Coopers Australian Lager Review

BrewSage1985 · Feb 5, 2012

An amazing lager kit, although uses ale yeast. Brewed this with 1kg of Light DME and used the Coopers Ale yeast that came with the kit. It has a very clear golden colour to it, clean hop bitterness. Slight maltiness (possibly due to 100% Light DME) to it and has a slightly crisp flavour. Slight fruity esters in the aftertaste possibly due to ale yeast.

I kept a few bottles for 6 months and I'm just amazed at how good this brew is, alot more drinkable than other commercial lagers and easier to stomach at higher temperatures. Best served in a bottle or corny keg for good carbonation. If I were to brew this again I may use 750g of malt and 250g of dextrose to bring out more of the hop bitterness :drink:

Archtronics · Feb 5, 2012

Sorry which lager kit do you mean the Australian or European?

As I have done both I shall review both.

Australian

As above come with Ale yeast, fermented out well to approx 4.5 ABV. Had a brilliant caramel sent on the nose and coming through in the taste more of a lighter ale than a lager tho in my opinion.

Mark

Essex_Lad · Feb 7, 2012

I'm not really much of a lager drinker but this kit is amazing. I decided to make one of these after doing my third cider kit as I wanted something else for easy drinking in front of the TV :)

The kit itself is a one tin which I have made twice now, both times using 1kg of granulated sugar. Both times I have had no issues with this kit and it went to the desired FG in around ten days, from memory both turned out to be around the 4.5% mark.

Bottling in 1 litre PET bottles with one heaped teaspoon of granulated sugar I left them indoors for a week and then moved into the shed.

Trying one after two weeks I found it had a very nasty aftertaste and if I'm honest was not impressed, it was a lot better after a month and after six weeks it great. I find it's not like a pint of lager from the pub (not that I've had one for around ten years) it's full of flavour and thick in texture.

I currently have another 5 gallons in the FV as I'm typing this.

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=21901

SE10PAT · Feb 8, 2012

Brewing
27th Nov 2011 - 23 litres, Gravity 1042 - 1004 5% ABV

I was a little aprehensive about making a lager kit after a spectacular failure with a previous Coopers Mexican Cervza kit, but I was encoraged to give the lager a second chance after hearing some good things. The one tin kit from Coopers is very easy to make, I simply added 1kg of granulated sugar and bottled the results some 12 days later, 1/2 tsp of granulated sugar in 500ml PET bottles. It probably would have been sooner but for some early festive drinking sessions!

Tasting...
This is a fantastic lager kit and has restored my faith in lager making. It has a clean crisp taste, a very zippy hoppy taste on the tongue and bubbles away nicely yet isn't too gassy. It reminds me of the small stubby beers that you can buy on the continent, I guess I could best describe it as a Pilsneresque taste to it. It's a good brew for having with food and I quite I like to have a few bottles whilst cooking the sunday roast, grab a quick quick read of the paper with the sunday match on in the background you know that kind of thing!! In fact I intend to have a few with my chicken rogan josh tonight!

So if you are thinking of trying a lager kit, i'd say go for the Coopers Australian Lager. It's a kit that I will definetley be brewing for some time to come.

scotttc · Jan 16, 2013

Hi, I'm about to bottle this using 500ml PETs and Coopers carb drops. Is one drop sufficient for priming or would I need 2?

Kinleycat · Jan 17, 2013

scotttc said:
Hi, I'm about to bottle this using 500ml PETs and Coopers carb drops. Is one drop sufficient for priming or would I need 2?

Pretty sure I've seen/heard/read it's one per 500ml.

sidicanio · Jan 17, 2013

scotttc said:
Hi, I'm about to bottle this using 500ml PETs and Coopers carb drops. Is one drop sufficient for priming or would I need 2?

I used a mixture of 1, 1.5, and 2 carb drops. I dont like stupid fizzy lager but I found the bottles with 1.5 and 2 drops in 500ml bottles were a lot better

Rento · Feb 1, 2013

I asked the how many drops in a 500ml bottle question to Coopers Customer services, who responded very quickly with:

"The âReal Alesâ are usually lower in carbonation levels than lager styles, so Iâd use one drop in the ales and stouts and two in the lagers. Alternatively you can buy a sugar measure that will dose each 500ml bottle with 4g of sugar. There are available online and through home brew specialist stores."

I'll be using 2 in a couple of days!

R

Brewing Boilerman · Feb 1, 2013

Rento said:
I asked the how many drops in a 500ml bottle question to Coopers Customer services, who responded very quickly with:

"The âReal Alesâ are usually lower in carbonation levels than lager styles, so Iâd use one drop in the ales and stouts and two in the lagers. Alternatively you can buy a sugar measure that will dose each 500ml bottle with 4g of sugar. There are available online and through home brew specialist stores."

I'll be using 2 in a couple of days!

R

I would definatly use 2 per 500ml bottle. I did this brew with 1 and it put me off making it again. I might in the future re brew with 2 drops or a spoon of sugar.

scotttc · Feb 1, 2013

I used 2 carb drops per bottle and they're firming up nicely! :thumb:

Clint Eastwood · Apr 11, 2013

Bottled this today after 16 days in the pf.
I used 1 kg of Muntons beer enhancer and 1kg of Wilco's brewing sugar + yeast nutrient.
Og: 1060
FG 1008
It was bubbling within 2 hours and the Krausen touched the lid of the PF.
As usual I tasted the brew from the hydrometer jar and would say it has a lovely bitter tang to it.
Beer drinkers will probably enjoy the above recipe, I would say it is similar to Carlsberg but slightly more bitter and fruity.
Can't wait to get stuck into this in about a month. : cheers:

Clint Eastwood · Apr 27, 2013

Just tried a few of these tonight and it is spot on. (I was spoilt earlier today by PD and one of his AG's)
Quite bitter for a lager and approx. 7% ABV Not quite the malty flavour of PD's but very good.
No longer like Carlsberg but real ale like.
Probably the nicest kit I have ever made using the above ingredients.
Either that or I'm still tasting PD's after 9 hours.

