Coopers Lager

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Bottled the batch after 8days in the fermenter. My readings with the hydrometer were a little off, but were around 1035 down to 1015. Been in the bottles for 11days. Had a taste today. Smells like bread. Not much alcohol.
Reckon it’ll get any better after more time in the bottle?
 
It will, the 2 weeks that Coopers quotes is rubbish for a simple kit beer. 2 weeks is ok if you've used lots of dry hops.

From my experience over the last few years with basic kits, 4 to 6 weeks it will get as good as it's going to. 11 days is definitely way too soon to try it!

That beer I think is the 'lawnmower lager' recipe - lager kit, kit yeast and a box of be1 or 2. I actually don't mind it, it's light and sweet and smashable. Since it's cheap flavourless piss I put ice in it in summer. That's the beauty of home brew, since you did it yourself for not much investment, you can do crazy stuff like put ice in it and not feel guilty.
 
By the way the box of brew enhancer tells you the basic alcohol percentage you're likely to get. It'll be just north of mid strength. The kit tin on it's own is about 2.8% from memory and if you add a BE it should be around 4%, 4.3% something like that.
 
I just bought a lager kit, pale ale kit, box of BE2 and a box of LDM. Reckon that’ll make a decent toucan?
 
That toucan will have a bit more flavour and will be quite alcoholic. If I was you I would probably leave out either the LDM or the box of BE2. My calculations say it'll probably be around 7% brewed to 23 litres with that combo if you don't drop something from the recipe. Cooper's yeast is pretty good but I don't know if it might struggle to ferment all that out properly. If i was you I'd use both packets if you make this beer. I would leave it in the fermenter for 12 days to 2 weeks as well just to make sure it has had time to ferment out.

Can you get to a Big W or a brew shop? The flavour should be ok with that beer as is although pale ale and lager will sort of 'clash' so it won't produce a marked flavour either in the lager or pale ale direction. A popular toucan combo would be the real ale and the apa or you could use two cans of the lager to get a more pronounced flavour. With this one I would recommend - if you go to Big dub go buy a couple packets of the Brigalow finishing hops and follow the instructions on the pack and chuck those in, they are Galaxy flavour which will push it more in a pale ale direction. If you like lagers better, head to the home brew shop and get some Hallertau hops. The guy there will tell you how to do a basic hop steep or you can get the teabag ones like at Big w. Bear in mind the Cooper's yeast is ale so it won't produce lager like fizz. If you can get to the home brew shop just ask the dude what his/her favourite pale ale hops are and chuck those in.

Also with this one, definitely you will need to leave it for 6 to 8 weeks before drinking. I know it sucks to wait that long but there's a bit going on in here and it'll need time for the flavours to knit together.
 
I started out with the same DIY kit you got and I've been doing kits for a couple years now, one piece of advice I can give that I reckon will definitely help is to go on the Cooper's website and buy the ROTM (recipe of the month) kit when you have time, grab that, and just follow the instructions exactly as they say. It will help you learn a few things about beer brewing and the finished product is generally pretty good compared to straight kits. They deliver so all you have to do is crack the box, follow the instructions and then after a bunch of those you'll know what you like. It'll give you experience with some of the different kits too and help you figure out what sorts of beer styles you want to brew in future.

If I had to give a few quick tips, I would say - don't expect too much from straight kit + brew enhancer brews, it's like the difference between a bottle of dolmio and some spaghetti and going to an Italian restaurant, you'll get beer with alcohol in it but it will taste like you scooped a can of goo into a plastic tub. But keep persevering they get pretty good with a few hacks. Get a brew fridge and a thermometer controller thing, and don't be scared to experiment. if it turns out shit just put ice in it or mix it with lemondade and make a shandy.

If you want a better result with absolute bare minimum of work, buy the more expensive Cooper's kits, use LDM instead of BE and brew them to about 19 litres to concentrate the flavour a bit more. My favourite kits at the moment are the Hefe wheat, it tastes good in every recipe I've tried, the dark ale, porter, Euro lager, and the Canadian blonde is a good one to use instead of BE, it's pretty low in flavour, it's basically like a better version of a box of BE.
The fridge made the most difference out of anything I did.

Happy brewing!
 
I started out with the same DIY kit you got and I've been doing kits for a couple years now, one piece of advice I can give that I reckon will definitely help is to go on the Cooper's website and buy the ROTM (recipe of the month) kit when you have time, grab that, and just follow the instructions exactly as they say. It will help you learn a few things about beer brewing and the finished product is generally pretty good compared to straight kits. They deliver so all you have to do is crack the box, follow the instructions and then after a bunch of those you'll know what you like. It'll give you experience with some of the different kits too and help you figure out what sorts of beer styles you want to brew in future.

If I had to give a few quick tips, I would say - don't expect too much from straight kit + brew enhancer brews, it's like the difference between a bottle of dolmio and some spaghetti and going to an Italian restaurant, you'll get beer with alcohol in it but it will taste like you scooped a can of goo into a plastic tub. But keep persevering they get pretty good with a few hacks. Get a brew fridge and a thermometer controller thing, and don't be scared to experiment. if it turns out shit just put ice in it or mix it with lemondade and make a shandy.

If you want a better result with absolute bare minimum of work, buy the more expensive Cooper's kits, use LDM instead of BE and brew them to about 19 litres to concentrate the flavour a bit more. My favourite kits at the moment are the Hefe wheat, it tastes good in every recipe I've tried, the dark ale, porter, Euro lager, and the Canadian blonde is a good one to use instead of BE, it's pretty low in flavour, it's basically like a better version of a box of BE.
The fridge made the most difference out of anything I did.

Happy brewing!

First of all, I just want to let you know that I really appreciate the time and effort you’ve put into your replies.
I think I’ll take your advice and grab a can of real ale and mix it with the pale. Makes sense to mix two ales as opposed to mixing different styles. Make a nice strong toucan ale.

Will give the lager another crack with something extra as it was only around 4%. I prefer up around 5%.
 
Thanks man, I found these forum posts really useful when I started so I want to pass it forward. If you browse around on here and the Coopers forum you'll get some tips that will save you wasting time and money on dud ideas.

Yeah grab the Real Ale, that plus APA is the base for the kit version of the Cooper's Vintage ales they make each year. It's a big, strong beer you'll enjoy it. Still keep the box of BE2 in. Or the LDM or both. I made one of them in 2017, was still drinking it over xmas last year, was damn nice.

So with the lager, if you want something stronger I would suggest doing a toucan of the lager that will bring you to 5% at 23 litres. I haven't tried it myself but I've read a few forum posts talking about how Cooper's kits really shine if you double them up, because at 23 litres they are really pretty watered down. Which is fine if you want a bland mid strength. You can bump up the strength using BE's or Dex but that won't do anything for the flavour. Toucan's cost a bit more but when you're getting 2.5 cartons for $30 who cares right.

I just made 'Aztec Gold' with leftovers. It's just the Cerveza + 500gms of LDM, to make a gold. It. Is. Terrible. Don't make it. I don't know what to do with it now :p
 
Going to get a few different toucan’s going. One Lager/APA +BE2 the other Real/sparkling Ale + 500g LDM.

See how this goes.
 
Going to get a few different toucan’s going. One Lager/APA +BE2 the other Real/sparkling Ale + 500g LDM.

See how this goes.
Good luck with them, be interesting to hear how they turn out!
 
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