Coopers Selection Pilsener

[apoole]

Hi all,

I'm about to put down a Coopers Selection Pilsener kit, does anyone have any experience with these? Anything to watch out for?

Adam

 

[slash22000]

Are you aware the kit comes with a lager yeast strain? Do you have the necessary equipment to brew a lager? Temperature controlled fridge, a few months to wait, etc?

 

[iralosavic]

If I'm not mistaken, the included yeast is s23? I'd be tempted to buy another packet of s23 so that you can pitch dry and cold without any stress. If you're in VIC, temp control should be easy as you'll only really need heat. Keep the fermenter in the coldest suitable location and use a warm blanket overnight to stop it getting too cold. Or any other idea you can come up with that will maintain the beer temperature at around 10-12c.

 

[kalbarluke]

I don't think the yeast is s23. I think it is Coopers' own strain.

 

[jyo]

Yeah, pretty sure the European Lager is the only Coopers that comes with a lager yeast, though happy to be erected.

edit- I brewed the Pils a few times and it always turned out pretty good, mate.

 

[slash22000]

Correction: http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/talk-brewing?g=posts&t=1181

Both the European Lager kit and the Thomas Coopers Pilsener kit come with third-party true lager yeasts. They are not a Coopers yeast strain, but there's never been confirmation on exactly which third-party yeasts Coopers uses in their kits.

 

[iralosavic]

Check the yeast packet, if it is marked with a P it is the lager strain that Coopers include with a select few of their kits. I'm fairly sure it's s23 and if not, then it's 34/70. If I didn't have this nagging inkling that is was s23, I'd say it was 34/70 based on the fact that 34/70 is one of the most widely used Pilsner strains and is fairly forgivable - drunk forgiving! albeit a sulphur maniac that requires a lot of conditioning.

EDIT: Whiskey got the keyboard.

 

[apoole]

Thanks gents. No indication on the yeast packet as to specific type. Instructions say to brew "at the low end of the scale ie 21 degrees" bottle after 6 days & secondary for at least a week...only addition to a normal kit is the malt/dextrose instead of plain sugar. Might be a cheats Pilsener?

 

[iralosavic]

If in doubt, just buy a couple of packets of 34/70 or s23 and then you can sprinkle straight into the wort at 12c without a worry in the world. If you're concerned about spending the extra $8ish, just think of it this way: when the first beer is finished you can put a new beer straight onto the used yeast and it will fire up all over again for free (just remember not to poor hot wort directly onto it, of course).

 

[mattdean4130]

And what happens if you don't use temp controls and ferment this Pils at a pretty constant 22 degrees?

 

[paulmclaren11]

The yeast is lager not sure what strain but Coopers do say in some of their website recipes to use the kit yeast plus Saf 34/70.

I did this kit a few times when I was doing K and K and I always thought it was one of the better kits out there.

If you can keep the temps to at least 15c you won't be disappointed IMO.

 

[GeoffN]

I know I am resurrecting an old thread. I thought it may be good to keep it all together.

I have this one going at the moment.

Thomas Coopers Pilsner Kit + 500 g DME + 500 g dextrose & maltodextrin
I used the kit yeast pitched at 16 C

Controller set at 14 C and it has been bubbling away for the last 10 days. It took about 3 days to get going and is starting to slow down now. Bit of a sulphur smell when I open the fridge. On Sunday (3 days ago) it was down to 1.022 from 1.040. IanH's spread sheet predicts a end point of 1.008. Still tasted a little sweet.

From what I have read I should be slowly raising the temperature once the brew has reached about 1.015 to about 16 C for 3 to 5 days. My brew fridge setup will not allow me to lager at 1 C.

Would I be OK to leave the lagering step out and bottle when I reach a stable FG? I'll then bottle condition at 15 C for two weeks.

How long would you recommend before I crack one to see how it turns out? I am not a very patient bloke when it comes to tasting brews so I most likely will ignore all advice that recommends long periods of storage.

Thanks for advice in advance.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

If your impatient, then only wait as long as it takes to carb up in the bottle, or even not. Why dont you just drink it straight from the fermenter??

 

[menoetes]

I like the Coopers Pilsner, I use the one month rule on all my beers with maybe the exception of wheat beers. It's hard to hold back, I know.

I used to suck at it until I got a big enough backlog of beers to distract me from my latest brews.

OT did you know; Coopers Pilsner + 500g LDME + 500g BE1 + Galaxy hops is a dead ringer for Stone & Wood Pacific Ale?

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

I like the Coopers Pilsner, I use the one month rule on all my beers with maybe the exception of wheat beers. It's hard to hold back, I know.

