Dry Hopping Coopers European Lager

[DeanB1886]

What’s the process of dry hopping? First brew and I’ve read this kit could do with some hops. Any help appreciated, cheers

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

This was the first kit brew I did last October when I returned to brewing after a long hiatus. It's a reasonable clone of a Stella Artois-type lager and quite well balanced with a reasonable amout of hop aroma for the beer style - my wife loves it just as it is. I'd make it straight so you get the feel of a kit brew and see if you enjoy the result. You can then decide for yourself if the next one needs tweaking.

If you decide to dry hop anyway try something like a Citra teabag, which doesn't cost much and is easily sourced online.

Paul.

 

[WarryM]

I regularly dry hop that kit Dean.

When I make the Festival New Zealand pilsner kit I don't use the supplied hops in it, preferring to experiment with other hops instead. This then leaves me with a 100g packet of "Antipodean pilsner hop pellets" which I think are Pacific Jade and Pacific Gem.

I've tried two ways of using them 1) just tip them all in about 5 days before bottling and 2) adding them to a large mesh/stainless steel "hop spider" first, again about 5 days prior to bottling. The taste of both seems the same (as you'd expect), but the advantage of the second way is that you don't have a lot of little bits of hops in your brew. That in itself isn't a big deal as they mostly sink to the bottom anyway, but it does mean I transfer less into the bottling bucket, and subsequently into the bottles (where they'll sink anyway).

I always brew that kit a little short - 20 litres and without the hops I reckon it's similar to Grolsch. Adding the hops makes it a more like Guinness' Hop House 13. Different hops will give different tastes, but those ones work well for me.

The instructions say that you need to leave this beer for a weeks to get the best from it - I think that's true, but the longer you leave it the more the hop taste reduces, so you've then got a little dilemma about how quickly to drink it..... With everything else going on right now they aren't going to be sitting around too long in my household....

 

[Pirate_Pete]

This is a good beer, but as WarryM says you need to wait a while before you drink it. I think Coopers say three months.
I've made it a few times. I've used Saaz & Citra.
I've dry hopped it after 5 or 6 days in the FV. Also I've tried a hop tea when bottling.

 

[Sandimas]

I think Coopers say three months.

Yes, this is one of the few kits out there with a true lager yeast so it takes a long time to come good, 10-12 weeks. And that lager yeast work best at lower temperatures, used to do mine at 12C.

I've dry hopped it with Saaz and Hallertau in the past, 30g should do and will really add something.

 

[Dutto]

I've got one on the go. At the moment it's on Cold Crash at 10*C for a few days.

After finishing up with a terrible pellicle (see photo) after a Dry Hop session I now tend to make up a Hop Tea and add it to the brew after transferring it to the Growler for carbonation.

Enjoy!

PS
The brew was bottled and tasted fine during the short time it took to drink it (*) ; but it put me off Dry Hopping as a method!

(*) Mea Culpa! I think I took one of the bottles over to France for @An Ankoù to try! I'm pretty certain that it was the one that he told me was "funky"; which isn't surprising! Sorry!

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Yes, this is one of the few kits out there with a true lager yeast so it takes a long time to come good, 10-12 weeks. And that lager yeast work best at lower temperatures, used to do mine at 12C.

I've dry hopped it with Saaz and Hallertau in the past, 30g should do and will really add something.

I was fermenting mine at 13C, but with two packets of yeast.
If you read the reviews of the Euro Lager on this site you'll see a few people have had problems fermenting it that low with one packet.
I now tend to ferment mine at about 15C. I can't tell any difference in taste really.
Another thing I was reading recently was someone claimed lack of carbonation after a cold crash.
They seemed to think cold crashing for too long at too low a temperature meant too much yeast dropped out.

Good call with the dry hopping Dutto. My last beer ended up like that too after a dry hop.
It doesn't look good when you lift the lid when you go to bottle and find that does it.
I've got a couple on the go at the moment. I might use the hop tea method this time.
I tend to cold crash at about 3C now just for two or three days. It doesn't foam up as much when bottling I find.

 

[terrym]

Here's the review
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/coopers-european-lager-review.17845/I have used Saaz and Hallertau with this kit and the Coopers pilsner as a dry hop and also as a hop tea. Motueka worked well too. But don't go overboard, in my view about 40g was enough. If you want a hoppy beer brew an IPA.
And It definitely improves with keeping. The best ones I did were six months old as I recall. Which is why imo a hop tea is better than a dry hop, because I have found the impact of a dry hop decreases with time.