Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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Grumpy Hobbit
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by Grumpy Hobbit » Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:17 pm
Hi all
First post so be gentle
.
Going to brew a Coopers European Lager tomorrow and have a quick question.
Is it best to use:
1, 50/50% Light spray malt- Brewing sugar.
2 75/25% Light spray malt- Brewing sugar.
3 100% Light spray malt.
Would it be worth swapping the yeast that was with the kit for say SAFALE US 05 or just leave the kit yeast ?
I lived in Germany for many years and would like something like the German style beer.
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Damfoose
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by Damfoose » Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:05 pm
Thats funny I have just put this one on to brew, Welcome to the forum have a good time lots of great info is in here.
Used 200gram glucose 450gram light spray malt and 450 gram dark spray malt. Also using the kit supplied yeast , I will be tripple bagging this and bunging it in the garage as it is cooler out their. will leave it for 2 weeks before I go near it.
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BlackBag
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by BlackBag » Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:12 pm
Hallow Grumpy Hobbit and welcome to the fold.
I'd agree with Damfoose, you should be ok with the supplied yeast. Coopers supplied yeast is supposed to be quite good, although if you were going to change it a SafLager might be good. As to the addition of DME, well that's up for debate. Normally I'd say 50/50 with light DME, but, and I could be wrong here, there's a train of thought that with lagers you're better of sticking to 100% brewers sugar.
Hopefully someone eminently more knowledgeable on lagers than me should be able to clue us all in on this.
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Damfoose
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by Damfoose » Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:16 pm
The kit instructions recoment not using pure brewing sugar as the brew will loose all its body, Coopers do recomend using a light spraymalt 1kg, Reason I used a light a dark and the sugar was I picked up 2 diffrent bags when I was shoping with out realising until I went to put the brew on
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Grumpy Hobbit
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by Grumpy Hobbit » Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:50 pm
Well it's in the FV. It looks a bit slow at the moment after about 20 hours.
I have bubbles in the airlock but not many, it's at 15c as suggested by Coopers. Maybe it's just me expecting more because my last Coopers Australian lager fermented quite vigorously over the first 24 hours, but that was at 20c.
I went with the kit yeast and 50/50 light spray malt and brewers sugar, because that's what i had left after the last batch. Now i will just have to wait and see how it turns out.
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maxashton
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by maxashton » Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:52 pm
The coopers kit suggested 15 degrees C?
That is a bit cool for an ale yeast, i suppose it's possible they've included a proper lager yeast. If so, don't worry about it, it will get going sooner or later.
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Grumpy Hobbit
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by Grumpy Hobbit » Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:59 pm
It does say in the info with the kit that they supply a true Lager yeast with the kit, that's why it can take longer to ferment and also a reason not to use just sugar.
I will wait and see how it turns out. I hope it's as good or even better than the Australian Lager.
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Damfoose
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by Damfoose » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:00 pm
Kit comes with a diffrent yeats Max not an ale yeast this stuff will go down to 13C happily. Mine is out in the garage at about 14 - 18 ish.
Quote from the destructions.
coopers bavarian lager contains yeast that behaves diffrently to the normal coopers yeast.The brewer should note the following , using 1Kg plain white sugar / brewers sugar will result in a brew lacking body.
Prefered brewing temp is at the lower end of the recomended range (i.e 21C) The yeast can ferment at a lower temprature but will extend the brew length.
Thats generally it in a nut shell.
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maxashton
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by maxashton » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:09 pm
Cool that they ship with a proper lager yeast. I hope you're keeping it nice and steady. Are you going to be able to cold lager the beer before you serve it?
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Damfoose
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by Damfoose » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:11 pm
maxashton wrote:Cool that they ship with a proper lager yeast. I hope you're keeping it nice and steady. Are you going to be able to cold lager the beer before you serve it?
Me unfortunatley no I dont have a fridge for it so the garage is the best it will get but with the cooler weather were getting im hoping it wont be to far off.
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maxashton
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by maxashton » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:13 pm
Ideally you want as close to freezing as you can get without actually freezing.
Lager yeast itself can remain active as low as 9c for the stains we get commonly.
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Grumpy Hobbit
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by Grumpy Hobbit » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:44 pm
Mine will stay at about 15c, then be bottled then into a fridge at 3c for as long as possible or until needed. I hope to be able to keep my hands off it for a while.
I do have the Australian Lager to get through first so i should be able to lager it in the fridge for a good few weeks.
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Grumpy Hobbit
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by Grumpy Hobbit » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:52 pm
Mine will stay at about 15c, then be bottled then into a fridge at 3c for as long as possible or until needed. I hope to be able to keep my hands off it for a while.
I do have the Australian Lager to get through first so i should be able to lager it in the fridge for a good few weeks.
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maxashton
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by maxashton » Mon Sep 15, 2008 4:07 pm
Good work, Hobbit. Don't imagine it will be as good as the Gaffer's though.
