Wassa said:
Am thinking of putting down a Coopers Bavarian lager, with some Crystal Grain and using Wyest German lager yeast (can't think of the number).
Am unsure of whether to use some Hallertau or Tetnanger finishing hops.
What's the opinion? Does the brew need extra hopping and will the yeast be the best for the brew or should I just go with Saflager??
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G'day Wassa...
The Coopers Bavarian Lager kit was one of my favourites. I had a simple recipe that I posted in the Recipes section of this forum, but it's not accessible at present, so I'll try to recall from memory (er, ancient memory!

)...
I think it was along the lines of 1 x Coopers Bav Lager Kit, 1Kg of Coopers Light Malt Extract (Liquid) and 250g of Thomas Fawcett Pale Crystal steeped (or use 250g of Weyermann Caramunich to be more true to style) in about 5L of cold water, raising it slowly to 70C and moving the steeped crystal about in a grain bag.
I topped up to a 10L stockpot boil with the steeped crystal extract and LME, and boiled three Hallertau plugs for 20 mins. Poured and gently stirred in the kit at flameout to preserve the aroma and flavours in the kit and then chilled in an ice bath. It made around 21L of Lager at a reasonable gravity (around 1.043 or so).
As for yeast, I would recommend either re-hydrated W34/70 dry yeast (Saflager) or Wyeast 2124 (same stuff). It's pretty robust and handles relatively warm primary fermentation temps (up to 14C) but if you can ferment at about 11C then thats even better.
Since you didn't mention any mashing, you might also want to add some Carapils to the grain bag - about 200g should do. It's the grain equivalent to maltodextrin and will improve the body of the beer and assist in head formation and retention. Carapils can be either mashed or steeped...
Cheers,
TL