How to brew Coopers Original Dark Ale

Coopers Original Dark Ale is one of the easier tins to get a good beer out of, which is why it turns up in so many first and second batches. It comes out a deep mahogany with roasted malt and a bit of caramel through it, the bitterness is mild, and because the malt is doing most of the work there is more room to hide a small mistake than there is in something pale and clean.

Here is the whole method, start to finish.

What you need

• A fermenter with a lid and an airlock, 30 litres for a 23 litre batch.
• A hydrometer and a test jar.
• A thermometer.
• No rinse sanitiser.
• A long spoon, and bottles with caps and a capper.

Then the tin itself, and 1kg of brewing sugar, dextrose, or a brew enhancer. The yeast comes under the lid of the tin. If you want a fuller, rounder beer, swap the plain sugar for dark malt extract or a brew enhancer, because sugar gives you alcohol and malt gives you body.

Brew day

1. Sanitise

Wash first, sanitise second. Everything that touches the beer after the tin is opened gets done, and a no rinse sanitiser means you mix it, wet everything, tip it out and carry on.

2. Mix the wort

Stand the unopened tin in hot water for five minutes so the extract pours rather than crawls. Tip it into the fermenter with your sugar or enhancer, add about 2 litres of hot water and stir until nothing is sitting on the bottom, then top up to 23 litres with cold water.

3. Check the temperature before you pitch

Take a reading with the thermometer rather than trusting the feel of the side of the fermenter. Get it under 27 degrees before the yeast goes anywhere near it, and if you can settle it closer to 20 you will get a cleaner beer out the other end, because warm fermentation is where the hot solventy flavours come from.

4. Pitch and leave it

Sprinkle the yeast across the top, put the lid on, fill the airlock, and put the fermenter somewhere dark where the temperature does not swing much. Take a hydrometer reading now and write it down, because without it the final reading tells you nothing about how much alcohol you made.

Fermentation

Give it about a week, then start taking readings. It is finished when the hydrometer has not moved for two or three days running, which is usually somewhere between 7 and 10 days, and it is worth saying plainly that the airlock is no guide at all. A lid that has not sealed properly will let the gas out around the rim and the airlock will sit dead still while the beer ferments perfectly well underneath it.

Bottling

Sanitise the bottles and the caps. Put a carbonation drop or a measured amount of sugar into each one, fill from the tap without stirring up the sediment on the bottom, and cap them. They then want two weeks somewhere above 18 degrees while the leftover yeast makes the fizz, and a couple of days in the fridge after that before you open one.

A dark ale is worth leaving longer than you want to. Another two or three weeks in the bottle rounds it off noticeably, and most of the batches people write off were opened too early rather than brewed badly.

Changing it

Once the plain version has come out the way you wanted, there is plenty you can do with it. Dark malt extract in place of the sugar gives you a heavier, sweeter beer with better head retention. A steep of Gladfield medium crystal grain adds caramel and a bit of colour. If you like it drier, dextrose instead of the enhancer takes the sweetness back down.

There are more ways to do this than I know about, so if you have got a version of this tin that works for you, tell us about it when you are next in the shop. I would rather hear a better method than defend mine.

Shop related products

• Coopers Original Dark Ale 1.7kg. The tin this whole post is about, and the yeast is under the lid.
• Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 1kg. Dextrose with dried malt through it, for body rather than just alcohol.
• Coopers Dark Malt Extract 1.5kg. Swap this in when you want it fuller and darker again.
• Coopers Dextrose 1kg. For priming the bottles, and for a drier finish if that is what you are after.

The tins and the malts are in the homebrew collection, and the rest of the Coopers range is here.

Did you know we also stock Gladfield medium crystal malted grain in store, along with carbonation drops, 30 litre and 60 litre fermenter complete systems, a 2 scale hydrometer with the test jar, glass thermometers, airlocks, crown seals, hammer and bench cappers, PET bottles and caps. A fair bit of the homebrew range carries our supplier branding so it does not go up on the website. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.

If you want to work a batch out before you come in, Brewhilder is our homebrew helper and it will talk you through it.

More from the brewing bench

• Beer styles explained: pale ale, amber, porter and stout
• How to brew a Coopers English Bitter at home
• What makes homebrew beer taste off, and how to stop it

Dark beers are forgiving, which suits me, and I am not going to pretend that is not why I like them.

Cheers,
Candeece