Coopers Lager Kit

[Mr T]

Hi All

Just sat enjoying my Tom Caxton real ale kit, made with brewing sugar and left for five weeks this is great!

I have a Wherry nearly done now, I suffered from the dreaded "sticking" but a stir and warmer temperature seems to have done the trick. It's very slow but getting there, hopefully it will be fine.

Anyway in town today I picked up a reduced Coopers lager one can kit. What could I do to improve this have some light dried malt extract. I have read to "brew short" as this helps? Want to keep it simple so should I reduce the water to 20l and replace the sugar with 1k of light dried malt? What impact does this have?

Thanks

Andy

 

[H0PM0NSTER]

Using DME instead of sugar will definitely help. Malt has slightly less fermentable sugars in it which means you get more 'mouth feel' in the beer and better head retention. I would brew short as you've suggested and also add some extra hops. Either as a hop tea or just dry hopping into the brew towards the end of fermentation. Citrusy hops like Citra, Cascade, Amarillo etc. which are used in a lot of American style light beers should suit this kit. Or you could try something like Tettnang for a more German Pilsner taste.

 

[Slid]

I was always very happy with the results from a Coopers lager kit plus 500g DME and 1 kg Table Sugar. Very cheap and cheerful!

The best improvement I could suggest is to boil the DME with some hops, as HOPMONSTER suggests, for maybe 5 mins then straining the wort through a sieve into the FV to dissolve the can contents.

That will make a very acceptable pale ale indeed. :thumb:

 

[Mr T]

Will replacing the the brewing sugar with DME have much impact on the ABV? I am hoping to achieve something around the 4.5% mark. Will i need to add a little more sugar for this?

I plan to brew short to 20l and replace brewing sugar with DME. After fermentation split the brew in two by syphoning off half into another fermentation bin. One i will then dry hop with 15g of Cascade hops, the other i will bottle as is so i can compare the two.

I hope i will have two different tasting drinks so that i can see and taste the impact of dry hopping. I might even try the hop tea next to see the difference.

I need more brewing gear, problem is the Mrs has threatened to leave if i turn the kitchen into a brewery.......Every cloud :lol:

 

[Slid]

Will replacing the the brewing sugar with DME have much impact on the ABV? I am hoping to achieve something around the 4.5% mark. Will i need to add a little more sugar for this?

I plan to brew short to 20l and replace brewing sugar with DME. After fermentation split the brew in two by syphoning off half into another fermentation bin. One i will then dry hop with 15g of Cascade hops, the other i will bottle as is so i can compare the two.

I hope i will have two different tasting drinks so that i can see and taste the impact of dry hopping. I might even try the hop tea next to see the difference.

I need more brewing gear, problem is the Mrs has threatened to leave if i turn the kitchen into a brewery.......Every cloud :lol:

Replacing the sugar with DME makes the taste more malty and reduces the ABV quite significantly, of course. When I did kit more brewing, I found that a high input of sugar did this one no harm as that is the style.

The improvement over 500g DME and 1kg sugar that I still suggest is boiling the DME with the Cascade hops for 5 mins, cooling, straining and adding to the kit.

This is a light pale ale (called lager in UK circles of late) and is very good for a new brewer, as it is not too different from commercial stuff.

 

[Mr T]

Replacing the sugar with DME makes the taste more malty and reduces the ABV quite significantly, of course. When I did kit more brewing, I found that a high input of sugar did this one no harm as that is the style.

The improvement over 500g DME and 1kg sugar that I still suggest is boiling the DME with the Cascade hops for 5 mins, cooling, straining and adding to the kit.

This is a light pale ale (called lager in UK circles of late) and is very good for a new brewer, as it is not too different from commercial stuff.

Thanks Slid :thumb:

When you say to cool after boiling the hops, DME and brewing sugar do i need to cool the wort before adding to the FV or will it be cooled off enough when i top up with cool water to 20L?

I have watched a few videos on Youtube and the guys generally just add to the FV after boiling. Does the cooling improve quality/clarity at all?

Thanks

Andy

 

[Bevvied]

My son gave me a dozen bottles of his Coopers Lager yesterday. He doesn't like it, in no doubt due to the fact he used 1.5KG of DME and no sugar. Surprise, surprise it's very malty and not like a Lager at all! I thoroughly enjoyed it as I enjoy a light ale.
Lesson learnt for him I suspect, he'll make a cheaper brew with much less DME and then probably enjoy it.

 

[richarpo]

Craig Farraway was very enthusiastic about the Cooper's lager kit in his YouTube videos (three in a series).
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt3IGCxu6tk[/ame]
However for me it seems just too crazy to buy a beer kit from 10,000 miles away.

 

[Mr T]

My son gave me a dozen bottles of his Coopers Lager yesterday. He doesn't like it, in no doubt due to the fact he used 1.5KG of DME and no sugar. Surprise, surprise it's very malty and not like a Lager at all! I thoroughly enjoyed it as I enjoy a light ale.
Lesson learnt for him I suspect, he'll make a cheaper brew with much less DME and then probably enjoy it.

This is exactly what i am after, a pale ale rather than a lager. The plan so far is to use 1KG DME with 300g of brewing sugar, using some cascade in the boil.

I have never deviated from the kit instructions so far so hopefully i will be able to produce something worth drinking!

 

[Slid]

This is exactly what i am after, a pale ale rather than a lager. The plan so far is to use 1KG DME with 300g of brewing sugar, using some cascade in the boil.

I have never deviated from the kit instructions so far so hopefully i will be able to produce something worth drinking!

Hi there

I agree with this approach and will add that if you are brewing this weekend, the temp of the tap water is such that you are unlikely to need to cool down the boiling wort. It is pretty cold today!

 

[Frogbrew]

I find 250g dme and 1kg brewing sugar works perfectly for the lager kits, any more dme and you're turning it more into a light ale IMO.
Everyone has their opinion on what is best, that's the beauty and fun of homebrewing:smile:

 

[Bevvied]

I reckon you'll be onto a winner there frog.
Lager ain't malty or heavy is it?!

I did thoroughly enjoy the coopers kit with excess dme though, that style suits me perfectly.
You're 100% right of course, opinions, tastes etc are all different. brewing what we want is awesome!

 

[Mr T]

So i drew this off into a secondary yesterday and added some finnings and plan to leave a few days before bottling half as is and further dry hopping the remainder.

The brew tastes great, it's not crystal clear (hence adding the finnings) but definitely more of what i was after! The DME and adding the cascade to the boil was a good call. Looking forward to this one once bottled.

Is there anything else i can do to aid clearing? I have an outside lean to that is very cold as it is unheated, should i move the brew in there for a week - will it make any difference? I have been reading about cold crashing and people storing brews in fridges etc to improve clarity so it got me thinking. Maybe it will clear during bottling if i can leave it alone long enough!