First brew using coopers kit

[Scott919r]

Hello,
I have googled for months and finally bit the bullet and brought a coopers diy kit and a fridge and temp controller itc-308, I also have a heat mat against the back wall! also a chest freezer came free so I am going to slowly collect stuff to build a keezer!
Any way I have just put my brew down Saturday night so 2 days in! I'm using the os lager it came with as I've read it's not the best so may aswell learn with it! While at it I boiled
15gram saaz for 15min
15gram saaz for 5min
20gram saaz at flame out for 20mins
Also only used 600gram of the be1
And added 500gram dry malt
And to 23 litre pitch yeast 22 degrees for about 20hours and is now at 19.5
Original gravity was 1038 even tho my hydrometer reads. 995 in boiled 20 degree water and I have already ordered a glass tube and better hydrometer as it just feels cheap
I did clump the malt alittle and will do different next time but have read yeast can handle alittle bit of clumps
Fermentation looks like it is going well as have opened fridge to look and learn but not touching fv!
I will be bottling my first few brews
Question I do have tho is trying to cold condition or condition am I correct in thinking
Wait until fg reached for 3 days
Drop temp to some where between 2 to 4c?
Leave for 1 or 2 weeks?
I read lager is colder and longer than ales but this is like an ale/lager correct?
Anyway any advice or help appreciated
Next I am thinking the coopers fresh draught with a little cascade
Then I'll try to make some nice ales as I do like the little creatures pale ale and their IPA! But will try to make a draught that's good for most mates!
Thanks all and hopefully happy brewing!
Scott

 

[Stouter]

Dry hop that Saaz. Chuck some in the FV for a few days and it will impart a lovey aroma. You don't need much, maybe 15g.

 

[wereprawn]

The standard lager tin uses ale yeast anyway mate. After bottling, leave somewhere warm for a month. You can improve ales buy putting in the fridge for at least a few days before drinking. Dry hopping with Saaz is not recommend as it has a tendency to make beer taste like lawn clippings

Edit- The Coopers Australian Pale Ale tin with 1.5 kg LDME, US-05 yeast, 10 min boil of 15g Cascade and dry hop with 40g of Cascade makes a simple and tasty beer.

 

[Grott]

To avoid clumping of the dry malt put it in the fermenter 1st, add some boiling water and swirl the fermenter back and forth rather than stir with a spoon, then add your tin etc.
Cheers

 

[peteru]

After bottling, leave somewhere warm for a month.

"Warm" means in the 18C to 22C range.

"Somewhere" means out of sunlight and preferably with as stable temperature as you can manage.

"Month" means two weeks or longer.

 

[Rocker1986]

Those Saaz additions should work well, but I agree with not dry hopping it. It's a bloody nice hop though. Ideally they should be boiled in a solution of extract and water at about 100g dry extract per litre of water.

That clumping seems to depend on the malt extract in my experience. I only use it for yeast starters these days but the local shop started selling this really fine powdered extract a while ago, which does nothing but clump up when water is added to it and is a total bitch to dissolve. When it was boiled it foamed up like a volcano and also produced these big strands of grey/black shit. It took about half an hour of turning the stove on and off to do what should have taken about 5 minutes. Apparently the Coopers dry extract looks and behaves the same way. The coarser powder they used to sell was much better, dissolved easily, didn't foam up like a volcano and didn't produce those strands either. Luckily for me Craftbrewer (no affil etc.) sells it so I have reverted back.

 

[mosto]

For your first brew, looks like you're going to end up with a pretty tasty drop. The clumped malt won't worry the yeast. It'll dissolve eventually and the yeast will chew through it. But given it wouldn't had dissolved when you took your OG, your actually OG would be a bit higher. When I started out with kits I found ianh's spreadsheet invaluable for formulating recipes and estimating OG. Here's a link if you want to download it http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/29655-kit-and-extract-beer-spreadsheet/page-26#entry990422.

To answer your cold crash question, drop to as close to 0c as you can get for 4-7 days once you've got a stable FG. This helps drop the yeast out of suspension and clear the beer up.

 

[wereprawn]

"Warm" means in the 18C to 22C range.

"Somewhere" means out of sunlight and preferably with as stable temperature as you can manage.

"Month" means two weeks or longer.

No, "warm" means not hot and not cold but warm. Doesn't matter much if if the're conditioned at 16 c or 26c.
"Month" means 4 weeks. Bottled conditioned kit beer generally needs a month to start hitting its straps IMHO.

 

[Rocker1986]

I wouldn't go to 16C with the yeast in that kit, it's straight ale yeast and it tends to slack off. Best to keep it at 18 or above in the bottles, and around 18-20 in the FV for a cleaner flavour.

