Suggestions

[seanokil]

Hi all
Im relatively new to brewing,
Just bought a thomas coopers draught, from my local in boronia.
I was wondering what i can do to enhance the flavour. Hops , etc
Should i use the supplied yeast of ditch it and get something better?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Seano

 

[kocken42]

Hey Seano,

Your kit beers can be improved or well made in a variety of ways. A good brand name yeast is a start. Depending on the type of beer you want to make!

With Thomas Coopers draught, you could buy some light liquid malt extract (1.5kgs) or a 1kg bag of light dry malt extract, do a boil with chinook and cascade hops and you should get something vaguely similar to Little Creatures Pale Ale. Ferment with Safale US-05 yeast (the red packet) at around 18 C. If you are not sure how to do a boil and use hops effectively, just have a search on this forum or Google how to add hops to your beer.

Other than that, make sure your ferment temps are STEADY and keep it around 18 C to 20 C for most ales and around 10 C for lagers.

Always remember about sanitation!

You want to get the basics down before experimenting too much, but temperature control and yeast are a great place to start!

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

 

[Silo Ted]

What Pony said: Temperature control will make or break a beer. You can even get away with a drinkable ale using the supplied yeast - the bad rep is often due to it being stale, or fermenting too high.

Ignore the instructions on the can. Seriously, unless they have changed it since I last saw a can (admittedly many years ago), the information is wrong. ESPECIALLY about temperature.

Avoid adding one kg of sugar, sub most of it with light dry malt extract.

Remember that your can is already bitterered. Until you find your feet, stick to dry hopping, or even boiling some pellets for five minutes in a small pot of pre-fermented beer (wort).

Later on you can also steep a few handfuls of crystal malt (malted, kilned & slightly crushed ) barley grains.

And you get into it with enough passion, you'll eventually throw your can opener away - but that's something for down the track. :icon_cheers:

And most of all, ENJOY THE PROCESS !

 

[Salt]

+1 to the above advice for sure...

Im still doing Kits and Bits and Extract brews...

Anything along the lines of the following should knock out a decent drop. Wont cost ya too much but should trick up the kit.

Kit TC Draught
1KG of Light Dry Malt Extract
US-05 yeast @ 18deg
plus Hop combination.

- I do a 5Lt boil with 500g of DME for my hop additions. Perhaps stick to one hop if its your first go. I dont know how hoppy you like beers but you could try Amarillo or Cascade.
- Boil the DME for 30mins. 15g @ 30min, 15g @ 10min and 15g @ 5min. Add remainder of DME at flame out.
- Cool the pot in a sink of cold water/ice. Add to fermenter with Kit and top up to 23Lts.
- Pitch yeast as close as you can to 18deg.

 

[mrkitewhitey]

Hi all
Im relatively new to brewing,
Just bought a thomas coopers draught, from my local in boronia.
I was wondering what i can do to enhance the flavour. Hops , etc
Should i use the supplied yeast of ditch it and get something better?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Seano

Hi Sean,

I'm in a similar boat to you, ( only brewing 6 months or so) but I thought I'd share a success I had recently with the TC draught.

TC draught + Kit Yeast (I used US05 but the TC range yeasts are pretty good too)
BE2
500g Light Dry Malt
20g Cascade Pellets (I've used Teabags before but if you just buy the pellets and the little bags, making your own is easy and MUCH better flavour)

I just put it together as per normal, the only difference is that I dry Hopped with the (homemade) teabag after 7 days, (just chucked it in the fermenter quickly)and let it go for another 7 days before bottling.

OBVIOUSLY as expected, sanitation is paramount..... otherwise it is just a big fat waste of time.....

This beer was FANTASTIC... and with just that little bit of tweaking with the hops and the extra LDM, the result was a great mouthfeel as well as a nice aromatic hop hit... VERY nice!! All gone too By the way.....

Hope this helps..

 

[prosk8ta]

Hey Sean im at the same level as you mate im having fun trying out new additions/hops iv found its hard to make a bad beer as long as you sanitize and ferment at right temps:

Heres an example you could have a play around with

1 can of goo ( i stick with coopers)
300g Dextrose
750g Light Dry Malt
You can use kit yeast but i prefer buying brand name
Fill to 22 litres
Dry hop with 20g with your hop of choice to start or do a boil if you feel comfortable

should give you an OG of about 1045 and FG of 1011

ABV 4.6% for kegs and 5.1% if you bottle

Get into it!