A few questions.

Hoddy · Jul 14, 2015

1. I went to a brew shop today (shall remain anonymous at this stage) and in a moment of madness i saw Tooheys special larger (i loved and lived on Tooheys new when i lived in oz in my youth) and bought that to brew next. Interestingly the guy in the shop recommended i guy coopers light malt as the sugar addition for the brew. My questions are 1) is the tooheys brew kits any good? And should i be doing a different brew kit to achieve what i am looking for. 2) secondly, should i be using coopers malt? or should i be just using straight brewing sugar?

2. I want to brew a good middle of the road tasty lager type craft beer. Ideally as close to the Hogs back brewery "hog star" larger as possible. Is there a kit that anyone would recommend?

3. The guy in the brew shop i visited today (shall remain anonymous at this stage) berated me for following the instructions on my festival golden stag ale. He said i was stupid for waiting for the 5 days for initial fermentation, and then adding the dry hops and waiting another 5 days and checking the SG was below 1.009 before bottling. He said i should have thrown it all in (including the hops) from the outset and bottled it after it got below 1.015 and not allowed it to get above 20 degrees as now it most likely be ruined. Who is right here???

Thanks

H

Joeyriles · Jul 14, 2015

Hey Hoddy, welcome to the club.

Tooheys is only fit to be consumed ice cold around a BBQ on an Aussie Christmas day in my opinion but if you want to labour in love to make your own then it's a free country!
The Coopers BKE is actually a mixture of dextrose and dried malt extract and would give your beer more body than straight sugar. Other brands are available and you can often find Wilkinson do something similar.

As for the Hogstar (I visited Hog's Back a month ago) I would recommend the Coopers European lager. It comes with a proper lager yeast and so will give you a more crisp taste akin to the stuff they brew at Hog's Back.

The fellow at the shop probably started a little early today. The hops are best left until the last minute if you want to get the maximum aroma out of them. You also did the right thing by leaving it as long as you did and checking the hydrometer before bottling (homebrew 101) so not sure what he was rambling on about there.
From what you've said there's no reason why your beer would be ruined, so kick that one into touch as well.

Hope that's helpful!

Fil · Jul 14, 2015

hiya..

check out the coopers lager kit range dont brew them myself but others rate em.

Dont let brewshop matey ruin your brew You brew the way that your comfortable with and when starting out if that involves following instructions to the letter you do that. When you gain a little more brewing confidence and are at home with the process then you can decide for yourself if and when to stray from the guide.

brew happy :)

Covrich · Jul 15, 2015

Hoddy said:
3. The guy in the brew shop i visited today (shall remain anonymous at this stage) berated me for following the instructions on my festival golden stag ale. He said i was stupid for waiting for the 5 days for initial fermentation, and then adding the dry hops and waiting another 5 days and checking the SG was below 1.009 before bottling. He said i should have thrown it all in (including the hops) from the outset and bottled it after it got below 1.015 and not allowed it to get above 20 degrees as now it most likely be ruined. Who is right here???

Thanks

H

Of the two the instructions are more correct, the man at the brew shop is wrong. WHat I do and a lot of people do is wait until fermentation is finished and dry hop 3-5 days from your bottle day. So just say you put your brew on a week ago and its finished fermenting today and you plan to bottle next wednesday I would chuck the dry hops in Saturday.

You can do the 5 day wait and put them in.. it's far better than what he said in the shop.

clibit · Jul 15, 2015

As others have said, but be aware of what temperature your yeast needs to ferment at, get that wrong and you can ruin your beer. If it's a true lager yeast it will need to be below 15C, and fermenting at 20 or more will ruin the beer. Coopers Euro lager uses a lager yeast, no idea about Tooheys.

markm1878 · Jul 15, 2015

IMO you won't get a proper lager from a kit, especially those that use ale yeasts. You need proper lager yeast and temp controls to fit the style. With the gentle flavour of lagers, any issues from fermentation really shine through.

The guy in the homebrew shop is totally totally wrong about the other kit. If you chuck in the hops at the beginning, they won't add the aroma you would want from dry hopping. In fact, a friend of mine recently did this and gave me a bottle, I got nothing on the nose from it. He too followed the guidelines of the hbs fella. I wonder if it's the same one?

I don't use him unless in emergencies, he has very little for AG and what he does have isn't stored properly or given to the customer properly. Yeast just out on the shelves, hops in open sacks in the back, malt served in plastic bags that goes everywhere etc... I'm genuinely gutted he's a "it'll make beer, it's fine" type brewer rather than an enthusiast like many of us.

cornyandy · Jul 15, 2015

What a prat, is all I can say. Even if you had not got it quite right it is very difficult to make a beer that is so bad you might as well chuck it. Andy Smash, Andy not Happy. I reckon he has lost a customer there. I would recommend you look into both Get Er Brewed and The Home Brew Company as mail order alternatives and ask for advice on here