Coopers Brew Enhancers Newbie Question

[carlton747]

hi everyone 1st post and am new to home brewing , I put down a coopers dark ale on tuesday and instead of using sugar i used Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 , 1 tin of the dark ale and 1 kg of the enhancer filled the fermenter to 23 litres , so basically did as they said to do on the tin , so my question is are you better to use the sugar or the enhancer .

 

[The Giant]

enhancer

even better still add extracts like liquid dark/light malt etc. u can buy them by the can at ur LHBS

even better still add hops, weather it be dry hop or boil, it will take ur beer to another level

 

[Jake.v]

and even better keep the temp around 20

 

[RobboMC]

Hi Buster,

Welcome to AussieHomeBrewer,

Brew Enhancer 2 makes a fuller, more malty beer than just using brewing sugar.
Its better in my opinion, I hope you will agree when you drink it.

never use kitchen sugar ( sucrose ) except for the teaspoon for creating the bubbles ( carbonation ) or maybe
a few hundred grams of brown sugar in a dark beer, but no more than 500g maximum.
If you do want to try 'sugar' use Coopers Brewing Sugar or straight dextrose. This will create a thiner and dryer beer.

For you dark ale I think you made a good choice for a first time brew.
In my first year of brewing I started adding 50% dry malt and 50% brew enhancer, and made some much nicer beer.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Enhancer and brew at temps lower than what the tin instructions say. around 18-20 degrees is ideal. 28 is going to produce fusels and will adversely affect the flavour.

Get your process downpat, and then like the Giant says, look at hops, better yeast (and yeast within the style you want to produce) and maybe specialty grains and steeping those.

But temp control at the early stages (or any stage) of your brewing journey is crucial, especially if you live in sub-tropical or tropical climes.

Goomba

 

[Bribie G]

A kilo of sugar is way over the top. It ferments out to provide alcohol but can also leave the beer thin and harsh tasting.
The Brew Enhancer 2 goes part of the way to solve this. It is a mix of malt extract, glucose and a compound called maltodextrin.

The malt extract gives a fuller flavour, the glucose (dextrose) still provides some alcohol and the maltodextrin gives a better body, foaming and head retention.

It all depends on what style of beer you like. If you are looking for a commercial VB style beer then a kit and BE2 are probably as good as you will get. For other styles such as
American Pale ales or stouts then adding more malt extract and hops and using a better yeast will help enormously.

Some styles such as Pilseners and UK bitters really can't be made authentically from kits and you'd need to explore the darkside... all grain brewing. :icon_cheers:
However in my kits n bits days I used many a box of BE2 and no complaints.

 

[Strange Brew]

Welcome buster 747 :icon_cheers:

Definitly enhancer. Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 is still mostly dextrose though, which doesn't really add to the flavor of beer and can detract from it if too much is used. It does however contain a bit of light dry malt extract which is mainly maltose which gives a much better flavor to the beer than dextrose. It also contains a bit of maltodextrin which is typically taken from a grain called carapils which really improves the head retention of your beer.

Either way you are still adding a lot of dextrose so as The Giant suggested you can cut that out all together by adding extract.

 

[HeavyNova]

and even better keep the temp around 20

I know the OP's question is about the BE2 but I just want to emphasise (+1) this. Don't worry about what the tin says, do you best to keep it between 18-21 degrees for your ales.

If your in an area where the weather is warm at the moment there is plenty of discussion on on the forum on techniques to keep your brew cooler.

Edit - Oh yeah and welcome! I hope you get as much out of this forum as I do, it really has been a great source of info and has fast tracked me to brewing respectable beers.

 

[boingk]

Welcome mate, sounds like a good first brew you've put down. Age it up a month or more before drining and it should taste alright. Right time now, what with heading into wainter and all.

For what its worth, I've found a good mix for most beer kits to be 500g of light dried malt (LDME) and 300g of white sugar or dextrose. It gives good body, flavour and head retention and works out pretty cheap too. Easy, no hassles, all you need is the ingredients and a scale to measure them.

Anyway, hope the brew goes well. Welcome aboard!

Cheers - boingk

 

[carlton747]

just in relation to temprature controll when i bought all my home brew gear fermenter etc the person at the LHBS sold me a heat pad , live in a pretty cold part of the country so I thought for the winter I would need it so I probably stuffed up in that respect , because they told me that the heat pad stays at 24 degrees at all times .

 

[earle]

Good to see you accross here from Geoff & Olivers, 747. Don't worry everyone, he's not another Speedie.

Here's a link on temp controllers like you were asking about.

STC-1000

Cheers

 

[carlton747]

Good to see you accross here from Geoff & Olivers, 747. Don't worry everyone, he's not another Speedie.

Here's a link on temp controllers like you were asking about.

STC-1000

Cheers

thats interesting nice to know your across everything anyway if I continue to use this heat pad when starting a brew or a kit they say you should add 2 litres of boiling water, would it be ok to use 1 litre of boiling water instead of 2 , to keep the temp down cause when I started this last brew and added the cold water and pitched the yeast put the heat pad on etc the temp was sitting right on 30 degrees witch i thought was a bit high

 

[earle]

I usually do a small boil for spec grain liquor and hops, but if I was only using a kit and liquid malt extract I would use no boiling water at all. Opinio seems to vary on whether you need to boil dry malt and BE2 in order to sanitize but its fine to keep the volume down, just need to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn I suppose.

You're right, 30 is too high. For an ale you want 18-20 which you know by now. I wouldn't be putting the heat pad on straight away, keep an eye on it and use if necessary. When the yeast are actively fermenting they will generate their own heat as well, several degrees worth. If the ambient temp is just a bit cool, pop a blanket, doona or sleeping bag around it will trap this yeast generated heat in and keep it at a nice temp anyway.

 

[carlton747]

I usually do a small boil for spec grain liquor and hops, but if I was only using a kit and liquid malt extract I would use no boiling water at all. Opinio seems to vary on whether you need to boil dry malt and BE2 in order to sanitize but its fine to keep the volume down, just need to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn I suppose.

You're right, 30 is too high. For an ale you want 18-20 which you know by now. I wouldn't be putting the heat pad on straight away, keep an eye on it and use if necessary. When the yeast are actively fermenting they will generate their own heat as well, several degrees worth. If the ambient temp is just a bit cool, pop a blanket, doona or sleeping bag around it will trap this yeast generated heat in and keep it at a nice temp anyway.

thanks for that info it will be invaluable , probaly just do a real good sanitze and half boil and see how it goes cheers mate.