I used to suck at it until I got a big enough backlog of beers to distract me from my latest brews.

OT did you know; Coopers Pilsner + 500g LDME + 500g BE1 + Galaxy hops is a dead ringer for Stone & Wood Pacific Ale?

I have a Pilsner tin and 1kg of LDME sitting at home, from memory BE1 is just 50% LDME and 50% DEX am I correct? How much dry hops do you put for the 23L batch (I assume your making it to 23L?).

Would love to try and turn the kit into a S&W Pacfici Ale as I just brewed an All-Grain version of it so good to compare and use up my leftover Galaxy hops :super: :super: :super:

 

[menoetes]

BE1 is a mix of dextrose and maltodex (something like 60% - 40%?). It is a 23lt batch and the recipe as I remember it is.

1xCoopers Pilsner tin (I've used Euro Lager too with good results)
500g LDME (I use a bit more like 750g but that's just me)
500g BE1
200g of Carapils steeped for 20min
30g of Galaxy @ 5 minutes
20g of Galaxy - dry hopped on day 5 or 6

You don't need the carapils but it adds some extra body. I usually use US-05 yeast but only because I'm too lazy to lager a beer. Mine turns out great and is a favourite a summer bbqs with friends, I would be interested to know what a proper pilsner yeast does to the flavour.

It's a solid clone though for such little effort that should produce a fruity midstrength session beer that tastes just like S&W pacific ale.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Cheers, will keep it in mind, thought you had a dead ringer recipe based purely on a kit brew (no grain steeping). I might try the recipe without the galaxy bittering and use 1kg of LDME (just cos thats what I have) and dry hop the galaxy. Got plenty of US-05 in the fridge. Will report back how close the simpler recipe gets as clone :beer:

 

[menoetes]

Try it for sure, the lack of steeped grains will make a little difference but the beer should still be pretty damn close, especially with the extra LDME to give it some extra body. Best of luck with it

 

[GeoffN]

I like S&W pacific ale. I'll definitely try that. I have some US-05, will need to buy some galaxy.

Thanks all for that.

Yes I do drink it from the fermenter, have to taste to make sure that ensuring is going well. ;-)

Sent from my HDC-08 using Tapatalk

 

[craigo]

I like the Coopers Pilsner, I use the one month rule on all my beers with maybe the exception of wheat beers. It's hard to hold back, I know.

I used to suck at it until I got a big enough backlog of beers to distract me from my latest brews.

OT did you know; Coopers Pilsner + 500g LDME + 500g BE1 + Galaxy hops is a dead ringer for Stone & Wood Pacific Ale?

I did a similar recepie to this but I used 750g of light dry malt and 500g of dex and the kit the of cam to 1048 does that seem right I thought it was a bit high and also where should I expect it to finish?

 

[menoetes]

Hi Craigo,

I'm guessing you made up your brew up to around 23lts? If so and if all goes well you can expect to finish around 1.008 - 1.010. If your yeast petters out early (with your higher starting gravity) you might end up with a higher FG but that's all I can tell you from what little info you have given us. I might be able to tell you more if I knew more...

Did you make a starter or rehydrate your yeast?

Do you use any temperature control?

What volume did you make the brew up to?

 

[craigo]

Hi Craigo,

I'm guessing you made up your brew up to around 23lts? If so and if all goes well you can expect to finish around 1.008 - 1.010. If your yeast petters out early (with your higher starting gravity) you might end up with a higher FG but that's all I can tell you from what little info you have given us. I might be able to tell you more if I knew more...

Did you make a starter or rehydrate your yeast?

Do you use any temperature control?

What volume did you make the brew up to?

Hi Mentoetes

Yes i made the batch up to 23 ltrs and i have temp control and it is set at 17.5 degrees, The yeast i used was so4, i just wasnt sure if the og was unusually high or not ,its been fermenting for a week and its down to 1022 at the moment im hoping the yeast will get it down a fair bit more than that.

 

[menoetes]

Sounds like your batch size and temp are good, S-04 has some trouble getting down below 1.020 sometimes (there are other threads on this) and it's important to make sure your wort is well aerated if using this yeast. Give it a few more days, some people suggest giving you whole fermenter a gentle swirl (if you can lift it, I'm not willing to try) to nudge the settled yeast awake again but see how you go.

As your gravity currently stands, you're at 3.4% abv; a nice midstrenth in my books and that will go up a little with priming sugar if you bottle like I do. Give it time and see how it goes, if the SG isn't dropping anymore and you really want it down you can always pitch more yeast, even the stuff that comes with the coopers can would finish it off now the S-04 has down the bulk of the work.