Coopers European Lager Kit

[dx4100]

I originally started with kits and quickly moved to AG because I just found them terrible. The problem with AG and having a three year old daughter is obvious though. Finding them time to do it is a bit of a nightmare!

Anyway... I had been thinking about doing a AG lager for a while but I have been put off by the amount of time it will occupy my brew fridge for the lagering and FV. So when I was walking around Tesco over the weekend I spotted the Coopers European Lager kit and I thought I would give it ago. You can ferment it at much higher temps obviously and a lot quicker. Its not proper lager yeast I don't think. I also, because im not that arsed, decided to just stick it in the spare room the hovers around 20c.

So bit of an experiment i am not expecting much from. Apparently you should age it about 12 weeks in the bottle. So come June I will either have 40 pints of piss or something reasonably drinkable :P

 

[bomberns127]

good choice, cant go wrong with a coopers kit, i do AG but recommend coopers to anyone wanting to do kits.
i have done this one myself before i went AG and although im not a lager drinker, it is very drinkable i didnt batch prime i primed each bottle with 1/3 teaspoon sugar

 

[Zedilly]

The coopers european lager kit should be fermented at lower temperatures as it does contain a lager yeast.

Edit.. Mine made it to around 7 weeks before it was all gone. It was my first brew and one I will certainly be doing again.

 

[Stu]

I thought all the coopers kits recommend 21-27c though?

That's not cold.

 

[dx4100]

The kit recommends you ferment between 21 to 27... Will take four to six days...

The Coopers website says you can ferment it at around 24c and then drop it to 15c... Which I would imagine would give you the best results...

But its perfectly acceptable to ferment at higher temps with this kit.

 

[Sandimas]

I thought all the coopers kits recommend 21-27c though?

Most Coopers kits do, because they use ale yeasts. The European Lager kit is different because it uses a lager yeast, if you look at the Coopers instructions you'll see that there's a separate sections for European Lager recommending a lower fermentation temp.

Mine went along happily at 14C, just bottled it so now the 3 month wait, although a crafty sample from the FV wasn't bad compared to some brews, so have high hopes for this :)

 

[dx4100]

Well I am pleasantly surprised so far...

Given my previous bad experience with kits I decided to brew this one short... Was aiming to do it to 20 litres instead of the 23 the kits suggest. In the end i ended up being 21 due to a temp drop and the need to get it back up for pitching the yeast...

Anyway its been in the FV for five days now and its gone from 1.040 to 1.014.. so about 3.5% abv as it stands... Reading around it can go down as far as 1..006 so looking at around 4.5% which I will be very happy with.

The bloody thing stinks though. Sulphur eggy smell to it, although it calms down once in the sample jar and left a little while. Wife isn't happy as I have stuck it in the spare room instead of my brew fridge in the garage which has a All Grain Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone on the go.

Taste wise though its looking good. I can taste some unfermented sugars still in there but behind them I can taste a pretty nice lager trying to get out!

Very encourage so far! Specially for something I threw together with little thought or care :P

And for reference it been going at between 19-20c during the whole five days and nothing bad has come of it...

 

[dx4100]

Currently its down to 1.010 and taste fairly good! I wonder if it will go much lower?

Currently 4%

 

[Zedilly]

Currently its down to 1.010 and taste fairly good! I wonder if it will go much lower?

Currently 4%

If you think it tastes good now just wait till its been bottled a good few weeks. The instructions say 12 weeks, mine didn't make it past 7 it was so good.

 

[cantstopbrewin]

Done this kit a couple of months ago and treated the yeast like a larger yeast. A little research revealed that Coopers supply larger yeast with the European larger and Pilsner Kits.

I pitched the yeast at 24C and cooled it to 14C over 24 hours. It fermented @ 14C for two weeks. It was bottled and sat in the kitchen for 2 weeks to allow carbonation and then into the beer fridge ever since.

I opened a bottle after 4 weeks bottled. It was clear and well carbonated but still had a distinct sulfur smell and taste making it undrinkable. I won't go near it again until the 18th May by which time I'll be on holidays and the 12 week waiting period will be up. Done loads of Lagers and Pilsner and never had to wait this long, it's usually all gone by then will update once the waiting period has passed

 

[Kinleycat]

Done three of these kits recently in order to build up some well conditioned stock.
Got my first down to 1008 and the other two are at various primary fermenting stages.
All been fermented between 14-16c.
Not had a sulphur smell with tgese but have done with other lager kits.
I went for 1/2 extra light spray malt and 1/2 brewing sugar with them all so between batches I hope to be able to see a positive difference in the longer conditioned kegs.
Either way its Coopers kit so I can't see it being a dissapointment.

 

[Bobbynog]

I started mine with 500g of light spray malt and 250g of brewing sugar. OG was only at 1.034 and after two weeks is 1.010 so not looking great. Started at just over 20 and dropped to around 16deg and was still bubbling nicely.

Do you think I have underdone the sugar and if so is there any point adding some more?

 

[Brycey]

I brewed this kit just over 5 weeks ago with 1kg brewing sugar and 500g ldme,og 1042-fg 1006.
2 weeks primary transfered to bottling bucket left for a couple of days to settle then bottled.

Tried a bottle after 2 weeks nice and clear good carbonation and tasted pretty good so i have high hopes for this one. :

B

 

[Bobbynog]

Do you think I have underdone the sugar and if so can this be rectified?

Cheers

 

[Brycey]

Not sure,i'm pretty new to homebrewing as well personaly i would be a bit worried about messing it by mucking about with it but i might be totally wrong.

If you start a new thread asking that question i'm sure you'll get some good advice from a more experienced member.

B

 

[mattrickl06]

This is probably my favourite kit i have done - i do AG for ales now but will still continue to do Coopers Euro Lager kits for time reasons with my trusty 700g BKE1 and 500g of pre-hopped EL DME and 30g Saaz hop tea.

Tastes every bit as good as Peroni

 

[ScottM]

This is probably my favourite kit i have done - i do AG for ales now but will still continue to do Coopers Euro Lager kits for time reasons with my trusty 700g BKE1 and 500g of pre-hopped EL DME and 30g Saaz hop tea.

Tastes every bit as good as Peroni

Do you lager it?

I brewed it at ale temps and although I enjoyed it, it wasn't anywhere near peroni quality. I used pre-hopped DME and 1kg of brewing sugar. No extra hops though. It was still a bit thin on the hops so I guess the addition is spot on.

Just wondering if lagering it would bring out that sort of quality?

 

[dx4100]

I think Peroni is awful so hoping for something different :P

 

[mattrickl06]

Yes - i fermented at around 15 degrees and after secondary kept in 3-5 degrees for 12 weeks.

The quality progression when kept at this temp for at least 8 weeks is really significant.

If you dont like Peroni i would maybe tried a Mexican Cerveza or Canadian Blonde

 

[dx4100]

I like most other "European" lagers so I was hopeful it would give me something I could enjoy.

Anyway on current tasting its fine. I wanted a reasonable lager to go with this summers BBQ and it seems to be ok so far :)