Coopers European Lager Hops ?

[bert7cosby]

Hi, I Have just ordered a Coopers European lager kit and though I may try and pimp it up a little with some hops.
I have never added to any of my kits before so was hoping someone may give me a few pointers.
I was thinking maybe a Saaz hop addition but I am open to suggestions.
Oh yeh is it advisable to brew this kit at a lower temp ?
thanks

 

[Drunken Horse]

It depends on the yeast. Most of the coopers lager kits seem to come with ale yeast so work best around 20 range. A lager yeast works best at lower temps. I use the ale yeast because my house is too warm to do otherwise.

I just bought some saaz to add to the mexican cerveza kit. My first go at dry hopping so hopefully a good choice and I get it right

 

[Archtronics]

That kit comes with lager yeast so 9-13c fermentation temps then 2c for lagering if you can.

If you want aroma then dry hop.
If you want flavour your going to need a mini boil.
I wouldnt bother trying to add bitterness.

Saaz or hallertauer hops would be good there both similar 10g-20g. I did that kit ages ago and found it to be a little tasteless. Personally I would boil half the hops with some malt extract then add the other half as it cools, depends what your after I like a hoppy beer.

 

[SloeBrewer]

I dry hopped with Saaz pellets and it was superb. You will need to crash cool to get the hops to drop, if you use pellets, though.

 

[bigboots]

Alternatively.............just add hopped spraymalt!
I brewed this kit back in the spring (at kitchen temp...quite warm in our house) and added hopped light spraymalt (500g). ALL who drank it thought it was shop bought!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS I had upped the ABV to 7.5% so I added the hopped spraymalt to offset the increased sweetness.

 

[bert7cosby]

Good replies chaps plenty to think about, if I need to ferment at the lower temp any tips on how I may achieve this ?
Also if I was to buy so hops how do I go about adding them to the brew?

 

[SloeBrewer]

Fermenting at colder temps:

In a shed / cold garage
In a fermentation fridge (a fridge connected to a digital temperature controller, such as the STC-1000, which you can buy on ebay)

Buy your hops from one of the forum sponsors, such as the Malt Miller (banner at top of page)

Buy 100g of Saaz or Hallertau and chuck 20-30g in after a week or so, after the main fermentation has died down. Leave the hops in for a week or so. If using whole hops, use a muslin bag (hop sock), which should be boiled to sterilise it before hand. Put the hops in the bag, with a sterilised weight (a couple of sterilised stainless steel teaspoons, for instance) and allow to sink, or use some fishing line to tie them to the FV handle, so they are submerged, but you can retrieve them

If using pellet hops, just chuck them in, but you will need to either cool the lager down to 2-3C or use finings to get the pellets to sink to the bottom, before you bottle.