New Kit: Coopers European Lager

[keef12345]

Thanks Katie, i will give it a go in the next couple of weeks.

I have not seen this new coopers europe lager in any stores im from newcastle....

 

[Adamt]

As far as I know about this European Lager kit, distribution has only just started for it, and I'm 99% sure that it comes with a true lager yeast. The recommendation of a 12 week bottling would suggest this is true.

 

[Jaeger]

$8.00 at my local Big W . . .3 cans left, all with late 2009 dates as well, Off to get them tomorrow!

Cheers

I picked up two cans at Big W yesterday - couldn't go past them at that price!

I'm thinking of making a toucan "ale" from them (see: Coopers Bavarian Ale?)

 

[Jaeger]

chilli and beer ?? whats next?

Well, chocolate and beer has already been done... How about a chilli chocolate stout?

I tried some Lindt chilli dark chocolate recently that would be up to the task, though perhaps a bit more chilli wouldn't hurt.
I haven't tried making a chilli beer yet, but in cooking I prefer to remove the seeds to tone down the heat a bit.

Katie - I assume your "HOT" chillies are the little red ones you see in supermarkets? ("Birds eye" chillies, I think.)

 

[ibast]

OK I set started a European Lager twocan on the weekend with a Hallerau teabag.

It does come with a Lager years and the guff that comes with it suggests it can handle quite high temps. Yeast is one thing Coopers do really well.

By the green bottle on the label it's pretty obvious what beer they are aiming at.

Unfortunately I don't have a brew fridge so I'm going to be brewing a bit high, but I will let you know how it goes.

 

[ibast]

Ok just an update.

SG 1049
FG 1009 and took quite a few days to get that last point.

Unfortunately it brewed about 23 degrees but that was on the stick on thermometer. Given that I was using a wet towel, it was in a cool pat of the house and it hasn't been that hot in Sydney I suspect the stick on is reading a bit high.

The fact that it took two weeks to brew out supports this.

I finned it to get some of the cloudiness out as I'm not set up for lagering. Still got a bit of cloudiness in the bottom couple of litres but I'm hoping it will settle in the bottom of the keg.

The colour is good and initial taste indicate it's quite high in bitterness. It's in the keg and I'll let you know how it's drinking after a week or so.

 

[RobboMC]

At Big W this week the bav lager was all gone but the shelf had a discontinued label on it for $8,
so it seems Big W think the Bav lager is history. Dickh**ds had stacked the empty shelf with Coopers APA,
so I got that for the $8, so one cheap APA batch coming up.

I've done the Bav lager with 2 kg of added malt and and it comes out great with the kit yeast.
I hope the new European lager cans work the same way.

 

[Katherine]

I've done the Bav lager with 2 kg of added malt and and it comes out great with the kit yeast.
I hope the new European lager cans work the same way.

Do you know if the European Lager comes with lager yeast?

 

[ibast]

Do you know if the European Lager comes with lager yeast?

Yes it does

 

[gerald]

wow, my first post here on the forums.

just started brewing, instead of starting out with the lager can that comes with the coopers kit i decided to go for the euro lager. this was all done on 0 experience and no idea on anything brewing related. since then ive done SOOOOOO much reading and would do it completely different. anyway lets see.

i followed the instructions, it was pretty hot when i did it all, was at around 27 for the first few days and it was bubbling pretty crazy!

then it dropped right down to 18 or 19 or so. then completely stopped. then the last 2 days its slightly warmed up (also used a heater :-D ) and after giving the brew a good stir it kidna kicked back into life for a few hours, then stopped. it was now at around 22degrees.

the FG was 1009. upon bottling it, it seems VERY light, similar to a corona or something. im kinda disapointed cos its my first homebrew and i wanted it to be good.

but i guess its a learning curve and i KNOW my next one will be better as ive done heaps of reading and i will be doing more than just tipping a can into boiling water this time :-D

anyway i bottled it tonight and i will tell ya how it goes soon. 12 weeks - so cant wait that long....might crack one in mid jan. i also bottled one with a piece of lemon so will let ya know how that goes too.

cya
gerald

 

[Thunderlips]

initial taste indicate it's quite high in bitterness.

Isn't that to be expected when using two cans?
I've never done it myself but pretty much all I've read here indicates that most are near on undrinkable early on.

 

[boingk]

Just put down a simple brew with the Coopers Euro Lager kit, 1kg LDME and 12g Hallertau @ ~10 minutes...wasn't particularly counting. Should turn out ok, and I'm going to have a crack at using a sachet of Saf W34/70 that I've had lying around for a month or three.

