna give your brew a go with either a tooheys or a coopers dark ale kit (depending on what's cheapest).

Cheers,
Jay.

Ilike'emfizzy · Post by **Ilike'emfizzy** » Tuesday Oct 11, 2005 2:23 pm

Thanks guys.
I just went and bought some Safale yeast, and 1kg amber liquid malt, and the dude at the HBS suggested goldings hops, which i bought.
I will add 500g dextrose for a bit of a kick.
Hopefully that will do it.

Thanks again

Antsvb · Post by **Antsvb** » Tuesday Oct 11, 2005 2:28 pm

Have also been interested in your black ideas Wassa.

Will be giving it a go shortly I think.

chaos · Post by **chaos** » Wednesday Oct 12, 2005 1:21 am

I have brewed the Coopers old eight or ten times, each time with a commercially available stout pack be it breweiser country brewer, or other HBS and has always worked a treat. I have found that adding a hops teabag makes little difference in the final taste.

This is one of my all time favorite brews. Bottoms up.

Daron · Post by **Daron** » Wednesday Oct 12, 2005 1:17 pm

i added some fuggles and dar malt extract with some honey.... maaaagnificent!

Post by **Oliver** » Thursday Oct 13, 2005 12:23 am

Ilike'emfizzy wrote:I just went and bought some Safale yeast, and 1kg amber liquid malt, and the dude at the HBS suggested goldings hops, which i bought.

Usually Goldings would be used in a pale ale or the like.

British dark ales tend to use Fuggles. But it won't be the end of the world.

At least it's not Pride of Ringwood

Oliver

Ilike'emfizzy · Post by **Ilike'emfizzy** » Thursday Oct 13, 2005 8:10 am

Yeah, it could be worse.

I found out that the hops didnt match the brew afterwards when I got home and read up on it. That will teach me to trust a HBS guy instead of doing my own research.

Cheers Oliver

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Friday Oct 14, 2005 7:38 am

Ilike'emfizzy wrote: I found out that the hops didnt match the brew afterwards when I got home and read up on it.

Unless you are entering the beer in a competition, don't worry about what the books say. If you reckon it tastes good, thats all that matters.

Cheers

Merlin

beermeister · Post by **beermeister** » Friday Oct 14, 2005 12:46 pm

Fizzy,

I'd put Brewiser Premium Brew Enhancer, or Coopers BE2 in with the Coopers Dark Ale, plus 500g of light honey. I've made a few like that and they have alll been great.

BM

Brainface · Post by **Brainface** » Friday Oct 14, 2005 10:50 pm

Couldnt agree more, merlin. I not trying to impress anyone - only myself.

I havent used honey in a brew yet, but i didnt think it would go with a dark ale............only one way to find out. i'll give it a go next time.

I love the smoky, burnt smell thats coming out of the airlock at the moment and it got me thinking: could i used molasses with dark malt extract to get a really burnt flavour going?
Has anyone here used molasses before?

And a silly question here: is treacle the same thing as molasses? Because I can only find treacle in the supermarket.

cheers

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Saturday Oct 15, 2005 2:15 am

No, the two are differnt.

And Honey is good with anything

Dogger

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Saturday Oct 15, 2005 5:05 am

Half a kilo of Leatherwood honey in with a Cooper Old Dark Ale is really good. Did one a while back

Coopers Old Dark Ale
600gm Dextrose
400gm Maltodextrin
500gm Leatherwood Honey
12gm Goldings steeped
yeast as supplied.

Was great while it lasted, just none left now.

Cheers,
Greg

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Monday Oct 17, 2005 1:04 pm

Hi Brainface,

Have a look in the cooking aisle at the supermarket. A popular brand is Blue Label - comes in a 550g jar.

I bottled off a cooper's dark w/molasses on Friday night:

1.7Kg can cooper's dark
1.0Kg can morgan's chocolate malt blend
500g LDM
400g molasses (meant to stop at 275g, but overshot on the pour).
yeast as supplied, 23L
Didn't quite come out of the airlock, but went ballistic at about 120 bpm (bubbles/min)
Started out at 1053, bottomed out at 1013, so should be 5.1%.

It's got a really strong molasses taste out of the hydrometer tube, but not oeverpowering. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks how it turns out.

Tony