TrueBrew Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 I made this today. Found a Cooper's Dark Ale kit in the cupboard and did some research and decided on this. Be interested to know what others think. Boiled 2L water add 20g Fuggles, 2 teaspoons of Cinnamon (Old Spiced) and 3 teaspoons of Cocoa for 15mins. Turned down the boil to 70C and steeped 20g Fuggles hops and 100g Dark Ale Grain Pack from Brewer's Choice for 30mins. Added Dark Ale Tin, Water, 1kg Coopers BE2 and strained grain to 23L and 22C. Pitched Safale 04 yeast. OG 1040 Going to dry hop with chinook and nelson sauvin about 20g after day 3. Tastes and smells good already. Thought I'd dry hop with these guys as I have them lying around and I like the fruity aromas. Don't know if they'll work on a dark ale. Remains to be tasted in 4 weeks. Does anyone know the IBU of Coopers Dark Ale Can? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 According to IanH's spreadsheet, the Dark Ale IBU is 590. When mixed to 23 litres it's 32.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Just for interest sake,I thought I would share this with the readers, because we can't readily aquire hops, malt etc here in Alice I thought I would do a little experiment with the Dark Ale, I have a 60litre FV so I used three cans of Dark Ale, one kilo of BE2, all three yeasts and mixed to 46 litres, (I like to keep the alcohol level down a bit) Brewed at about 20 degrees. It was two weeks in the bottle on Saturday so I chilled one and tested it, if the first bottle at two weeks is anything to go by I will be making it again, it will be interesting to see what it is like after a month or so. I would have used LDM if I could get it but the BE2 seems ro have worked pretty well, it had a great creamy head and retained it to the end. It is a little bitter though not too bitter for me, all in all a pleasant drinking ale! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickB12 Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I did the old spiced with the cinnamon made a note never to use cinnamon again. has been the worst brew so far. Tried it over a 6 month period and was ba all along the cinnamon flavour did not subside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBrew Posted July 4, 2012 Author Share Posted July 4, 2012 I've tasted it and like it. It is a bitter beer though. Pays to get the IBU of the kit before making it but the result isn't too bad. Would probably reduce the amount of hops for the 60 min boil a little. Not sure how much the cocoa played a role in the bittering either. As for the cinnamon, I haven't found it to be overpowering or off putting. I boiled it in the hops to make sure it was cleaned of any bugs along with the cocoa. For a random recipe I'm happy. Tried it at a mate's place last weekend matched with a beer braised beef in a bitter chocolate sauce with a horseradish mash and it was killer. Glad all I had to do was make the beer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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