Coopers Aussie Lager

[50CAL]

Hi people,

I have been reading this forum for a while and had a go at the coopers aussie lager. The OG was 1041 and everything so far has gone to plan nice foamy head untill day 3 then its died down and the gravity reading have slowley been dropping day by day. I keep having a taste of the samples and to be honest they where not tasting the best but just done a sample this morining (day 5) and its tasting great just like normal lager the gravity reading is 1007 but my coopers kit has no airlock so cant tell other then the readings if its finished or not.

With this being my first kit I have not been to optomistic on how its going to turn out my girlfriends dad did quite a lot of homebrewing a good few years back and he said "Lagers are a waste of time never turn out any good" But im sure this batch is going to prove him wrong unless something goes wrong with the bottling prosess. The only slight issue is this yeast question I have, I have read that you should leave the brew in the FV a few days after its finished to let the yeast clean up after itself but others bottle it soon as so which is right? and do you think it will get any lower then 1007?

[Stomach]

Hi 50cal and welcome to Jims!

I am doing the very same brew at the moment. I did it with 1KG of beer enhancer. What fermentables did you mix with it?

I think in the old dark days, homebrew and espcially lager was considered pi55, but these days its taken on a whole new quality! And can be as good if not better than pub stuff!

I took a reading of mine last night and it was 1008, so its getting there. take readings over the next few days and when its the same over 3 days, then you can bottle it and prime it. I am not sure of the priming rate for lager but its considerably higher than it is for ale. I think its 150g to 200g of sugar, but that needs comfirming.

Look at the bottling sticky thread at the top of the kit menu page, invaluble advice!

Cheers

[50CAL]

I used the beer enhancer 1kg and added 250g of brewing sugar and just the yeast that came with the tin. was going to bottle it with the carbonation drops. To be honest tho its a lot better then what i expected it to be like i thought it would have some nasty cheap taste to it but its not got that so far just a bit flat but thats to be expected. The hard part is going to be not drinking it too early!

The head in the FV has almost gone now just a very thin gathering of bubbles with some clear patches.

[Paddy Bubbles]

From experience, the Coopers lager made with BKE will take 8-12 weeks to condition into anything drinkable.

Get on your next brew! Try a Coopers English bitter, made to recipe with 500g malt, for a very fast-conditioning beer.

[Stomach]

From experience, the Coopers lager made with BKE will take 8-12 weeks to condition into anything drinkable.

Get on your next brew! Try a Coopers English bitter, made to recipe with 500g malt, for a very fast-conditioning beer.

Hi Paddy B

did you store them away for 8 - 12 weeks? Thats just as the summer dissapears!!! haha!

[Monkeybrew]

Hi 50CAL and welcome to Jims

Let me start by congratulating you on your first choice of kit, I have brewed the Aussie lager with 500g light spraymalt and 500g of brewing sugar.

It cleared in the bottle after 1 week and was drinklable after 2 weeks. It just gets better week by week, so try not to drink it all too early

I primed mine as Coopers instructions at 8g per litre, so that's 184g in total for the whole 23 litres.

As Stomach says, read the how to bottle 'sticky' at the top of this forum, get yourself a second FV and fit a little bottler to it.

Defo get something else going once you've bottled the lager, its all about rolling stock!

[Stomach]

It cleared in the bottle after 1 week and was drinklable after 2 weeks. It just gets better week by week, so try not to drink it all too early

Thats just the crux of it though isnt it?

[50CAL]

Thanks for the replys guys!

Im working on getting some more bottles never had a beer from a plastic bottle so cant really judge yet but there is a pop van that sells bottled soft drinks the old style stuff with sasperella and the likes and on the side of his van it says "Class in glass..Drastic in plastic" dont know if this is true or just his sales pitch. anyways been round to almost all the pups round here and getting hold of them grolsh swing top bottles is near impossible not one pub sell them! but I have asked them to save the newky brown bottles for me so next batch will be going in them once I have enough.
For my next batch I was thinking about the mexicain cavacza as im a fan of the corana type beers. Dont really like bitter that much or most ales but do like Newcastle brown ale and love guinness but being my first few brews want to play it safe till i get a bit more confident at doing this.

[Paddy Bubbles]

From experience, the Coopers lager made with BKE will take 8-12 weeks to condition into anything drinkable.

Get on your next brew! Try a Coopers English bitter, made to recipe with 500g malt, for a very fast-conditioning beer.

Hi Paddy B

did you store them away for 8 - 12 weeks? Thats just as the summer dissapears!!! haha!

I know

They only started getting what I would consider drinkable after about 8 weeks. To be honest, I'm not sure I'd do this kit again. There's better Coopers kits out there. Pale Ale all the way for me!

[Paddy Bubbles]

Im working on getting some more bottles never had a beer from a plastic bottle so cant really judge yet but there is a pop van that sells bottled soft drinks the old style stuff with sasperella and the likes and on the side of his van it says "Class in glass..Drastic in plastic" dont know if this is true or just his sales pitch.

I use a lot of the Coopers PET bottles, they work fine. In my opinion though, they don't make bottling any easier. It's just as easy to use glass and crown caps. There is something nice about cold glass bottles though. I can't quite put my finger on it.

Above all, when the beer's in the glass, you won't be able to tell whether it's come out of a glass of a plastic bottle.

I have asked them to save the newky brown bottles for me so next batch will be going in them once I have enough.
For my next batch I was thinking about the mexicain cavacza as im a fan of the corana type beers. Dont really like bitter that much or most ales but do like Newcastle brown ale and love guinness but being my first few brews want to play it safe till i get a bit more confident at doing this.

Make sure you keep those clear NBA bottles out of the light, or you might end up skunking your beer!

Can't recommend the Coopers APA kit enough - follow the recipe in my signature.

[50CAL]

Well its been in the bottle now for only 3 days and already its starting to clear room temp is about 22-24 im right in thinkin leave it for a week in this room then move it to the fridge for further conditioning? I have sorted out a fridge in the garage used to use it for my fishing but dont really use it that much so cleaned it out and it can be the beer fridge from now on.

[big brew ejit]

Hi 50
My 1st lager kit was an aussie and it tastses dood after 8 weeks but most of itwas drunk before 4 weeks conditioned this was due to me suffering from Home Brew Syndrome aka impatience.
I did it with 500gm BS and 500g LSM but didnt have the spray malt dissolved properly which might explain the lack of head other than that i am more than happy with the drink and will make a good session beer as soon as i get some patience.

Paddy B,


They only started getting what I would consider drinkable after about 8 weeks. To be honest, I'm not sure I'd do this kit again. There's better Coopers kits out there. Pale Ale all the way for me! [/quote]

What does the Pale Ale tasye like as that is my next kit to do

Cheers folks

bbe

[Paddy Bubbles]

What does it taste like? Hmm, lagerish, but some fruity ale character. I'd recommend dry-hopping with some Cascade/Amarillo. It's dead easy and will improve your beers no end.

[big brew ejit]

How do you dry hop as I have just started kits ans would like to experiment, is it just a case of putting hops in some muslin and dropping in?

[Paddy Bubbles]

Sanitise your muslin bag by dropping it in boiling water 10 minutes. Fill with 1-2oz dry hop flowers and leave for a few days. A week should do it. Pellet hops can be a little more problematic for dry hopping than whole hops. You will need to weigh down the hop to get a decent effect. Some people use sanitised marbles. I weigh the bag down with a sanitised paddle and pop the lid - it keeps the hops at the bottom of the FV.