Made My First Homebrew, Coopers Lager - Didnt Work

[xknifepointx]

Hey guys,

I got given a Coopers kit for christmas, so I used the Coopers Lager that came free with the kit but I left the wort in the barrel for about a month or so, I bottled it and it reads between the beer START <> FINISH line so I know the alcohol content is low, but it also tastes pretty watery and it looks a funny colour.

it kind of has a murky orange/brown colour to it, that I know doesn't seem right. It also gave plenty of head when I poured it, which quickly disappeared, but bubbles remain throughout the liquid.

perhaps by leaving it too long in the fermenter it's gone off?

 

[boingk]

Hi there, welcome to the site and homebrewing!

Just a few q's:

What temp did you ferment at?
What did you add to the kit? [sugars, hops, etc]
How long did you leave it in the bottles before tasting?

I made my first beer up with the one that came in the setup kit, a Tooheys Draught. Just added the can and 1kg of liquid cron syrup as they were included, and it came out awfully. Flat, tasteless, very dodgy. My next beer was a simple Heineken recipe - which was great! I then did some Becks which wasn't too bad either, still enjoying it.

A lot of people have first-time troubles, so don't let it get you down. The kit may have been dodgy but it always helps to brew at or under 20'C, and don't leave it too long in the fermenter - this gives weird tastes imparted to the beer from the yeast that has settled. And yes, infections can happen. I tend to leave it no longer than 2 or 4 days max in the fermenter after fermentation has finished - this seems plently and gives a clear beer after a week or two in the bottle.

 

[xknifepointx]

I just used everything that comes with the supplied Lager kit, the included Malt, I used Coopers Dextrose 1kg and I used the supplied yeast.

I use the sugar carbonation drops, too, are these bad or good?

 

[Paleman]

How long has it been in the bottle ?, i know you mentioned a month in the fermenter, but bottle ageing is an all important factor.

Using the ingredients you mention, you should at least get some kind of head. Unless your glass is bogus. Also what size bottles and how many carb drops per bottle ?

 

[xknifepointx]

been in the bottle about 4 weeks now, I used two carb drops per PET coopers bottle!

it's giving a head, but still tastes a little "watery" if that makes sense?


ahh I just tipped one of the bottles upside down and there is a lot of large chunky bits of something (sediment?) at the bottom of the bottle? after I mixed it around a bit it seemed to change colour drastically, perhaps I am meant to give it a quick turn when I first put the carb drops in? or, not?

don't worry, I really have no idea, reading most of this site confuses me more with cooking hops, mixing your own yeast in, etc, etc... I'm a total n00b when it comes to making it, but I am a seasoned veteran when it comes to drinking it

 

[delboy]

a month in the fermentor may have over stepped the mark in primary stage ?
did it taste a bit soapy or cardboardy ??

how long was it bottled for?
did you sanitize correctly ?


regardless don't loose faith in the hobby at first attempt i would like to say welcome to the forum and you have come to the right place for your answers.

in regards to your lager if you done every thing correctly and its still young in the bottle leave it a few weeks in a cool dark place .get out your gear give it a good clean and sanitize and start another taking time to go through the process .try a find a seasond brewer to help you as some times the old addige "monkey see monkey do" is easier than reading the book as your are doing the process.
as a rule of thumb for first timers i always say to them "the distructions that come with the kit are very basic" if its a coopers kit watch the video a few times first as well .

take care when cleaning ,sanitising ,pitch yeast at 20-24 if you can maintain at best a constant temp where possable ferment for 14 days then bottle after cleaning and sanitizing your bottles.and leave for a minimum of 14 days befor tasting. there may be more to add to this but i beleive to help you along its best to get a few brews under your belt as simply and easy as possable

a good read is understanding beer making vol 2 as starting point with out spending a kings ransom as well.
then once you've been bitten by the bug then may be spend a bit more timein a home brew shop and ask lots of questions as well .your journey has just begun and remember that even the best of brewers have had the occasional failure how else wold we learn.

i hope these words are encouraging it is a wonderfull hobby and you can spend as much or as little as you need on it depending on your budget. and it is an easy hobby as well.

regards delboy :beer:

i

 

[FazerPete]

been in the bottle about 4 weeks now, I used two carb drops per PET coopers bottle!

it's giving a head, but still tastes a little "watery" if that makes sense?

Does it taste beery at all?

The coopers lager kit isn't one of the best and would be watery with just dextrose added but I have made one and it should at least look like beer. The colour in your photo's looks completely wrong and the bubbles look more like a soft drink than a beer. I don't think it's the fault of the kit so I think you might have done something wrong.

Did you disturb the fermenter at all when you bottled it? I'm thinking that maybe you stirred up the yeast on the bottom and the stuff stuck to the side of the fermenter. You need to be pretty careful whenever you move the fermenter.

Other than that, I'm not sure what you could have done. Did it have that colour when before you bottled it?

 

[delboy]

hey x

list your where abouts so may be you can meetup with another brewer in your area to help you out mate.

if we know your whareabouts we can even suggest some one or a club or group nearby.

delboy

 

[petesbrew]

Haven't got that much advice to give you Knifepoint apart from don't give up. You'll brew a decent batch soon enough. But yeah, 4 weeks in the fermenter is pretty long. One or two weeks is about right.

My first ever turned out pretty good (looking back it probably tasted crap compared to what I'm making now), but the second batch was quite crap. Ended up tipping a fair bit of it.