 

[Scott919r]

Thanks for the advice guys
Otto Von blotto knew I seen Ur pick elsewhere
I am going to cc in the primary fv as it's my only one at this stage and will either put a shelf in fermentation fridge and keep at 20 once bottled unless I can convince the misses to let me store them on the house! Plastic coopers bottles so should be safe
Also do u recommend bringing the temp back up to say 15+ to bottle or just bottle cold and then let them heat up?
Anyone done the coopers fresh draught? Sort od would like a beer along the lines of Carlton draught and then pale ale in my keezer when I get it made in time!

 

[Scott919r]

Damn double post...

 

[Scott919r]

I've read that if u bring temp up abit that it can shorten bottle time by up to a week vs bottling cold? Just trying to decifer though so much info on the net

 

[Bribie G]

Ale yeasts such as Coopers are very "forgiving" which is why Coopers tend to include them in most of their original series kits as they know that they are likely going to be used and abused B) so you can run it at around 20 to 22 degrees without any dramas, might just get a bit more "fruitiness".

That Lager kit is a really good one to start your career on.

Edit; re bottling I have an old fashioned airing cupboard where the hot water system lives inside the house, and I usually leave the bottles there in the winter. I mostly keg but I do bottle a fair bit during competition season.
The main flavours and character of the beer will have been done in the primary fermentation, so keeping the bottles a bit warm won't harm. Look at how many bottle conditioned brews such as coopers just sit there in drive-throughs or on pallets in shops etc.

 

[Scott919r]

My best bet is to bring bottles inside which I'll work on but misses on night shift till Thursday so plenty time.
Now after more googling lol
I've read if I take a sample on day 5 and leave in brew fridge with hydrometer in it! can I take accurate readingsthis way? Or is it best to take and test straight from fv?
Thanks scott

 

[Rocker1986]

Nothing wrong with CCing in the primary, that's where all mine are done partly for the same reason only having one FV. I don't bother with a secondary ever though, can't see the point for the beers I brew. You don't have to warm it up before bottling it, just bottle it cold and let the bottles warm up.

 

[evoo4u]

Re stirring the malt powder in the FV to dissolve the lumps:

When I was K&K'ing, I did just this, then poured in the can of goop and stirred some more. After a few brews, I noticed I'd really scored/scratched the bottom of the FV, (which was the current Cooper's type - you know, the one with the krausen collar and lid with no airlock).

It seems these scratches could be ideal lurking places for nasties, despite using Starsan or such, so I bought another new FV, and although I am now AG'ing (and thus don't need to stir), I am very careful when cleaning up after a brew to very gently clean out the FV.

So a good reason to simply shake the shivers out of it when dissolving malt powder and goop, and leave the stirring stick on the shelf!

 

[klangers]

Dry malt is easiest dissolved in cold water, in my experience. Simply pour it in and swirl it around.

The malt balls are caused by the outside layer getting partially melted/inverted/caramelised in the heat and this prevents them from falling apart.

 

[Scott919r]

morning people, so i have the same final gravity reading over 3 days and last night being a cold night i used it to start crash chilling and will leave at 2degrees and see how fridge handles it! is 4 days enough or should i leave longer and bottle on sunday?which would make it 6 days!
this is morgans lcpa recipe i kniow it wont be the same but do u think it mite be close? seems alot of wheat?
x1 Morgan’s Stockman’s Draught
x1 Morgan’s Master Malt Wheat
300g Dextrose
x2 Morgan’s 12g Cascade Finishing Hops Dry hopped on Day 4 of ferment
x1 Morgan’s Premium American Ale Yeast
or would this be better
1 tin Morgans Stockmans Draught
1.5 kg of Morgans Extra Pale Malt Extract (Liquid)
15g of Cascade pellets - 15min
10g Cluster pellets - 15 min
US56 Yeast.
12g of Chinook Pellets (dry hopped at rack

then ill try a draught at lagar temps while 2 are in the bottle!
thanks guys

 

[laxation]

Doesn't seem like too much wheat - assuming thats just standard dry malt extract?

As for dry hopping, check this out where I asked similar Qs

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/95028-i-dry-hopped-now-what/

 

[Scott919r]

Hello so my first batch is bottled and looked nice and clear
Next batch just put down last night
Coopers draught 1.7
Coopers liq amber malt 1.5
Dex 150grams
Ldme 200grams
Cascade 15g 15min
Chinook 15g 10min
Chinook 10g 5min
Boiled in the ldme
Us 05 at 18c 23litre
Now I have googled about dry hopping as wan to dry hop 15g-20g of each
Should I dry hop when krausen is gone or try what I have read
Ferment until fg
Crash chill 2 days
Baker to 18 dry hop 4 days
Crash chill 4 days and bottle
?
Also I used carb drops last time
Is it better to prime bottles with Dex or even Ldme? I'd just get a spoon from big w I reckon the brigalow one for 740ml bottles
Thanks guys! Just under two weeks and I'll taste my first bottle then wait till 4 week mark and drink hopefully