Coopers Malt Extract Light 1.5kg

[mook1979]

Hi,

I'm hoping for a comment or two to either tell me I am mental or perhaps some confirmation that this may work. I am able to control my temperature to within 1 or 2 degrees, so feel confident about taking on a lager. I'm thinking of using the Coopers Pilsner, Coopers light liquid malt extract, one of the Czech varieties in the WYeast activator packs and also to add a hope tea using saaz hops.

I have used light malt extract rather than extra light before and achieved decent results. It sounds like the tin (even though it is 1.5kg) of liquid malt extract is a good replacement for 1kg of DME or similar "dried" sugar. Has anyone tried this and found it is any better than DME?

• Coopers Brewmaster Pilsener 40 Pts
  Coopers Malt Extract Light 1.5kg
  WYeast Activator 2001 | Urquell Lager™
  Saaz hop "tea"

 

[pittsy]

Hi liquid extract is better than dried as long as it's fresh ish and often it's not and if not then dried is better , but if you have it i would use it whatever the date (unless well old of course) i think liquid does have a touch more fermentables in it but not much difference so i would just stick to like for like . Hope it goes well for you and you should have a good beer seeing as your using liquid yeast with temp control.
If fermenting at 15c you'll need a 1 L starter (with 100g dme) if doing it at 12c you'll need a 2 L starter (200g dme) and if doing at 9c go for a 4 L starter . You can ferment fully (4 days at 18c) then pop in fridge for 24 hrs and decant of wort using sediment/yeast at bottom .

 

[mook1979]

Thanks for that pittsy. I recently saw the "larger volume yeast starter" being discussed and it is probably the next thing I could/should do to improve my pilsner.

I shall copy and paste the info in your post to my Brewing notes. I have a question about how I would do that with my setup. I have limited time, space and equipment. I use bottled water in my beer, bottles are sprayed with starsan before I start and the water is then poured into the FV at the correct stage.

With my last batch, I pitched rehydrated Saflager yeast at around 20C, then brought the temp down to about 10 - 12C over the next day or two. This time I will cool down the water bottles in my fermentation box a day before so I can pitch at whatever the suggest temp is for the WYeast activator pack. Would it work if I open two bottles, pour about 0.5L out of each bottle, then add enough DME in each before adding the liquid yeast into the two bottles? At this stage, I would probably put the bottle caps back, but turn the cap half a turn back and keep an eye on the bottles while I carry on with the rest of the brew. How long should I leave the starters then before pitching? I have seen so many conflicting methods online, but I'm happy to try this method if others had success with it. I will also have a packet of dried yeast on hand as a backup.

 

[Pearlfisher]

Our sponsors have 1.5kg of LME on offer @ £4 , every bit as good as Coopers IMO.

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/lig ... -1656.html

 

[pittsy]

Thanks for that pittsy. I recently saw the "larger volume yeast starter" being discussed and it is probably the next thing I could/should do to improve my pilsner.

I shall copy and paste the info in your post to my Brewing notes. I have a question about how I would do that with my setup. I have limited time, space and equipment. I use bottled water in my beer, bottles are sprayed with starsan before I start and the water is then poured into the FV at the correct stage.

With my last batch, I pitched rehydrated Saflager yeast at around 20C, then brought the temp down to about 10 - 12C over the next day or two. This time I will cool down the water bottles in my fermentation box a day before so I can pitch at whatever the suggest temp is for the WYeast activator pack. Would it work if I open two bottles, pour about 0.5L out of each bottle, then add enough DME in each before adding the liquid yeast into the two bottles? At this stage, I would probably put the bottle caps back, but turn the cap half a turn back and keep an eye on the bottles while I carry on with the rest of the brew. How long should I leave the starters then before pitching? I have seen so many conflicting methods online, but I'm happy to try this method if others had success with it. I will also have a packet of dried yeast on hand as a backup.

There are 2 ways to use a starter , you either make starter then let it ferment for around 24hrs (48 if lager yeast) and pitch the lot . What you are doing is getting the yeast in the growth stage and after 24hrs it will be growing new cells and be in an active state ready for pitching .Or you make a starter and then let it fully ferment (3 to 4 days ) then you pop it in fridge making the yeast settle on the bottom (for at least 24hrs) then you can pour the layer of wort off leaving a small amount of wort with it . So if you only need a small starter pitch the lot , if you need a large starter then decant the wort off .
If you only have small containers to make the starter i would do the dme and water cool it then add the yeast all in 1 go the split the whole lot into your containers eg 4 liter starter 1 vial and 4 bottles to ferment yeast starters in