Have a look around on this site and look for a brew logsheet, or theres one on the country brewer site that's good to use. Print it out, and keep notes of what you do, and how it tastes.

All the best mate.
Pete

 

[boingk]

I second delboys reccomendation on the book...check it out at a local Big W in the homebrewing section. I got mine for something like 8 bucks and its been great. Very simple, a good introductory to homebrewing.

 

[xknifepointx]

okay I just sanitized everything properly and waited for it to dry, then I just laid down some Coopers Pale Ale, using 500gm of Light Malt(?) and the MALT and yeast from the can, added it all to about 22litres of water and now waiting for this one to ferment.

I hope I just did something wrong the first time, hopefully this time it goes a little better than the last, I just put two PET bottles in the fridge and I'm drinking some now from the first lot but it doesn't really have a beer taste to it at all, tastes more like bitter water IMO and that's probably because I left it in the fermenter for over a month, but I'm not too sure.


btw thanks guys, I'm in Waterloo btw, I found this site this morning because I thought I'd buy a kegerator but not until I get it working in the bottles first.

 

[delboy]

hey x

ok the one you have just done will have plenty of body but it will lack a bit of alc%
but if you like a light beer then that will be fine .

looks like your going to get it right any way .just let this one gone along and bottle it in 14 days from now try not to move it about too much and keep the temp at best around 20 but if it sits a little higher thats fine just try and keep it nice and stable it will fluctuate a bit but dont worry to much we just want to get you a good beer without the worry of techie stuff at the moment. that can come later.

del

 

[xknifepointx]

hey x

ok the one you have just done will have plenty of body but it will lack a bit of alc%
but if you like a light beer then that will be fine .

looks like your going to get it right any way .just let this one gone along and bottle it in 14 days from now try not to move it about too much and keep the temp at best around 20 but if it sits a little higher thats fine just try and keep it nice and stable it will fluctuate a bit but dont worry to much we just want to get you a good beer without the worry of techie stuff at the moment. that can come later.

del

will it lack alcohol % because I put in the Light malt ?? I thought it just gave it more body and flavour, if I knew it killed some of the alcohol content I wouldn't of put it in, I also put 500gm in the last batch I made which could be why it sits on about 3.5% alcohol.

 

[Prawned]

Next time just add 1kg, that will bring it upto around 4.5 - 5%

 

[xknifepointx]

okay, so after turning the PET bottles up slowly, then down slowly a few times and getting the crap at the bottom of the bottle to mix with the rest of it, it seems more colourful, it is cloudier, but the head keeps for the entire beer in the schooner glass and it is definately a lot better to drink, but not too much. It still lacks a bit of flavour I think. Should I turn the bottles as I put the drops in ?

 

[v8r]

my method with my first batch was to gently move the fermenter on to the bench (don't stir up the yeast cake in the bottom of the ferm.), drop two carbo drops in each tallie, bottle and cap, then turn upside down once.
leave in a dark cupboard that can maintain around 20deg, then (if you really cant wait any longer!) fridge some for a couple of days and drink.
personally, i leave the sediment behind in the bottle, but thats your choice.

 

[xknifepointx]

ahh, I never turned the bottle, I just put two carb drops in and left it. Probably my first mistake.

another mistake was using Light Dry Malt, I didn't know it had an effect on the alcohol content, but now I know not to use it unless I'm going to use two full packets (even though the bag says 250gm > 500gm is all you want)

 

[boingk]

knifepoint, good to see you're on the right track! You might benefit from trotting down to the local homebrew store and getting a 'recipe sheet', I've got one with the recipes for something like 35 beers on it using simple methods - the most complicated thing you have to do with them is whack some hop pellets into a glass of boiling water for 10 minutes, then throw into the fermenter along with the rest.


Using light dry malt isn't a mistake, you'll need 1 kilo or more of anything you put into your beers, the can alone will be thin and watery with only around 2.7% alcohol. A few recipes from said sheet you might be interested in:

VB:

1.7kg lager kit,
500g light dried malt,
250g dextrose,
250g maltodextron,
12g Pride of Ringwood hops soaked in boiling water for 10-15 minutes.

Heineken:

1.7kg lager kit,
500g light dried malt,
250g dextrose,
250g maltodextron,
12g Tettnanger hops soaked in boiling water for 10-15 minutes.

Also, you can usually get good results on the cheap by just adding two kits [eg: 2 x Coopers Pale Ale] to the fermenter and topping it up with water. I'm bottling one done like this tonight...smells wonderful. Oh yeah, and these ones come out at around the 7% alcohol mark

Cheers, hope all goes well - boingk

 

[Prawned]

ahh, I never turned the bottle, I just put two carb drops in and left it. Probably my first mistake.

another mistake was using Light Dry Malt, I didn't know it had an effect on the alcohol content, but now I know not to use it unless I'm going to use two full packets (even though the bag says 250gm > 500gm is all you want)

As far as i know with carb drops you dont have to turn the bottle once filled.. just with sugar / dextrose you need to.

And the malt wasnt a bad thing, just go for 1kg next time far better than using sugar

 

[HeXa]

My first K&K was a Coopers Lager from the microbrew kit..... done by the book with brewing sugar and drops... with only one week in the tub (FG of 1005).

Was little cloudy when it went in the bottle, but that settled out and was drinkable within a few days. After 3 weeks in the bottle, taste has improved with a good head.

I'm guessing yours got infected from being in the tub for so long. It should of tasted and looked like beer when sampling from the tap.

2nd time is the charm