Coopers Australian Lager Review

[alanwh]

A good clean tasting light beer, one of the few pretend lagers without the horrid aftertaste.(as long as you leave alone for a couple of months) The lighter the drink the harder it is to cover any aftertaste in my experience, so it has to be commended for that. My problem is it's pretty tasteless, but very nice with a splash of lime (shoot me now lol)
I will be trying the European version next

 

[Slid]

This was my very first brew after many years. Bottled into mainly 2 litre PET bottles on the 28 September - so 3 months old now. Just opened the last one - really good - tastes a lot better than the the ones made since. Basically a good strong pale ale, made with the Coopers Brew Enhancer (came with the Starter Kit) and 500g of sugar (for good measure) to 25L. Can really recommend this.

I just need more patience.

Is patience on offer anywhere? :lol:

 

[Pjam]

I brewed as per the instructions and a very good ferment ........ probably the best I've had from a kit. I just left it alone and after 5 days it went straight to 1006, no need for any messing around. Many kits (the last 5 I've done) need a stir to see out the full ferment. Not this. Very promising

 

[gingerob]

Brewed this with Mutons beer enhancer and used 2 drops per bottle and it has come out very good indeed. Crystal clear until it goes in the fridge and then it gets a slight haze but tastes good after 4 weeks in a bottle.

 

[pms67]

Hi
Brewed this yesterday to 20l and added 30g of simcoe hop pellets to water/brewing sugar when boiling.
Haven't got a clue how this will taste but nothing ventured !

 

[Slid]

Hi Bryn.

I'm guessing you bottled at 8 days as per the instructions?

Look slightly cloudy as you say, but it will clear quite well and if you are carful when puring it out (in a few weeks time) you won't get too much sediment or lose too much beer. I did much the same with my first couple of these and they tasted great after 6 weeks in the bottle.

For future reference, leaving the brew 2 weeks in the fermenter will make it much clearer at bottling, and at pouring out time as well. Even better, leaving the brew on the yeast for this extra time means it will taste "cleaner", and a bit faster, out the bottle.

Pretty much every new brewer has done the same.

 

[Stew]

Got this one on the go yesterday 10th May and made up to 20l litres with 1kg of light spraymalt and a can of golden syrup, re-hydrated the yeast before pitching and already bubbling great in the FV this morning after a good 12 hours.

OG was around 1048, so should be a decent strength if it gets below 1010.

 

[mitsu monkey]

Hi all, I've got one of these to do, has anyone hopped it? What did you use? Did you dry hop? Any suggestions??

Cheers

G

 

[Stew]

Got this one on the go yesterday 10th May and made up to 20l litres with 1kg of light spraymalt and a can of golden syrup, re-hydrated the yeast before pitching and already bubbling great in the FV this morning after a good 12 hours.

OG was around 1048, so should be a decent strength if it gets below 1010.

Got this bottled up yesterday with 1tsp of caster sugar in each 500ml bottle, after being in the FV for 15 days and the FG had reached 1010 which hopefully gives me 5%.
Had a sip from the sample jar and didn't taste half bad. Just have to wait and see now.
:drink:

 

[Ragnar]

I'm not sure if I should be worried or that's how it should be. Mine's been sitting in the bucket for 8 days now. I know that a lot of people keep on saying to keep it in the bucket for at least 2 weeks, whereas the instructions say it should be done within a week. Anyway, I measured the SG yesterday and again today and the reading's been 1.011-1.012 both times. But I think normally the FG should be a bit lower.

Should I keep it in the FV for a little longer and see if anything happens? Or should I just assume that it's done fermenting and that's as low as it goes and I probably messed something up? What would you do? If you think I messed something up, is it even worth bottling? Or should I just flush it and try again?

I did give it a taste as well and it does taste quite nice, couldn't tell anything was "off" per se. Just a little raw, I suppose, which it is.

 

[Slid]

Hi all, I've got one of these to do, has anyone hopped it? What did you use? Did you dry hop? Any suggestions??

Cheers

G

I'm experimenting with dry hopping - Cascade and Saaz used on various ale and lager kits respectively. I recently picked up some hops I'd never heard of by mail order from The Malt Miller's bargain bin at £1 for each 100g. I just picked ones described as "aroma" hops. (Bouclier, Marynke and Triskel if anyone's interested.)

 

[mitsu monkey]

I'm bottling it tonight, in the end I went for a hallertau hop tea bag which I added 3 days ago.
It smells nice, I'm sure it'll be a good un!

 

[pms67]

Hi
Brewed this yesterday to 20l and added 30g of simcoe hop pellets to water/brewing sugar when boiling.
Haven't got a clue how this will taste but nothing ventured !

Might have also been the orange and coriander ?
It was one of the worst kits yet but certainly ,my fault :nah:
Coppers are foolproof,even a child couldn't mu.. :shock:

Bye

 

[ilikepeas]

Got one of these on the go at the mo and really looking forward to it after reading this thread! I just hope I can give it a nice bit of fizz.
Brewed with 1kg of cane sugar and added some lime zest for aroma (which is already coming through nicely) so yeah, should be good.

 

[brynwills]

The only trouble youll have is that the cane sugar will give it a ciderlike smell and taste. Leave it for at least 4 wks before sampling it will lose these notes then. Ive done one with 1kg brewing sugar and 500g of spraymalt and what a difference

 

[Slid]

Yeah, 500g spraymalt and 1kg sugar - no doubt maize is fine, but I never have noticed the issues with table sugar - cane or beet, but I would leave home brew for at least 4 weeks in the bottle, and preferably more. :

My advise to the impatient is simple.

Start two months ago. :lol:

Or put another way - if you put on a kit brew every fortnight, in 2 months time, you are self-sufficient in beer. :thumb:

 

[Slid]

I've never done a modern 1 can kit without at least 500g spraymalt, but I prefer to brew long to 25L so as to get 12x2L PET bottles, which fit nicely in a laundry basket, and doing a "kit and kilo" brew long is, almost literally, taking the p***. :?

If you are going to the trouble of spending a couple of hours cleaning your kit and bottles as well as the making and bottling time, I would suggest that another 10p a pint is going to look like a good investment when you open the bottles - even more so if you get the chance to impress freinds and visitors. :drink:

 

[pms67]

Slid where did you get your 2l PET bottles ?

 

[Slid]

Slid where did you get your 2l PET bottles ?

Teenage daughters drink lemonade and coke, wife drinks fizzy mineral water and I have a fondness for supermarket cider, especially with stout.

If you ask freinds, family, or even work mates to save them for you, it should be easy enough. Alternatively, raid recycling wheely bins and blame urban foxes. Rinse them out and I use a sodium metabisulphite solution to keep then sterile - just a little dash works well, until you are ready to bottle.

And yes, I know sodium metabisulphite solution is very Old School. :geek:

 

[mitsu monkey]

Just started drinking the ones I bottled 4 weeks ago. Quite a nice clean lager, well carbonated.
I think it really benefited from the hallertau hop teabag I added 3 days before bottling.
Very nice!

:-)