I'll let everyone know how it went in a few months, meanwhile I'll continue to enjoy the porter I made up a while ago...ah...delicious!

Cheers - boingk

PS - a 1.7kg tin is 1.25L right? And a brew is running 22 [leaving headspace I find an extra litre doesnt do anything except foul the bottom of your fermenter]. So the kit is 340 IBU. Divide 22 by 1.25 and you have 17.6 ... divide 340 by that and you come out with 19.3-ish IBU. Not so bad, but thats why I prefer Wal's Concentrates...with REAL hops!

 

[Boonie]

I have not seen this new coopers europe lager in any stores im from newcastle....

BIG W Charlestown Square has some, sorry wee bit late....

 

[bigbanko]

I put one of these down today using the BE2 and steeped 150g of light munic to freshen it up a little.

Smells a lot like the Bavarian to me.

Will be a good comparison as I am drinking my all grain Munich larger at the moment.

 

[kevnlis]

I put one of these down today using the BE2 and steeped 150g of light munic to freshen it up a little.

Smells a lot like the Bavarian to me.

Will be a good comparison as I am drinking my all grain Munich larger at the moment.

I hope you mean Caramunich I...

I broke from the AG law and put one down just because it is a new Coopers kit... I added 500g LLME and 10g of NS at 15 and 5. Will dry hop with 15-20g NS and see how I go

 

[bigbanko]

I hope you mean Caramunich I...

I broke from the AG law and put one down just because it is a new Coopers kit... I added 500g LLME and 10g of NS at 15 and 5. Will dry hop with 15-20g NS and see how I go

No I steeped Munich I malt. I have steeped base grains in the past in a lot of lagers just to freshen up a kit without adding too much to the colour or overall flavour. I find does help with head retention quite a bit.

You say you dry hop with NS - I assume this is Nelson sauvin. I was thinking of dry hopping with 12-15g ofHallertau.

I also broke the Ag law and done this kit because it's new. This would be my first kit in 2 years.

 

[Rossco]

So has anyone reached their 12 weeks yet...or tried it?

My 12 weeks will be up around the middle of April

 

[ibast]

So has anyone reached their 12 weeks yet...or tried it?

My 12 weeks will be up around the middle of April

I finished my keg off weeks ago. then a few days ago I opened a bottle after having not drunk it for a few weeks and I was surprised how good it was. so it's pretty good yeast.

When the weather get a bit cooler I will be doing another one.

 

[Hutch]

So has anyone reached their 12 weeks yet...or tried it?

My 12 weeks will be up around the middle of April

I also broke the AG law and made one of these up a month ago to around 3.6%, with the following additions...
* 250gm Dex
* 250g light DME
* 10gm Bsaaz flowers (10mins)
* 10gm Southern Cross flowers (0mins)
* made to 19Ltrs
* Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager slurry from previous brew, fermented at 12deg.

...OK, so not exactly according to the standard K&K recipe, though I wanted to make a nice simple mid-strength keg-filler, and test out the quality of this kit as a base in the process. Only 2 weeks in the keg, and I can say it is probably the best kit beer I've made to date (although my process is a little better now than in my kit days!).
Colour is nice and pale, light body, with very little noticable kit twang (much less than say the Coopers Aussie Pale kit).
I'm leaving it to lager for several more weeks, as I really find that kit and extract brews need a lot longer to mature than AG brews.

I've also used one of these kits as a base to great efffect in a 7% Bock (partial mash) - you cannot taste the kit at all in that brew!

 

[peas_and_corn]

is this replacing the Bavarian Lager? At Coles the other day they had 'Discontinued' stuck on the shelf for Bavarian Lager.

It's possible that the new planogram doesn't have it there (in that case be ready for everything in that bay to be moved around). Either that or indeed Coopers isn't making it any more.

At Big W this week the bav lager was all gone but the shelf had a discontinued label on it for $8,
so it seems Big W think the Bav lager is history. Dickh**ds had stacked the empty shelf with Coopers APA,
so I got that for the $8, so one cheap APA batch coming up.

I've done the Bav lager with 2 kg of added malt and and it comes out great with the kit yeast.
I hope the new European lager cans work the same way.

Good work! Though you might have gotten it for free if you paid for it at full price and then complained- scanning code of practice kicks in then and you get the item for free. Just to note if it happens another time