coopers brew enhanser

[druid]

My local brew suppliers dont carry the beer enhanser kits/cans. What are they?/ can I substitute something in there place? I saw a recipe for a smooth bitter ale...but cant try it unless I can find a substitute. Thanks in advance for any insight.


Dave

 

[LarryF]

Brew Enhancer is 50% spray malt and 50% dextrose, Wilko do it for £6 or £6.99 on Ebay delivered. You could substitute sugar but I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[druid]

Is this similar to LME? I can get LME at my brew store and then add DME to my desired OG?

 

[terrym]

In general terms the more malty stuff the better. Dextrose will simply ferment out to alcohol without taste/flavour addition.
You might find this useful for Coopers Enhancer for Coopers products

• Brew Enhancer 1 - 60% dextrose, 40% maltodextrin
• Brew Enhancer 2 - 50% dextrose, 25% maltodextrin, 25% light dry malt
• Brew Enhancer 3 - 50% light dry malt, 30% dextrose, 20% maltodextrin

As far as I am aware maltodextrin does not ferment out, but is there for 'mouthfeel'
I used to use Youngs Beer Enhancer which I believe is/was 50:50 dextrose/spray malt.

You don't need to buy enhancers. Simply add DME or LME or dextrose, or golden syrup (partially inverted sugar) or table sugar in order of (my) preference or a mixture of any, to achieve the same result or better.

 

[LarryF]

LME, liquid malt extract, DME dried malt extract. Both do the same job, I think you do need a little bit more LME than DME but you could make up the difference with sugar and not notice it. It's doing the whole brew with sugar that's a no no. If you want to get a brew on sharpish grab the LME it'll do the job fine.

 

[druid]

Hmmm...cheers for this. As a newbie, Im trying to absorb all I can and attempting to make better beer. I found doing "toucan" batches have been better quality than kit and a kilo approach. I saw these other recipes at the Coopers site and thought I would give a few a go. A friend loved my toucan stout but pointed out that it cost me 2x the money. He shut it when I said sure....but each pint cost me about $1.00 (cdn) 60p....

...I should point out that a pint of Guinness at the local costs about $8 + with taxes.....