Coopers Heritage lager, ferment temps

[Sponge]

Hello,

Just joined the site today and this is my second post (first post in the guestbook section).

I made up a Coopers Heritage Lager kit yesterday using 1.5kg can of light malt extract. I'm a bit confused about what temperature I should be trying to keep it at. The instructions that came with the kit suggest keeping it between 21-27 degrees C but on the Coopers website it says start at 20 degrees then let it drop to as low as 13 degrees.

I went with the website instructions and it is now at 18 degrees. The thing is it doesn't seem to have done anything over night. Is there anyway to tell if the yeast has worked or should I just leave it and see what happens over time?

Thanks for taking the time to read and any advice would be most welcome.

Cheers

Sponge

[Monkeybrew]

Hi matey and welcome to Jim's

I've brewed the Heritage lager with a little Saaz hop addition and it was a good drink.

The yeast that comes with the Heritage is a mix of ale and lager yeast, so 18C is probably a fairly happy medium for your brew and should produce a nice steady fermentation.

Most lager kits come with 100% ale yeast to make life easier for the home brewer to brew at say 20C.

The down side to this is that you may not get the crispest tasting true lager flavour but that's not to say it won't be nice.

If you can brew at a steady 18C, you will end up with a nice drink.
You may just find that it will take 24-48 to see a more vigorous fermentation start and also that fermentation may take a little longer, but that's no bad thing.

Keep us informed of how it progresses.

MB

[Sponge]

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply, its put my mind at rest that the temperatures are ok, I've never made a brew that needs to be at a lower temperature so I was a bit wary as to how it might turn out. I'll definatelyt let you know how it turns out.

Thanks

Sponge

[cellone]

Good choice, one of the best warmbrew lager kits imho. Decent flavour with only a tiny hint of not quite there for a lager.

Thank's for reminding me of this kit. I think I'll do it with some lager yeast for a lazy brew.

[Sponge]

Thanks for the replies.

Monkeybrew you were spot on about waiting 24-48 hours, got a nice wee layer of foam in the FV now which suggests fermantation has started. Cant wait to get this bottled and tatsed although I know thats a long way off yet.

Cheers

Sponge