What to Add to a New Kit ?

[Abbot-67]

Hi all,

I'm a newbie looking to buy my first kit to satisfy the taste buds of an old Rea Ale / IPA drinker.

These questions may have been ask many time before so I apologise in advance.

The only options Coopers have are the Lager (23L) Kit and the Craft Beer Kit (8.5L). Not being much of a lager drinker I was wondering if there is anything I can incorporate to the Lager kit recipe to make it closer to an IPA, Pale Ale or English Bitter.

Also, this may be obvious but was just wondering is it ok to brew smaller amounts such as 8.5L recipes in the 23L FV ?

Looking forward to getting a brew on.

Many thanks.

 

 

 

[Abbot-67]

Also meant to ask

3) I live in FNR Queensland, Cairns area (not the coolest of climates), am I wasting my time trying to brew beer using one of the kits, can it be done without cooling equipment ?

 

[PaddyBrew2]

any Beer or ale can be fermented in the 23 litre. You should go for that. 

Starting off go for the coopers 1.7kg extract of your choice and add a kilo of dry malt extract and see how you  go

then you can evolve to maybe a grain steep and some hop additions to enhance 

whats the current temps in FNQ ? You need to have your temp ideally between 18-21 for a good beer at the end. Anything over that and the yeast can throw some funky esters and flavours

If you want good quality beer , temp controlling is a must 

Edited July 6, 2019 by PaddyBrew2

[Abbot-67]

10 minutes ago, PaddyBrew2 said:

any Beer or ale can be fermented in the 23 litre. You should go for that. 

Starting off go for the coopers 1.7kg extract of your choice and add a kilo of dry malt extract and see how you  go

then you can evolve to maybe a grain steep and some hop additions to enhance 

whats the current temps in FNQ ? You need to have your temp ideally between 18-21 for a good beer at the end. Anything over that and the yeast can throw some funky esters and flavours

If you want good quality beer , temp controlling is a must 

Thanks, 

So give the Lager Beer Concentrate a miss or add other extracts to it ?

The indoor temperature is presently 25C, I'm thinking I will probably need to get an old fridge or cooler set up running to keep temperatures down when it starts to get warm again.

[PaddyBrew2]

You like the real ale so go for that and some dry malt extract

the draught that comes with the kit, on its own won’t taste like much. You can enhance the kits with grains and hops but first time I would suggest the above 

[Abbot-67]

Thanks for the advice . 

 

 

 

[Norris!]

Totally agree with with Paddybrew. Try the real ale kit and if you don't like it or if it is underwhelming, then you have a baseline to work from.

As for the lager kit, if you are able, and do not have fermentation control, you could just use some hops and specialty grains to make it a IPA and switch out the yeast to an ale yeast. Many people use that kit for a base.  It is fairly bitter so you could just steep some hops for 15 minutes or do a boil, with 5l of water and 450-500g of dry malt, from 15 minutes and down with some hops.

For whatever brew you do try to keep the temperature below 24c degrees, 18c I find is pretty good and neutral temp for most ale yeast. Higher temps can bring undesirable flavours to the beer. A wet shirt/towel and a sink/bucket keeps the temp pretty close to ideal. You could use frozen bottles to help keep the temp down.

Good luck

Norris

[Abbot-67]

1 hour ago, Norris! said:

Totally agree with with Paddybrew. Try the real ale kit and if you don't like it or if it is underwhelming, then you have a baseline to work from.

As for the lager kit, if you are able, and do not have fermentation control, you could just use some hops and specialty grains to make it a IPA and switch out the yeast to an ale yeast. Many people use that kit for a base.  It is fairly bitter so you could just steep some hops for 15 minutes or do a boil, with 5l of water and 450-500g of dry malt, from 15 minutes and down with some hops.

For whatever brew you do try to keep the temperature below 24c degrees, 18c I find is pretty good and neutral temp for most ale yeast. Higher temps can bring undesirable flavours to the beer. A wet shirt/towel and a sink/bucket keeps the temp pretty close to ideal. You could use frozen bottles to help keep the temp down.

