Coopers Lager

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Joshisgood

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Hey people, I've got a coopers lager kit that came with my fermenter, and I know it's probably not the greatest kit around but I don't want it to go to waste. Was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to make a decent beer with it, Maybe something a bit stronger and maybe some additional hops? Any ideas would be appreciated, cheers.​

Josh.​
 
Hey people, I've got a coopers lager kit that came with my fermenter, and I know it's probably not the greatest kit around but I don't want it to go to waste. Was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to make a decent beer with it, Maybe something a bit stronger and maybe some additional hops? Any ideas would be appreciated, cheers.​

Josh.​
hey Josh, I done a Toucan coopers lager and after a bit of age it's alright,what I would do with one lager kit + 500 grams of Light dry malt or even a 1kg LDM and 500 dextrose and you can pick up hop tea bags morgans,copper tun ect. , cascade is a fav of mine for flavour and aroma. make to around 21 litres. cheers gez
 
Ignore Coopers instruction on temperature, brew between 18 - 22. Extra malt and/or dextrose will make it more boozy.
 
Hi Josh,

I suggest sticking to the idea of improving the kit first before attempting to make a stronger beer (edit: depends on your definition of strong! :)).
Perhaps try something like this

22L
Coopers Lager
LDM 1kg
Dextrose 500g
Hallertau Mittlefrueh 20g pellets

Mix 500g of LDM with 5L of cold water. Bring to boil.
Add 20g of hops and boil for 20mins; then cool the wort down quickly

Ferment using the coopers yeast but keep your temp as low as possible (18 degC ideally)
Consider dry hopping with 10g of hops towards the end of fermentation.

What should result is a beer with a bit of body, with some nice flavour and aroma. 5.5% in the bottle

Cheers,
Lodan
 
Hey guys thanks for the advice there, appreciate it.

@lodan- when you mention the boil (I've only done 2 beers so far and no boiling) you say to boil up half the ldm add hops etc, at what point to I add the other ingredients (ldm, dextrose, lager kit) do they go in the boil at all, or just into the fermenter? And when you mention cooling the wort quickly, could that be done in a sterile container in the frige or freezer? Cheers mate

Josh.

One more thing, do the hops need to be strained out or do they go into the fermenter too? Cheers
 
Hey Josh,

just add your cooled 'boiled' mix into your fermenter with the rest of your ingredients.

To cool it down, cover it and put into a water/ice bath in a sink ( laundry tub works well )
you can strain it into the fermenter if you want to reduce the hops muck, but it is necessary, it will settle out during the ferment.
 
Awesome, sounds like I've got myself a plan then. Thanks for the help everyone. Hey while I'm here is it worth rehydrating the packet yeast that comes with the kit or just pitch it dry? Cheers

Josh
 
I'd be inclined to turn it into a dark ale (if you like the darker beers), if you're up for steeping some grain then 400g of pale choc & about 100g of roast barley will make it a decent dark, 800g ldme & 200g dextrose for the rest of the fermentables, a couple of packs of kit yeast wouldn't be a problem either. Hops wise I'd prolly go for Willamette if going the dark route, say 30g boiled up for 15 mins, then a little at flame out, another 20g maybe. My 2c anyway
 
Hey people, I've got a coopers lager kit that came with my fermenter, and I know it's probably not the greatest kit around but I don't want it to go to waste. Was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to make a decent beer with it, Maybe something a bit stronger and maybe some additional hops? Any ideas would be appreciated, cheers.​

Josh.​

Hi Josh
Yeah - not the greatest kit but still can produce a good beer. You can soup it up with 100-200 g light maly or corn syrup or both. Add some haletau hops for a more europian style. You could also buy a proper lager yeast to go with it. Another option is to substitute the sugars in other kits with equivalent weight of the syrup from the Cooper's Lager.

