Brewing sugar / enhancer question

[IzaKamakazi]

Hi Guys,

I'm broadening my horizons a little from wine to beer / lager. I have purchased some coopers european lager and cooper canadian blonde.

Due to a mix up with online orders I have coopers brew enhancer 1 with the delivery. On the top of the european lager tin it suggests brew enhancer 2 although the website suggested using brew enhancer. The canadian blonde states 1.7kg Kit - Requires 1KG of brewing sugar.

Could you guys be so kind as to suggest what would give the best results for brewing the 2 lagers I have. At the moment as it is my first brew I would guess my options would be brew enhancer 1 , 2 or brewing sugar?.

I would rather ask for some advice from people in the know than ruin a good brew.

Hope that makes sense.

Cheers guys!

*EDIT*

I just remembered I have 100% maltodextrin that I use for training could that be used?

 

[Aleman]

If it was me, I would add a total of 1Kg of (sugar + enhancer) to each of the kits. When brewing the coopers kits I've found that using beer enhancer or spray malt on its own (Instead of just sugar) , I found they upset the balance of the kit, and that the lager kits actually benefit from just using sugar on its own.

 

[IzaKamakazi]

Hi Aleman,

Thanks for you reply, You say 1KG of brewing sugar + enhancer. Would you do a 50/50 split?

Also, I guess the brew enhancer 2 that I have would suffice for this?.

Thanks again.

Rob.

 

[Aleman]

You have two kits each of which requires an additional kilo of fermentables. .. . For the lager kits I have found that adding the extra fermentable as light spray malt unbalances the beer and it ends up "Not at all lager like", as so I would recommend either using sugar or sugar and maltodextrin.

Now you say you have Brew Enhancer 1 which is 70% Dextrose (Read sugar) and 30% maltodextrin which would be perfect for increasing the body of the European lager . . The Canadian blonde being a 'Standard American Beer' would be better off with just sugar.

Personally I would mix your Beer enhancer up to 2 kilos with sugar and split it equally between the kits.

Whatever you do do not use 100% maltodextrin as this is unfermentable and will only add body to the beer. . . . not necessarily required in these beers to that extent.

 

[IzaKamakazi]

Thanks again for the sound advice.

I'm off to do some brewing!!.

Cheers.

Rob.

 

[IzaKamakazi]

Hi Guys,

Well it's a few days down the line since I started the brew. The european lager was the first up, I mixed the sugars as suggested by Aleman.

I have been brewing at 21c but after 6 days the fermentation had come to a stop with the gravity going from 1040 to 1014.It has now been 10 days and still no movement.

I thought , what if I raise the temperature to about 25c ???. well , the fermentation started again!!!.

My question is that is it ok to continue fermenting at this temperature?

Also would the final gravity be around 1004 when it has finished fully?

Thanks for the help

Rob.