New Brewer - Coopers Draught Can

[twenty]

Hello Everyone

Caught the brewing bug off a mate and decided to give it a crack. I have been reading alot and beleive i have the basic process down (if that is ever possible).

I grabbed a can of Coopers Draught from the supermarket in exictment to get this underway. Now im looking for some recommendations for some exctracts to complement my can.

I have searched the forum and not come up with much which isn't inspiring.

Any recommendations what would work well with a can of Coopers Draught?

Thanks Twenty

 

[tangent]

so tempting

depending on where you live, i'd add 1/2 dexy and 1/2 light malt (booster pack or whatever they call them in the HBS or your choice)
If you live somewhere cold, throw 2xpackets of lager yeast in and leave it sitting on concrete out of the sun, like in the shed.
Best weather for brewing fizzy pop beers at the moment although it'll brew slow and take longer, it'll be worth it.

 

[discoloop]

The possibilities are endless. What style are you aiming for?

 

[twenty]

so tempting

depending on where you live, i'd add 1/2 dexy and 1/2 light malt (booster pack or whatever they call them in the HBS or your choice)
If you live somewhere cold, throw 2xpackets of lager yeast in and leave it sitting on concrete out of the sun, like in the shed.
Best weather for brewing fizzy pop beers at the moment although it'll brew slow and take longer, it'll be worth it.

so you say
500g of dextrose
500g LME
forget the Ale yeast and use 2 Lager yeast packs

im in geelong - i haven't seen temperature rise above 15 degC. Time isn't an issue if the reward is great.

Thank for the suggestion ill take it on board.

 

[twenty]

The possibilities are endless. What style are you aiming for?

im must say im a lager and draught fan - hence the can.

other then that i haven't strayed much from these categories. But im willing to experiment, although formy first batch i dont want to make it to complicated yet.

Twenty

 

[tangent]

just make sure you use a sanitiser or boiling water

if you're slack, rely on potassium metabisulphite, or stuff something up it'll all turn to shit after all that hard work and waiting.

rack it after about 2 weeks if you can.

Mine's sitting on 10C in an outside bathroom on the tiled floor. Perfect and the refrigeration is free

 

[tangent]

this'll be a basic start
if you have another spare fermenter do another brew the same next week but make a hop tea-bag cup of saaz tea and throw that in. If you make a heap of brews and only change 1 thing at a time it's not overwhelming and you get to learn more.
Also, you get more beer to drink

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Have you added the Coper Enhancers to any brew. Improves them. The #2 pack adds malt and sweetness so I add extra hops 12grams of something a bit bitter to spice up the mix. Try adding just a second can of Coopers Draught (the famous toucan) ansd see the difference. If really stuck go to homebrewandbeer.com where they have a lot of K&K type recipes which might inspire you. The world is your oyster mate

 

[wildschwein]

Hey 20.
Don't let things get to complicated for this brew. For the fermentables get yourself a 1kg bag of Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 (BE2) from Coles. Its 50% dried light malt extract and the rest of it is dextrose and maltodextrin. Try to keep the brewing temperature between 16-18C (20C at the highest). You can prime your bottles (if that's what you're using) with regular table sugar or Cooper's carbonation drops if you wanna fork out a bit extra. Just do it simple (and sanatise everything very carefully) on this one and try not to apply everything you're learning to the first batch.

 

[twenty]

Have you added the Coper Enhancers to any brew. Improves them. The #2 pack adds malt and sweetness so I add extra hops 12grams of something a bit bitter to spice up the mix. Try adding just a second can of Coopers Draught (the famous toucan) ansd see the difference. If really stuck go to homebrewandbeer.com where they have a lot of K&K type recipes which might inspire you. The world is your oyster mate

Yes i have been to that web site. They dont have alot of comments on the use of the draught can though.
I have been reading about this tuocan in the use of stout recently, give it a few brews and i might try it.


Tangent: why do you recommend i rack the beer? to remove cloudyness?sp. for second fermentation?
being out side are the overnight temperatures (variation in temperatures) a problem?

 

[tangent]

your lager will sit there for maybe 3 weeks because at 10C fermentation takes some time.
after that time sitting on the yeast, because you'll get a crisp(er) cleaner tasting beer the beer at the end, you can notice a bit of a dead yeast taste, and yes, it helps to keep things a bit clearer.

 

[Hutch]

being out side are the overnight temperatures (variation in temperatures) a problem?

If it's wrapped in suitable insulation ( a blanket / sleeping back / camping mat etc. ) and sitting on a concrete slab, it should stay at a fairly constant temperature, irrespective of night/day temperature variations.
This is a great time of year to do low temp lagers/bocks without a fridge using this technique.

 

[tangent]

learn about thermal inertia, it's very handy in homebrewing

 

[The King of Spain]

tangent


if you're slack, rely on potassium metabisulphite, or stuff something up it'll all turn to shit after all that hard work and waiting.

A lot of people use metabisulphite with no probs. I'm not one of them. Personal opinion is you increase your risk of becoming asthmatic along with a whole bunch of other problems. And no I dont smoke.

You can get 600ml of Hydrogen peroxide for $6.00 from a chemist (6%). Mix 15ml per litre and you have a safe no rinse sanatiser. Do a web search, you can use this stuff for heaps of things, its great and friendly on the environment as well.

