# Coopers Draught



## Slightly (6/1/10)

Within the next couple of days I'm going to brew Coopers Draught (with my micro brew kit) and Brewing Enhancer 1. Just wondering if anyone as any advice on this as it is only my second go at home brewing.

Particularly on temperature and time for fermentation.

Cheers.


----------



## manticle (6/1/10)

It's an ale so try and keep around 20 degrees. If you go a few degrees over don't stress but I'd suggest 22 is the max. If you go under this by a couple of degrees then don't stress either - I'd say 16-17 would be the bottom end though. If you can try and keep it relatively constant, whichever temp you go for especially in the first few days.

As for fermentation time - to me it takes as long as it takes to get to final gravity and then a bit longer to condition. Best not to rush. It might hit final gravity in 3 days, it might take 10.


----------



## Bribie G (6/1/10)

Brew enhancer 1 is dextrose and maltodextrin which adds extra alcohol and foaming/head retention but no overall flavour. If I were doing this brew I'd pop in 500g Light dried malt extract as well to boost the maltiness. Or use Brew enhancer 2 which has some LDME in it as well. 

However just do it 'as is' for starters and when you have it down pat you can look at 'tweaking' subsequent brews, as we love to do around here :lol: Agree with the temperature range.


----------



## MarkMc (6/1/10)

Slighty 

Looks like me and you are working to similar time scales/brews.

Just bottled my first (Coopers Lager with Brew Enhancer 1)
Fermenter is sanitising waiting for a Coopers Draught to go in tomorrow.

Just off to Bunnings ($25 budget) to look at potential temp control Ideas.

Mark


----------



## phinnsfotos (6/1/10)

Regarding temp control seriously the laundry sink full of water (and a pinch of sanitizer) and rotating frozen water bottles through will work well enough for simple kits. Save your $25 for something else. Maybe another Kit and Kilo and some hops pellets?

I think one of the best ways (after getting the temp down to 20 degrees as was already mentioned) and without getting too complicated to help kits like Coopers Draught along is to chuck in a bit more Dry Malt if you like a maltier beer, or only filling up to 20 litres if you like a bitter/stronger beer (or both, just be careful you don't make a head wrecker). If you did both you could be looking at around 5.5% alcohol, which might catch you out. 

If you were clean and sanitized the [email protected] out of everything that went near the beer, think EVERYTHING. Some easily overlooked things might be the can-opener, scissors, the beer can it's self (pull the label off first, they look cool in your beer book, you do have a beer book don't you?), tongs to get the previously mentioned things out of the sanitizer. Where was I, if you were clean when you made it you might want to try leaving the beer in the fermenter a bit longer, some of us like to think it helps the beer mature a bit better. I usually don't even bother taking a hydrometer reading until well into the second week. Then finally, leave it in the bottle for AT LEAST four weeks; it's the easiest was to improve your beer, just do nothing (or brew more while you wait  )

Just my ideas, I'm just a kits and bits brewer myself there are FAR more experienced members around here.

Cheers,
Finn.


----------



## roverfj1200 (6/1/10)

The Coopers draught is a pretty good kit I have brewed it a lot. I would just add 1 kg of light dried malt, kit yeast and you will have a good drinker. The kit yeast will throw a bit of fruity esters at over 22 to 24 and go yeasty above that. At 22 it makes the lager kit a nice fruity drop.. Use this kit with say S-23 at 12deg and it gets better again then a small boil of cluster and your on your way...

P.S. Even with a kg of dex this kit comes out quiet well..

Rover


----------



## Slightly (7/1/10)

Cheers for the input, looks like Ill be adding 500g of Light Dried Malt to the mix as well, making sure the temp is around 2'0 degrees.



MarkMc said:


> Slighty
> 
> Looks like me and you are working to similar time scales/brews.
> 
> ...



Yeah we are pretty much doing the same things  , I'm looking at Bunnings temp control ideas as well, let us know how your lager turns out whenever you try it.



phinnsfotos said:


> (pull the label off first, they look cool in your beer book, you do have a beer book don't you?)



Of course!


----------