If you are relatively new to home brewing, just make it up as normal so you know what a standard Cooper's Lager tastes like, think of how you would improve it and make it up yourself.
Cheers
Pete
 
@pennywise- can't say I'm a big fan of dark beers, but then again I can't say I've tried a great deal of dark beers. Any commercial beers you could recommend that are in the same sort of style as the recipe you mentioned so I could get a rough idea of taste? Cheers mate
 
Hey just putting an order through on craft brewer for a few things, was thinking I might grab a pack of Fermentis - Saflager W-34/70 lager yeast And use that with lodans recipe, any thoughts on that? I'm going to fill my fermenter with water and see what sort of temps I get day and night, and try ice water bath etc to see if I can get it sitting around 12c.
 
@pennywise- can't say I'm a big fan of dark beers, but then again I can't say I've tried a great deal of dark beers. Any commercial beers you could recommend that are in the same sort of style as the recipe you mentioned so I could get a rough idea of taste? Cheers mate

They may not use Willamette hops in it but I'd say the Coopers Dark Ale would be a good place to start if you wanted to venture on to the dark side (not the kit, the beer they brew). Grab a few different dark beers from the bottlo to see if you even like them, after all, we do need to do some research once in a while :D . I find myself researching almost every week these days :lol: I've not tried it but from my google fu'ing Abita Turbodog sounds pretty close, maybe a little more roasty than the recipe
 
Cool cheers pennywise, I might have to look into this researching business you speak of. Sounds quite intriguing.
 
As far as some suggestions for dark/darker beers to try that are easy to obtain White rabbit dark ale( not really that dark but good), Abbotsford invalid stout(cheap you can find it most places), Holgate Temptress ( abit pricy for what it is but also good). Lots of other stuff out there.

Lagers are kind of challenging to get right because of the lower fermentation temperatures needed for a clean beer. Perhaps a light ale would be a good way to start. My 2nd brew after unsatisfactory pilsner sheenanigans was a coopers or morgans lager kit lightly dry hopped ale with honey that came out fairly tasty .

think it was something around
Kit 1.7k
1k light malt
500 grams honey coles or yellow box
25 grams hops of your choice( id go for one of these Galaxy,Chinook, Columbus, cascade ) I think i used hallertau or saaz which turned out alright but a bit strange.
Yeast under the lid(it's an ale yeast anyway)
fermented around 17-20

Wait a week to throw in the hops into the fermenter then let it go another week or so.
 
Hey thanks again for all the help guys, I'm going to put this one down today

22L
Coopers Lager
LDM 1kg
Dextrose 500g, honey500g or another 500g of ldm (haven't decided on that one yet)
Hallertau Mittlefrueh 20g pellets

Mix 500g of LDM with 5L of cold water. Bring to boil.
Add 20g of hops and boil for 20mins
Going to use us05 yeast for this one
Dry hop 10g

Cheers again, I'll post the results when they're In.
 
I’m in a similar position to Josh.
Just bought a coopers DIY kit.
It’s been in the fermenter for 7 days.
I went the bog standard approach as this is my first attempt.
Followed the YouTube video. Seems like all is going well.
W I’ll be using the coopers carb drops in the PET bottles.
Coopers Lager tin
Coopers brew enhancer
One packet of yeast
23L

What alcohol content should I expect after using the standard on the box recipe?
 
Just bottled the cooper large batch that I mixed up 10 days ago.
The OG was 1035 FG was 1015. Looks like its going to a pretty light beer. Just hope it tastes good.

Any thoughts on what the final alcohol percentage will be?

But the beer in the PET bottles, filled to about the 650-670mL mark with 2 drops.
 
Just bottled the cooper large batch that I mixed up 10 days ago.
The OG was 1035 FG was 1015. Looks like its going to a pretty light beer. Just hope it tastes good.

Any thoughts on what the final alcohol percentage will be?

But the beer in the PET bottles, filled to about the 650-670mL mark with 2 drops.

Easiest way to determine ABV (that I know): https://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
 
Hi Jet01, My first Coopers larger was bog standard with brew enhancer #2 it came out at approx 4.3% before bottling. P.S.It tasted pretty good to me. It is a lawn mower beer get it down fast to quench the thirst.
M
 
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