Coopers Australian Lager - Fantastic

[twm]

Just bottled coopers Australian lager.

Kit was made up to 36ltrs using 1kg of muntons beer enhancer and the supplied yeast.

OG was 1036 and FG was 1000 (hope I read that hydrometer correctly cause I don’t think that’s what it said in the instructions).

Initial fermentation was vigorous and has been sitting for a total of 6 days in the fv.

I have just racked to various bottles and primed with light brown sugar at 1tsp / 500ml.

For quality control purposes I had to have a sip and I would say that this is really drinkable now, so I cant wait for a week or two to mature and get some fizz in her.
Will definitely order another one to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.

Taste wise it’s a cross between a lager and an ale but it’s a good attempt. Once its matured I’m hoping it will become a bit more crisp to please the other lager drinkers in the family. If not, I can make short work of it myself.

Only problem I can see is that its quite cloudy at the moment – would adding some finings in a secondary fermenter help this in future brews?

For budding beginners or lager drinkers I reckon this is a good kit to have a go at.

Can the more experienced post on recommendations for getting the best out of it i.e. yeast or sugar mods etc…. as I reckon theres more to get out of it.

Equipment wise I would advise getting a tap and bottling stick fitted to fv and a bottling tree for drying as I made a right mess cleaning and filling, other wise plastic fv and tubing is fine.

Cheers

[subzero]

Hey i found this a quality lager but i meshed up during the fermenting so shall be puting another brew on from this soon...

But drinking it atm and loveing it. ^_^...

As for clearing just leave it a while. ^_^

[nicktherockstar]

cloudyness wise... this will/should vanish with maturation. give it a good 3-4 weeks before stressing. 6-8 weeks and it will be at its best

as for the FG being 1000, thats water... I am guessing that might of been a miss read!!! well I hope so!

One thing to note, true lagers should be brewed at 11-15c, I have done this myself (I have a batch maturing right now) and the difference is noticeable even before bottling. basically colder conditions with lager yeast give a crisp taste, wamer (16-24c) tend to give a fruity taste. it should be noted to double the yeast up though for cold conditions, 22ish grams (2x saflager sahets) for 40 pints.

when it comes to finings, I was informed by Daab, so its as good as gospel, that it makes the sediment too 'loose' so it solidify as it does at the bottom of the bottle and you risk pouring it out. with a barrel, you can get away with this because of the tap/float

[chopperswookie]

i bottled up my geordie today and in my experience the lagers i have done have always been cloudy once bottled. trust me after a week or so it will clear to about just over half the bottle, if you know what i mean. i've done lagers in the past and only ever drank them when they have fully cleared which is about the 4-5 week. don't forget lager comes from the german word to ~"perserve" so if your will power can stand it leave for as long as possible.

[mr lil]

Excellent!! I find it hard to be patient also, but as my kegs in the past have gone down, I've noticed the bubbles become smaller and the whole thing has a more professional taste IMO.
I've just made up the Coopers Draught and its fermenting mentally as we speak....looks like the lids going to pop on the FV any minute!!!
I was going to say as Nick did that finings make a sludgy sediment at the bottom...its worth waiting for it to clear.
All the best
Paul

[Fatgodzilla]

Good to see you Poms enjoying our products. Two things big about Coopers here down under is
1. They can overfoam - be prepared for excessive foaming coming out of the airlock. Doesn't happen all the time, but had more than a few to be coincidences. Leave anough headroom in your fermenters and think about chucking away the airlocks for a better system (look them up !!)
2. Coopers are always cloudy on bottling. They'll settle and clear quickly so wouldn't worry about finings and the like. Commercial Coopers here such as Coopers Sparkling Ale and Pale Ale are bottle conditioned so come out cloudy if not stored and poured correctly.
drink on little poms and when you can find a few good cricketers, send em over and we'll give you a game !!