Thomas Coopers Innkeeper's Daughter, how to brew it

An Australian sparkling ale is a pale ale that gets left to condition in the bottle rather than being filtered bright, so it keeps a layer of yeast in the bottom and it pours cloudy if you rouse it before you tip it out. That is the style Thomas Coopers Innkeeper's Daughter is built to give you, and because it comes as a 1.7kg tin it brews exactly the same way as every other kit on the shelf, which makes it a fair one to reach for whether or not you have done this before.

What you are aiming at

It is malt first rather than hop first, so you get a bready, slightly fruity beer with a decent head on it and a bitterness that sits underneath instead of jumping out at you. The yeast character does a lot of the work in this style, which is why the fermentation temperature matters more here than it does in something you were going to hop heavily anyway.

What you need alongside the tin

• A fermenter with an airlock, and something to sanitise it with.
• A hydrometer and a test jar, because the reading is the only thing that actually tells you fermentation has finished.
• Brew enhancer or dextrose. The enhancer is worth choosing over plain sugar because it leaves body and head retention behind rather than only alcohol.
• Bottles, crown seals, a capper, and carbonation drops or a priming spoon.

The method

1. Sanitise everything the wort is going to touch, and that includes the spoon, the tap, the lid and the airlock.
2. Stand the tin in hot water for a few minutes so it pours cleanly, then dissolve it along with your enhancer in hot water in the fermenter.
3. Top it up with cold water to the volume the tin calls for, and check the temperature before you go any further, because pitching into something too warm is the commonest way a first batch ends up tasting of solvent.
4. Sprinkle the yeast over the top, then put the lid and the airlock on.
5. Leave it somewhere with a steady temperature and take a gravity reading after about 4 days, then take another one 2 days later, and when the two readings match it is finished.
6. Bottle it with carbonation drops or with primed sugar, then leave it somewhere warm for a fortnight before any of it goes near the fridge.

Temperature is the bit people skip

Ale yeast will ferment across a fair range and the tin gives you the range to aim for, so read it rather than guessing, and pick the coolest spot in the house that stays steady rather than the warmest one that swings around. A laundry or an inside cupboard usually beats a shed, because a shed follows the weather and the weather here does whatever it likes.

Pouring it

You have got a choice in the glass and both of them are correct. Pour it carefully and leave the sediment sitting in the bottle and you get a clear beer, or roll the bottle gently on its side first and tip the lot in, which gives you the cloudy version with a lot more of that yeast flavour in it. Have one of each and work out which one you actually prefer, because nobody else's opinion on that is worth much to you.

If the first one is not right

Nobody's first batch is their best one, and I do not think anybody gets competent at this without a couple of fairly ordinary ones on the way through, so if it comes out thin or it takes longer than you expected to carbonate, that is information rather than failure. Come in and tell us what it did and we will have a decent go at working out why, which is a 10 minute conversation and a lot less work than reading about it for a fortnight.

Shop related products

• Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 1kg. Body and head retention rather than only more alcohol.
• US-05 Safale Ale Yeast 11.5g. A clean ale yeast if you would rather not use the sachet under the lid.
• Coopers Dextrose 1kg. Plain fermentable sugar, and what you prime the bottles with.
• Thomas Coopers Family Secret Amber Ale 1.7kg. The obvious next tin if this one suits you.

Did you know we stock the Innkeeper's Daughter tin itself in the shop, along with fermenters, hydrometers, crown seals, cappers and carbonation drops. A fair bit of the homebrew range carries our supplier's branding so it does not go up on the website, which means the shelf holds more than the site does. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on it.

The tins and the malts that are online sit in the homebrew collection, and the rest of the gear is under beer supplies. If you would rather plan a brew before you come in, Brewhilder is our homebrew helper and it will talk you through it.

Read next

• Thomas Coopers Family Secret Amber Ale, how to brew it
• How to carbonate your homebrew in bottles
• How to brew your first beer at home

Cheers, Candeece. Patience is apparently the main ingredient in this one and it is the only one we do not stock.