Introducing… (drum roll)…

[Jon54]

ME! Jon from Coolum QLD. I accidentally bought a Coopers 'everything you need' kit in Dan Murphy's when I was looking for champagne for our wedding anniversary! Have made 2 brews so far; the std Coopers lager and a Brigalow ginger beer. The lager has been in the bottle 6 weeks now and has improved compared to week 2 but still has a yeasty after taste. It's also very dark for a lager. The GB 4 weeks old but spoiled for me & mine by the artificial sweetener. Currently I have a 'from scratch' GB on the go.
My dad made home brew and I remember breaking his large glass carboy when I was playing under the house as a kid :-(
His father managed a brewery in Paeroa NZ in the late 1940's.
So I thought I'd better give it a go.

 

[razz]

Welcome Jon, great intro.

 

[AHB_Admin]

Welcome to the forum, Jon.
I think it runs in the blood. Good luck!

 

[Drubbing]

The lager has been in the bottle 6 weeks now and has improved compared to week 2 but still has a yeasty after taste. It's also very dark for a lager.

From memory, the coopers lager kit comes with an ale yeast, as most beginner brewers won't have temp control to brew a lager yeast at around 12C. So assuming you brewed at ambient QLD temps it would also account for the yeasty taste. Coopers ale yeast will brew at less than ideal temps, but you will get esters (yeast flavours).

To brew cleaner tasting beers, it's good to invest in an old fridge to ferment in, and get a temp controller to keep the temp in the brew zone for the provided yeast.

 

[Jon54]

From memory, the coopers lager kit comes with an ale yeast, as most beginner brewers won't have temp control to brew a lager yeast at around 12C. So assuming you brewed at ambient QLD temps it would also account for the yeasty taste. Coopers ale yeast will brew at less than ideal temps, but you will get esters (yeast flavours).

To brew cleaner tasting beers, it's good to invest in an old fridge to ferment in, and get a temp controller to keep the temp in the brew zone for the provided yeast.

Good points. I have the current GB FV in a water bath/wet towels/fan but only getting down to 23 deg C