Not Using Brew Enhancer

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DarrenTheDrunk

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Hi, I used to brew about 30 years ago and from my memory of just using the tin and sugar, the beer taste good. Doe anyone have an opinion whether the Enhancer is worth nearly doubling the cost of the beer?.. Thanks Darren
 
Too answer your question ,Yes. It is better in kit brew over white sugar. If you like the taste of sugar, go with it.

Light Dry Malt Extract gives body and malt flavour. Brew enhancer in combination with LDME gives body and ups the Alc%.

This is a basic brew recipe...


Real Ale Pre-hopped Extract


1.7kg Coopers Real Ale extract can (or Muntons Bitter/Coopers Sparkling Ale etc)
1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer 2
500g Coopers Light Dry Malt

Add 3 litres (3 quarts) of hot (recently boiled) water to your fermenter.
Pour in and dissolve the can of extract, light dry malt and BE2.
Top up the fermenter with cold water to 21 litres (5.5 gallons).
Check temperature of wort and adjust with hot or cold water to get close to 20c/68F at 23 litres (6 gallons).
Mix in yeast when wort is 20c/68F.
Ferment at 18c-20c (64.5F-68F) for 10 to 14 days.
Bottle or keg as usual.



Hope that this helps.
 
It does make it bloody expensive compared to a simple kit & kilo, I never understood why. In my extract days I often found a FWK (Fresh Wort Kit) was more bang for buck in comparison, since it was pretty close to all-grain (or as close as I could get without making the jump)
 
TwoCrows said:
This is a basic brew recipe...
Real Ale Pre-hopped Extract
1.7kg Coopers Real Ale extract can (or Muntons Bitter/Coopers Sparkling Ale etc)
I was with you up until Muntons. A non stock yeast helps but I'll steer everyone away from Muntons given my personal experience. If you're returning to the brew table, why not treat yourself to a good kit to brew up and do an old fashioned one and see how they compare?

Just a thought. And don't get Munted.
Cheers.
 
Ha ha. Thankyou. I will do my best not to get "Munted".

Thankyou for your replies. If I may just ask one more question. I am using aquarium heaters in my brews (2 x 23 liter and 1 x 46 liter...thus far) and have a brew of coopers Draught and Coopers Pale ale. I am brewing them at 28 degrees. They started to ferment in about 1 hour and finished "bubbling" after about 70 hours. Is this ok? One batch I put down exactly 8 days ago and has been sitting with out bubbling for 5 days. Could I bottle it now or should I wait longer. Thanks again. I am new to forums and love this one for the depth of knowledge and willingness of others to share their wisdom.
 
... I should add, I just called Coopers and they confirmed that they are Halal certified so I will never drink their beer or buy another Coopers product. Any thoughts on another brand. cheers
 
DarrenTheDrunk said:
... I should add, I just called Coopers and they confirmed that they are Halal certified so I will never drink their beer or buy another Coopers product. Any thoughts on another brand. cheers
You see, here's the thing
Coopers malt extracts are halal certified, not their beers
Their extracts are automatically certified as they are not involved with animals in any way
The fees are faily small, and Coopers absorb the entire cost themselves
Just for reference, Woolworths charge Coopers 8 times what the Halal certification costs, just to be able to sell their product in Woolworths owned stores/business.
They have halal certification to be able to export malt extracts to Muslim majority countries as it's used in sweets and baking.
And funnily enough, this makes Coopers a GIGANTIC profit, all of which comes back into Australia as Coopers are an Australian family owned company.
Not to mention all their other charitable efforts, such as selling their spent grain to farmers and the profits from that entirely go to charity.
Coopers imho are probably the most noble company in Australia (their power generation is amazing too) who are playing the halal certification game and making it work for them, not turning away those potential profits.
VERY deserving of my dollars, infact they're the only big brewer that I'll support.

And in the event you're against all religion, not just them sneaky muslims (sarcasm intended), Best stop eating weetbix.
Sanitarium are owned by Seventh Day Adventists
 
Never used Muntons. The recipe I posted is just an example of an alterative to sugar and high temp brewing.

I buy my DME for about $9.00 a kilo. Some people don't want to go looking for a LHBS, so of the shelve coopers is easy.

If coopers is no good, do an extract only brew.
 
Also Coopers produce/own a large majority of all kits/malt extract in Australia and USA
You're going to have a hard time avoiding them
 
22 c is about the upper limit you want to ferment the majority of ales at, with 18c often considered ideal . Chunk those kit instructions away mate, 28 c won't do the flavour of your brew any favours .
 
Thanks for the reminder, just realized I still have a kilo of goat curry pieces in the freezer from last time I stocked up at the Halal butchers in Fortitude Valley.
I'll drag them out later when I grab hops for my ESB Wells Bombardier tribute.

+1 on the temperature, no need for heat belt most of the year, even in Geelong. Sub 20 degrees is ideal.
 
DarrenTheDrunk said:
they are Halal certified so I will never drink their beer or buy another Coopers product.
I have to ask this question directly: what've you got against Halal certified products?

(edit): fingers crossed for an answer that doesn't play true to Bribie G's signature..
 
DarrenTheDrunk said:
I am brewing them at 28 degrees.
I regret to inform you, the beer will taste like shit, be it Muntons, Coopers, or anything else for that matter (except saison yeasts).

It's summer, heat belts should be hanging on the shelf, you need to be cooling (one way or another)....
 
sp0rk said:
And in the event you're against all religion, not just them sneaky muslims (sarcasm intended), Best stop eating weetbix.
Sanitarium are owned by Seventh Day Adventists
Which was invented so we all stopped masturbating.
 
DarrenTheDrunk said:
... I should add, I just called Coopers and they confirmed that they are Halal certified so I will never drink their beer or buy another Coopers product. Any thoughts on another brand. cheers
Darren I believe there is a thread on this subject elsewhere. I also believe you need to read just a bit more about halal certification and the benefits it can bring to an Australian business. Do you avoid kosher food? Do you ensure that when you buy fuel for your car that the oil has been sourced responsibly avoiding funding terrorist groups? Do you avoid posting letters as the CEO of Auspost is a muslim? Where do you start and stop with this?
Curious as I don't understand.
 
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