Coopers Euro Lager

[LukeCharles]

Hello All,

First time poster here.

I was wondering, I have a Coopers lager on the go which is bubbling away nicely at around 20-22 degrees, However I put a Coopers Euro Lager on this morning and I have not seen any action.

When I put the yeast in it was about 36 degrees, would this have killed the yeast?

It is currently sitting on about 24 degrees and I have them sitting near each other.

From reading other posts on your site, it is referenced that the euro lager brews slower and at a lower temp? Is 22 too warm? Or should I move it to a colder room?

Also, are hand cappers hard to use for bottling beer?

Sorry to ask so many questions.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Welcome to the site.

Did you happen to read the instructions with the yeast. The Euro lager comes with a proper lager yeast and should be fermented at 10-14 degrees. This will most likely take about 2.5 weeks and then should be stored for a couple of months according to Coopers.

You're going to get some off-flavours at that temp with the Euro.

Do you have temp control for your fermentors?

I would recommend using Lager yeasts unless you have temp control or live in a place which is constantly very cool over the fermentation.

 

[LukeCharles]

Thanks for your advice,

So if I move the lager to another room, which I can keep consistantly lower, is it still worth keeping? Or should I throw it away and start again?

 

[LukeCharles]

Welcome to the site.

Did you happen to read the instructions with the yeast. The Euro lager comes with a proper lager yeast and should be fermented at 10-14 degrees. This will most likely take about 2.5 weeks and then should be stored for a couple of months according to Coopers.

You're going to get some off-flavours at that temp with the Euro.

Do you have temp control for your fermentors?

I would recommend using Lager yeasts unless you have temp control or live in a place which is constantly very cool over the fermentation.

No I don;t have temp controls - only new to the game. They are like heating pads I assume?

 

[Lodan]

Yeasts can take a little while to start up. Check the inside of the lid for any condensation which would indicate that ferment has started and is in it's very early stages.

As to yeast death, you probably haven't killed the yeast but it might be a bit worse for wear. How long was it between pitching and dropping the temperature to 24? If you drop the temp to 12-15 asap you might not have any off-flavour problems.


If you pitch yeast by sprinkling onto the wort, i suggest pitching at slightly above the ferment temp to give the yeast some time to aclimatise to their new environment before dropping the temperature down. My advice would be to never pitch above 24degC

Lodan

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

I wouldn't think there would be too much wrong with the Euro Lager yet if at all.

But when it starts fermenting at those higher temps it wont taste as good as if it was at a lower temp.

Do you have a spare fridge at all? Doesn't have to be working. Many people simply ferment in a fridge and use frozen bottles/tubs of water to keep it cool inside. Simply fill and freeze a few larger bottles and place them inside the fridge (or whatever insulated item you may have) with the fermenter and it will bring the temp down over time. You will get to know how many you need and simply refreeze and replace with others when they melt.

I used turn the spare fridge on and off to keep my temps down but if you are away from it for any stretch of time this can prove to be hard to control and the temps will fluctuate a fair bit which isn't optimum.

The best option for temp control is rigging a temp controller unit up with your spare fridge so the fridge turns itself on whenever to keep inside to the desired temp to which you have set.

Where do you live? This time of year is great for brewing as cooler temps are easier to attain.

The best advice at this stage is to spend a few hours searching and reading threads on this site. There is an abundance of info for the new brewer. Don't get to carried away with all of it as alot you will pick and will make more sense later on. Temp control is probably the easiest and best way to improve your beer from the start! An ale brewed at 18-20 will taste a lot cleaner than a beer brewed 25-27.

 

[mwd]

Hello All,

First time poster here.

Also, are hand cappers hard to use for bottling beer?

Sorry to ask so many questions.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

What type of hand capper two handled type or $5.00 hammer capper?
I use the el cheapo hammer type dead easy.
Put bottle in plastic bucket and gently tap the capper with hammer until it feels solid.
If you hammer too hard the bottle cracks hence the plastic bucket practice makes perfect.

A bench capper is much better if you intend to bottle all your brews in glass.

 

[Lodan]

Also be aware that you need to make sure that your brews have finished fermenting completely before bottling. Glass bottles have the potential to be very dangerous if exploding.

Some bottles are more suitable than others, coopers longnecks are particularly good for bottling home brew. i use a mix of these with PET soft drink bottles.

If looking for a bench capper keep in mind that brewcraft have the super auto cappers for 43.50 which is a small saving

 

[LukeCharles]

wow,

thanks heaps for your tips.

Very much appreciated.

I will move to a cooler room asap - it took about 3-4 hours to cool down to the current 24.

Do these types of pre made wort taste any good? Similar to the real thing?