Put it this way, if a company could patent H2O2 we would be using it for everything.

Cheers

 

[wildschwein]

Yeah metabisulphate is a pretty crappy sanatiser. I prefer 1 cup of homebrand unscented bleach in a 40-50L laundry trough. Needs to be rinsed off in really hot water to get rid of the bleach smell though. Never had an infection since I used it. (5 years).

 

[Keifer]

I'd personally do an ale first, not a lager. The temps seem to match up but i'd probably be really keen to get into my first beer (i can remember how impatient i was to try my first batch). Also lagers need more attention, ales are quick and easy, or maybe even start with a wheat beer as they are good when young.

Keep it simple for first brew, get decent yeast, can of goo, malt or the enhancer stuff, then its just good sanitation and right temp for yeast.

 

[mark_m]

keep it simple, keep everything clean.
A Coopers draught with cooper brew enhancer 2, kit yeast. brewed at 18-24 (aim for about 20-22), then aged 4-12 weeks in bottle is going to give you something markedly better than VB/Carlton draught. It's all good from there on in.
An easy favourite of mine is Coopers Draught, 1kg coopers brew enhancer 2, 20g hallertau pelets boiled 15 mins, 20 g hallertau pellets steeped 5 mins, all thrown in fermenter, fermented @ approx 20-22 degrees w/- kit yeast. Improves markedly with age ( can taste ordinary @ 2-4 weeks & fantastic @ 12).
Get your basics in place (cleanliness & temperature) & persevere. A lot of potential brewers walk away after the first one or two attempts & miss out on a great hobby / obsession.
With this kit, I would stress again - give it time in the bottle & it will improve out of sight.
Welcome to the brethren.
Mark

 

[oldbugman]

Yeah metabisulphate is a pretty crappy sanatiser. I prefer 1 cup of homebrand unscented bleach in a 40-50L laundry trough. Needs to be rinsed off in really hot water to get rid of the bleach smell though. Never had an infection since I used it. (5 years).

Try adding some vinegar to lower the PH of the solution. Bleach by itself will turn your undies white but it wont kill germs.

Ideal mixture is 30ml of bleach in 19L water with 30ml white vinegar.

One of THE best podcasts I have heard on the topic

From the basic brewing website.

March 29, 2007 - Sanitizing with Bleach and Star San
Charlie Talley from Five Star Chemicals tells us best practices in using household bleach and Star San in sanitizing equipment.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr03-29-07.mp3

 

[simpletotoro]

I grabbed a can of Coopers Draught from the supermarket in exictment to get this underway. Now im looking for some recommendations for some exctracts to complement my can.

I have searched the forum and not come up with much which isn't inspiring.

Any recommendations what would work well with a can of Coopers Draught?

Thanks Twenty

hi ...i brewed this as an ale...but is a great draught recipe IMO..as others have already said...get the basic right....sanitation ...fermenting temp [ales 18-20/c:... lagers 10-12/c:...then the other stuff...like hop additions,malts,specialty grains etc...
try getting sanitation and fermenting temp right as quickly as possible...ok rant over
the recipe below is one i did a couple of months ago ...turned out a cracker...try what you want from it at your own pace...
recipe
1* tin of 1.7 kg draught (mine was xxxx draught but coopers will do ok i reackon maybe better)
750 g Light Dried Malt
250 g dextrose
200 g maltodextrin

specialty grains
200 g crystal malt (steeped 70-80/c 1/2 hour then boiled)
200 g carapils (steeped 70-80/c 1/2 hour then boiled)

hops
15 g cluster @ 15 mins
15 g cluster @ 01 min

yeast us-56 (or as it goes by now us-05)

toppped to 23 litres with cold (read chilled) water ...yeast pitched at 18/c ...bulk primed with 160 g white sugar...bottle conditioned for at least 6 weeks..

okay if you like use a good lager yeast to ferment it but try to do so at 10-12 /c

once again do things in small steps till you get a handle on it ...but this does taste bloody good...
might give it another burl using the lager yeast now i'm thinking about it

anything i've written that you don't understand give us a yell ok...
cheers simpletotoro

 

[wildschwein]

Try adding some vinegar to lower the PH of the solution. Bleach by itself will turn your undies white but it wont kill germs.

Ideal mixture is 30ml of bleach in 19L water with 30ml white vinegar.

Thanks for the link. This was interesting. I hadn't heard of this site before, so I really appreciate that you directed me there.

But as the chemical guy says in the interview bleach doesn't start killing until the solution reaches a ph of 8. (He says ph of 4 first and then corrects himself and says 8). Most tap water would be below this level anyway. My tap water here in the Perth hills is actually pretty soft; no kettle scale and soap lathers up very well. I don't know the exact ph but I'm sure it would be lower than 8. 8 is pretty alkaline. I had heard of adding vinegar to bleach solutions before as a way of increasing the bleach's effectiveness, but I'm not convinced it's really necassary. In my experience bleach is a very effective killer of germs, as well as an excellent remover of trace fats that stuff up your head retention. Like I said above I haven't had an infection since I've used it and I don't do any cleaning with detergent at all, everything gets soaked in bleach solution and is wiped with a sponge and rinsed in very hot tap water. I think that the addition of vinegar is probably only appropriate in very hard water areas. Thanks for the info though.