Clint Eastwood · May 7, 2013

Right that's it I've just tasted my first AG and it tasted better than the above before conditioning.
Kits are much better than they used to be but throw the kits away guys and get proper brewing with the advice on here.
It's like chalk and cheese.

mikeyjay84 · Jun 19, 2013

Cracked one of these open tonight. Since bottling 3 weeks ago, have stored them in the dark at 21degrees. They have cleared beautifully. Put it in the fridge yesterday. Poured one into a glass tonight and it had a nice head, however this dropped out quite quickly. The fizz was PERFECT for a lager. I used two carbonation drops per 500ml.

The taste was initially clean, with an almost honey aftertaste. No strange aftertastes, maybe a touch of yeast still there, but most drinkable! I will most definitely be having these instead of buying from the shop. OG was 1.038 and finished at 1.008. Used everything I got with my coopers beer kit, so 1kg of brew enhancer. Very very impressed with this kit. Was easy to do and very pleasantly surprised by the results! Would highly recommend as an easy going and 'safe' lager. :thumb:

Will deffo be chucking one on again soon, to keep as a back up drink. Give it another few weeks and this will be a great drop. : cheers:

:drink:

harrysachs · Jun 20, 2013

my first re entery to homebrewing after 10/15 years,got my new equipment,went for a coopers aussie lager(had good reviews) tweaked it slightly wilko brewing sugar,and 500g of light brown sugar added,fermented for 2 weeks,O.G 1.500 FG 1.110 not bad,newbie fail :doh:

over primmed the p.e.t bottles,after 1 week in the bottle,opened one fountain of foam,left for another 4 days,chilled it down,nice pour foamy,crazy bubbles,clear,smelt like lager tasted like lager(kind of) distinct after taste of honey,or i put it down to the too much light brown sugar,but after a month of being in the bottle,just gets better,mates had a few,went mad at wilko sale bought 2 more fermenting bins :) :)

mikeyjay84 · Jun 20, 2013

harrysachs said:
my first re entery to homebrewing after 10/15 years,got my new equipment,went for a coopers aussie lager(had good reviews) tweaked it slightly wilko brewing sugar,and 500g of light brown sugar added,fermented for 2 weeks,O.G 1.500 FG 1.110 not bad,newbie fail over primmed the p.e.t bottles,after 1 week in the bottle,opened one fountain of foam,left for another 4 days,chilled it down,nice pour foamy,crazy bubbles,clear,smelt like lager tasted like lager(kind of) distinct after taste of honey,or i put it down to the too much light brown sugar,but after a month of being in the bottle,just gets better,mates had a few,went mad at wilko sale bought 2 more fermenting bins :) :)

How much did you use to prime? I used coopers drops, 2 per 500ml.

I used 1 kilo of brew enhancer and also had a honey 'twang'

harrysachs · Jun 20, 2013

full teaspoon of granulated sugar :sulk: even after 3 weeks in the bottle its still lively

Bowl sprayer · Oct 26, 2013

I brewed this as per the kit instructions and it produced pale ale not lager. I am guessing it is the yeast which has had that effect. Has anyone tried to brew this kit with a true lager yeast? If so what was the outcome?

I feel a bit cheated when I have one. They have matured ok, it's just that it looks like lager but definately isn't. If i had known this would be the outcome i would have dry hopped it to give it a bit more life. It isn't a bad drink just not what you expect. I am part way through brewing a Wilko Pilsner with a lager yeast to see if it makes a difference.

SloeBrewer · Oct 26, 2013

The only lager kit I know of that actually uses a lager yeast, is the Coopers European lager. All the others use an ale yeast, presumably because most people are unable to ferment at the ideal temperature for lagers.

Most pilsner kits will also use ale yeast, unless it specifically says it uses lager yeast in the instructions.

Slid · Oct 27, 2013

This was my first brew after over 20 years. The Coopers micro Brewery set came with this kit, so that was what I made. A leaflet with it suggested making it up to 25 liters and drinking it after mowing the lawn with a clear conscience - "lawnmower lager".

Five short weeks later, Brew number 1 is all but gone. Absolutely mavellous look, taste and feel. I brewed it with 500g of extra sugar in addition to the Coopers No 1 Brew Enhancer and have made another batch since with a differnt 1kg brew enhancer and again 500g extra sugar. This one seems just as good :tongue:

Yesterday I kicked off the third batch with 500g LME and 1 kilo of sugar. As before, the fermentation has gone off like a rocket. Good job the Coopers bucket comes with the collar - a new idea to me!

This kit makes a better drink than the 5.3% French beres from the supermarkets that have recently mutated into 4.7% and then to a maizy tasting 4.2%. Can receommend this kit to anyone who liked the Tesco or Asda French Beers of a couple of years back.

Of course, as the kit comes with Ale yeast and ferments happily at 24 centigrade, it is a pale ale and not a lager at all. But that really is being picky.

Coopers Australian Lager Review

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