First Solo Brew - Coopers Lager

[GMcF]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently awaiting delivery of my home brew starter kit and preparing for my first solo brew. I dabbled a few years ago with a mate (mostly dark ales and porters) so have some prior knowledge and I've also been researching and reading the forum over the last week or so but had a question I was hoping someone could help with.

My usual drink is lager so my first brew is going to be the coopers lager although I understand this comes with an ale yeast so not quite a true lager but easier for the novice home brewer to work with. With regards to the Fermentables, my kit comes with 1kg of brewing sugar but having read various posts on the forum I am not sure if this is best. Should I use a brew enhancer instead or get some DME to add in with the brewing sugar. My main concern is with head retention, will this be an issue using only sugar?

Additionally, I have read that people often brew short with the kits to improve them slightly. My kit comes with 40 x 500ml bottles so this sounds as though it would make sense to avoid wasting any brew. I assume that you won't get 100% of the liquid out when bottling due to sediments so was thinking of brewing to 21 litres. Would this be sensible?

Lastly, I would ideally like to brew this in the region of 5-5.5%, what would be the best combination of the above to achieve this.

Sorry for the long winded first post and thanks in advance for you advice.

 

[Dutto]

Welcome to The Forum!

It depends what you like as to what you use as an extra fermentable to bring up the required ABV.

Over the years I have used DME, LME, domestic sugar, Lowicz Cherry Syrup, Honey and Golden Syrup as an adjunct and they have all tasted fine. (I particularly like the Cherry Syrup taste for a Summer Lager.)

For "head retention" I never bother because i hate a "gassy" brew with a passion. If you want to serve the lager with a head on it then I suggest that you use the "syringe" method whereby you pull about 5ml of the brew into a syringe and then "fire it" back into the brew to create a head.

There will always be a litre or so in the bottom of the FV that it's not worth bothering with so the 40 x 500ml bottles will be fine if you brew to 21 litres.

The only other bit of advice is to just about double the length of time suggested on the kit. Personally, I use the 2+2+2 method whereby it takes 2 weeks to ferment, 2 weeks to carbonate and 2 weeks to condition ANY brew.

Enjoy.

PS
With a Lager I often add another 10-12 weeks to the "fermentation" stage and lager the brew at +/- 10*C with a genuine Lager Yeast. This isn't so much "necessary" as just something that marginally improves the taste of most Lagers.

 

[GMcF]

Thanks very much for your response and advice. I've picked up some light dme from my lhbs which I'm going to add with the sugar.

Looking at the online calculator, this should get me to around 5.5% at 21L so ideal hopefully.

Just waiting for the courier to deliver my starter kit and I'll be brewing tonight .

 

[ClownPrince]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently awaiting delivery of my home brew starter kit and preparing for my first solo brew. I dabbled a few years ago with a mate (mostly dark ales and porters) so have some prior knowledge and I've also been researching and reading the forum over the last week or so but had a question I was hoping someone could help with.

My usual drink is lager so my first brew is going to be the coopers lager although I understand this comes with an ale yeast so not quite a true lager but easier for the novice home brewer to work with. With regards to the Fermentables, my kit comes with 1kg of brewing sugar but having read various posts on the forum I am not sure if this is best. Should I use a brew enhancer instead or get some DME to add in with the brewing sugar. My main concern is with head retention, will this be an issue using only sugar?

Additionally, I have read that people often brew short with the kits to improve them slightly. My kit comes with 40 x 500ml bottles so this sounds as though it would make sense to avoid wasting any brew. I assume that you won't get 100% of the liquid out when bottling due to sediments so was thinking of brewing to 21 litres. Would this be sensible?

Lastly, I would ideally like to brew this in the region of 5-5.5%, what would be the best combination of the above to achieve this.

Sorry for the long winded first post and thanks in advance for you advice.

Welcome!

I'm pretty rookie too, so no doubt the more experienced members will offer better advice.

For your situation I'd consider adding another 500g - 1kg Light DME (OR a lot of places do the Mangrove Jacks 1.2 kg LME for £4.99 which will serve the same purpose). This should improve the quality of your beer somewhat and bring you closer to the target ABV.
I'd also look at buying some fresh yeast. If i remember correctly you get 5 or 6 grams of yeast with these kits, which might not be enough (nothing more disheartening than a failed brew). You could try mixing the kit yeast with a lager yeast, i did this recently and the brew turned out plenty nice.

As Dutto said, ignore the timescale on the instructions. 2+2+2 is a good model.

Hope this helps.

 

[GMcF]

Thanks for your response.

I think I'm going to go with the 500g of light spraymalt + 1kg brewing sugar.

Is there any need to boil the spraymalt to avoid any infections? I read contradicting advice on various sites but this seems a bit OTT.

I'm not planning on doing anything fancy with this first one, just keeping it easy with the tin + fermentables.

Also, any tips for adding in the spraymalt, sounds as though it's easy for it to go all clumpy.

Thanks.

 

[Dutto]

Mix the DME with a litre of warm water in a saucepan, keep stirring it until it's dissolved and then add it to the brew. If it goes a bit "clumpy" just put it on the stove and warm up the water a bit whilst stirring ...

... or use Golden Syrup instead of DME.