New To Brewing

[scotty29]

HI all, im new to brewing and looking for a recipe thats cheap, easy and most of all: produces a potent beer. I bought a coopers micro brew kit and have made a few batches but they all are around .30-.35 percent. should i stick with the coopers kits but double my sugar content?- i have only been using a kilo of sugar and following the instuctions that come with they kits
Thanks alot

 

[JestersDarts]

HI all, im new to brewing and looking for a recipe thats cheap, easy and most of all: produces a potent beer. I bought a coopers micro brew kit and have made a few batches but they all are around .30-.35 percent. should i stick with the coopers kits but double my sugar content?- i have only been using a kilo of sugar and following the instuctions that come with they kits
Thanks alot

You're in for a surprise.

 

[Cube]

Big beers are a certain style and need certain yeasts to help chew through all that sugarZ. I don't brew big beers as I'm way over that by now and quite frankly a 9% lager is never right to me. If you are looking at something different but big in style I guess go:

2 x cans of goo -- maybe a coopers stout and dark together or a dark and a lager.....
1 kg light malt powder/extract
.5 kg sugarz
2 packets of yeast and stand back

That's about the best quick ( cheapest ) beer with high % that will taste ok in my opinion....after 3~4 months in the bottle for maturing.

I'm sure after half a dozen brews or so you will be brewing great beer after you realise making high % beers is a waste of money and plain stupid with just trying to make %%%% beers for the sake of it -- except if you are aiming for a particular style and have a proven/well thought out recipe, fermenting temp control etc

 

[cdbrown]

Why do you want it to be potent? Shouldn't a good drinking beer around 5% be enough?

Don't read the instructions that come with the coopers kits. Look at the recipes in the recipeDB. I've made a really simple brew which is 6.3% using can of coopers euro lager, can of coopers mexican cerveza, 0.5kg dextrose, 0.5kg light dried malt, 23L, US-05 yeast and then dry hopped with 10g amarillo, 10g cascade

 

[mrmatt]

scotty,
A kit n kilo they call that, should work out far higher then 0.30 % abv. I quick look in ianhs spreadsheet shows a regular kit plus 1kg of dextrose between 4-5%
A good can i think many ppl like is the Coopers Real Ale, actually anything cooper's, sparkling, pale...whichever you like, plus a packet of coopers Brew Enhancer 2 (this will turn out 4-5% as well).
Try and brew around 20C and you'll be on the money.


my 2c

 

[JestersDarts]

I really, really, like drinking beer, and somedays, I really, really, like drinking so much, that I don't want to be on my ear after the first 14 pints, Kinda want to hang around for the next few.

So on these days I like my milds.

I really like beer.

 

[zoidbergmerc]

I just made a pretty drinkable get you pissed beer.

It was 2 cans of coopers canadian blonde, 500g Dex and 500g DME and then a low carb enzyme to thin it out.

Also chuck in a sazz hop tea bag you've had in a mug of boiling water for about 10 mins.

that'll get you pished

 

[kbe]

I really, really, like drinking beer, and somedays, I really, really, like drinking so much, that I don't want to be on my ear after the first 14 pints, Kinda want to hang around for the next few.

So on these days I like my milds.

I really like beer.

I am with you Jester. I much rather a brew around 3.5 - 4% so I can drink more and wake up in the morning feeling sort of OK

 

[warra48]

I agree.
Brewing just for alcohol very quickly loses its attraction, quite apart from the usual difficulties of having the yeast co-operate and drop the FG low enough, alcohol esters (not really what I look for in a beer), etc, etc.
I brew quite a few Milds these days, and these give me about 3.5 to 3.6% ABV, with plenty of flavour, colour, and body.
After all, that's why I brew, to give me beers with an appealing appearance, good aroma, and attractive flavour and mouthfeel. What more do you want?

 

[manticle]

they all are around .30-.35 percent. Thanks alot

??? Is this a typo? 0.35 % might happen if you forget to add yeast.

There are ways of making stronger beer. If you're interested in making stronger beer that actually tastes nice then you need a bit of judgement and skill but it can be done. You can make beers up into wine territory if you want but it's better to know what you're doing rather than try and make rocket fuel. What abv and what kind of beer are you interested in brewing?

If you're purely interested in making rocket fuel then just dump 2 or more kg of white sugar in your next brew and hope for the best.

 

[JestersDarts]

If you want to brew just to get pissed on the cheap- why not aim for a beer that tastes good first?

Then at leat you can down it. You can also drink lots of it if you want. Thats right! you can drink it all up. it's yours!

Thats what I prefer. If it tastes good - its gonna be easier to drink, right? and you would want to drink more of it, over the rocket fuel.

If you need too , up the alcohol once you got a nice tasting beer.