I have some PET bottle and some glass - I may invest in a super auto capper if you think that is a worthwhile investment.

I live in Mitcham in the foot hills almost so it gets pretty cold - i have a brick veneer place so rooms that are shut off from the rest of the house stay pretty cool - I may move my euro lager to this room.

In regards to the normal lager - the coopers label says keep between 22-27, if this advisable?

 

[keifer33]

When you just dry pitch yeast which im guessing your doing they recommend to pitch at about 22 degrees then drop the temperature so working on that theory if you can drop it down to the 10-14 it should be alright. If you leave it too long it wont like it.

On your other post with the normal 'lager' which uses and ale yeast around 18-22 is much better. The higher it goes the more off flavors that are created. If you find these not up to standard they only get better as you start mixing grains,hops and better yeasts into the mix.

 

[felten]

wow,

thanks heaps for your tips.

Very much appreciated.

I will move to a cooler room asap - it took about 3-4 hours to cool down to the current 24.

Do these types of pre made wort taste any good? Similar to the real thing?

I have some PET bottle and some glass - I may invest in a super auto capper if you think that is a worthwhile investment.

I live in Mitcham in the foot hills almost so it gets pretty cold - i have a brick veneer place so rooms that are shut off from the rest of the house stay pretty cool - I may move my euro lager to this room.

In regards to the normal lager - the coopers label says keep between 22-27, if this advisable?

You can make good beer with tins but it all depends on what you do to it.

The normal lager tin comes with an ale yeast IIRC, so up around 20 would be the usual for that. The tins do tend to aim at the lowest common denominator though, and advise a higher temps that you would want to use.

 

[LukeCharles]

Thanks for your tips.

I will keep you posted.

I need to do a lot more reading - especially if I am to try out All Grains mash making myself.

Looking forward to it though.

 

[RobboMC]

wow,
I have some PET bottle and some glass - I may invest in a super auto capper if you think that is a worthwhile investment.

I have got well down the track with PET bottles, having well over 100 in variuos stages of being ready to drink, conditioning, washed ready for use and just emptied. And someone giving up brewing gave me about 30 glass bottles, as well some emptied Coopers glass longnecks seem to find their way to my house from various sources. I didn't want to invest in a full-on bench capper for the 4-5 glass I fill each batch, and I've been able to pick up an old 'squeeze-capper' that was used in the distanct past for fruit or ginger beer bottling.
Much better than the hammer ones, I broke a longneck and nearly cried as 750ml of magnificent brew spilled over the bench like a waterfall.

Look at old garage sales or eBay and you might get one.

 

[bignath]

As careful as i try to be, i have (in the past) nearly sliced my hand on exploding bottles when using a hand capper.

I use a bench capper for my glass bottling and it is easier, WAY QUICKER and also much safer.

Get some mates around to help on bottling day, and you can have an "assembly line" of sorts, which makes an otherwise tedious task very enjoyable!

+1 for all previous posts re: temp for the euro lager yeast. It is a lager strain (most coopers yeasts are ales with the exception of this one and another - Heritage Lager maybe, not sure). Definitely needs lower temps. I would never ferment any beer at 22-27 degrees.

I did this can years ago when it was first released and i got very obvious bacon aromas, not sure if temp was too high. Probably, as this was one of my first brew experiences.

I have one on the go at the moment happily fermenting at 11 degrees and tastes nice from the samples.

Best of luck with it mate.

Nath

 

[Kevman]

When you just dry pitch yeast which im guessing your doing they recommend to pitch at about 22 degrees then drop the temperature so working on that theory if you can drop it down to the 10-14 it should be alright. If you leave it too long it wont like it.

If you are using the yeast from the Euro kit, you can keep it at a higher temp than this. I know its a lager yeast but it seems to be very forgiving at higher temps. I did this brew in June this year at 14 degrees and it took a month to ferment out. I've also tasted this kit fermented at 20 degrees and it was very good.

My recommendation is that you ferment this yeast at 14-16 degrees otherwise you will be waiting for a month or more for it to ferment out.

This is probably one of the best lager yeasts to use if you don't have temp control.

 

[LukeCharles]

Thanks for your help,

I have it sitting between 16-18 now - slow bubbling, i have another lager going, not a euro one which is atrting to smell good.

Can you tatse at any time?

 

[cspencer]

I hope so cos, everytime I do a hydrometer test I have a little sample before I pour it away. The earlier on in the fermentation the sweeter it tastes, not very nice. but later on it starts to taste like beer.

 

[keifer33]

Drink away, don't waste precious beer!

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Can you tatse at any time?

Yeh. It's a good thing to do as over different fermentation stages you get to taste the changes. :icon_cheers: