New To Beer Making, Just A ? Using Coopers Kits Yeast And Temps

[country2]

First I'd like to say hello from Georgia (USA) and how I love this forum as I've been visiting it alot the last few days and soaking up the info here. There isn't many good beer making forums in the US atleast that I could find.

Anyway I've started making beer about a month ago using the Coopers beer kits and my first was a Lager and it turned out good but just a little weak on the alcohol maybe 4% but still very drinkable. I've just did another batch of Pilsner from coopers brewmaster and I added more DME as some mentioned here and all seems to be going well as its fermenting right now.

How important is temps using the Coopers supplied yeast? Its at a continous 26c in a dark room. Is there really a improvement say if it was at 21c? Or is the temps mainly depends on the types/ brand of yeast being used? Thanks!

Oh I'll add that my next batch I'll be doing a IPA and getting away from the traditional instruction and experimenting with it and I'm trying to locate a cheap frig thats large enough to fit the fermenter in but small enough to keep the wife happy...

 

[Prawned]

Welcome to the forum!

With the temps it is a lot better to try and keep it down at 18c or as close as you can, they just put the 26 there so they don't scare people off.. Ive found that with just a kit and kilo its better to just add up to 19l of water, will make it a bit stronger and you will have more flavor. And try to stay away from plain white sugar (except for bottle priming) try and use a kilo of DME or dextrose at the very least..

 

[Brooksy]

Welcome mate,

You're doing ok but to Coopers kits (I do a lot of them because they are pretty much all that are available to me) add at least 1/2 a pound (250gms) of light dry malt extract along with 1kg dextrose or lme.

To dissolve the dme, bring about 2 litres of water to the boil and remove from the heat.
Gradually add the dme while stirring. You will find that it will congeal initially but will dissolve.
Return to heat and boil for about 15 mins.
Add hops and boil for a further 10 mins & remove from heat. (if hops used of course)
Allow to settle then add liquid to your fermenter along with can contents and dextrose, mix well and top up to final volume.

For you Lager, I would suggest adding some Cascade hops, about 12 - 15gms (1/2 ounce) boiled for 10mins to make a tea. Saaz or amarillo also add that bit extra as well.

Adding a kg of dex to a normal kit to 23 litres final volume normally gives a resultant abv of about 4.3%, with my liver that's a plus.

:beer:

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Welcome to the forum Yank. All lower range Cooper kits use ale varieties that prefer warmer temeratures. Ignore the recommended high fermentation ranges and keep lower at between 18 -21 degrees celcius - they will take longer to ferment (10 - 14 days) but I reckon they taste better. My "worst " tasting Coopers have been at the higher brewing temperatures at summer time when I can't get the temperatures down. I always add extra malt and hops to get more kick and bite. Best of luck

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Extra site for young punters. Go to homebrewandbeer.com (Oliver & Geoff's site) - I've noted a lot of members names appear in both forums. An excellent source of information for new K&K people. They have answers to a lot of questions on K&K in particular, especially yeasts and temperature.

 

[country2]

Thanks everyone for the advice and Fatgodzilla thanks for the link.