Good luck

Norris

Thanks, that's great. 

I have bought the kit along with the English Bitter and Light Dry Malt. 

 

[Lab Cat]

Check out the page that shows the extracts available - lots of options including an IPA. Give the 23l DIY kit a go, it's easy and with a little experience, you can make some great beers.

https://www.diybeer.com/au/brewing-extracts.html

To brew a lager, you'll need temperature control, as the yeasts need to work around 12C. Just to confuse, Coopers put an ale yeast in that kit, brewed at ale temps, and it makes a really bland lager IMO. But the lager kit is used as a base for a number of other beers. Have a read of the recipe page.

Ales will work will work at ambient temperatures. I brewed my first 10 or so in the laundry at avg of 24C. Less is better, but i didn't mind the esters and flavours warmer brewing produced.

Edited July 6, 2019 by Lab Rat

[Otto Von Blotto]

18 hours ago, Norris! said:

Totally agree with with Paddybrew. Try the real ale kit and if you don't like it or if it is underwhelming, then you have a baseline to work from.

As for the lager kit, if you are able, and do not have fermentation control, you could just use some hops and specialty grains to make it a IPA and switch out the yeast to an ale yeast. Many people use that kit for a base.  It is fairly bitter so you could just steep some hops for 15 minutes or do a boil, with 5l of water and 450-500g of dry malt, from 15 minutes and down with some hops.

For whatever brew you do try to keep the temperature below 24c degrees, 18c I find is pretty good and neutral temp for most ale yeast. Higher temps can bring undesirable flavours to the beer. A wet shirt/towel and a sink/bucket keeps the temp pretty close to ideal. You could use frozen bottles to help keep the temp down.

Good luck

Norris

It already comes with an ale yeast. If making an IPA though I would suggest getting extra ale yeast, like a pack of US-05 or something.

[Norris!]

I was unsure which lager kit he had picked up. The original series comes with ale yeast while the other kit versions have lager yeast. I probably should've asked to clarify.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I figured the original series one given old mate is a newbie buying his first kit. 

[Abbot-67]

I'm not sure which kit,  just states 

1 x 1.7kg Coopers Lager Brewing Extract

https://www.diybeer.com/au/coopers-diy-beer-brew-kit.html

No mention of yeast.

Still yet to pick it up. 

[MitchellScott]

4 minutes ago, Abbot-67 said:

I'm not sure which kit,  just states 

1 x 1.7kg Coopers Lager Brewing Extract

https://www.diybeer.com/au/coopers-diy-beer-brew-kit.html

No mention of yeast.

Still yet to pick it up. 

That will be an ale yeast.

Coopers include that in this brew as majority of people don't have temp control and ale yeast is much more suited to ambient temps (ideally around 18-21C).

Lager yeasts are generally around 12C so much colder.

[Abbot-67]

Thanks Guys, 

Great information and advice.  

I should be able to maintain 23C or just under. As the day ambient is around 25C, and with night falling to around 16C. I'll  keeping it in the Laundry which is exposed and of course not heated so I'm hoping the average temperature of around 21C should be OK.

Going to put a large bucket of water in there for a few days to see what it maintains, then judge it from there.

The pool which is in the sun all day is averaging about 22.5C.

How much heat will brewing produce ?

[MitchellScott]

13 minutes ago, Abbot-67 said:

Thanks Guys, 

Great information and advice.  

I should be able to maintain 23C or just under. As the day ambient is around 25C, and with night falling to around 16C. I'll  keeping it in the Laundry which is exposed and of course not heated so I'm hoping the average temperature of around 21C should be OK.

Going to put a large bucket of water in there for a few days to see what it maintains, then judge it from there.

The pool which is in the sun all day is averaging about 22.5C.

How much heat will brewing produce ?

Usually about 1C of heat is produced during fermentation. This may go a little higher but shouldn't surpase 2C.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'd think it'd be more around 2-3 degrees during the most active phase. 

It won't really produce any heat during the first 18 hours or so after pitching it, then the fermentation gets going and the heat increases, and naturally it dies down again as fermentation slows and stops. During this end phase it's ideal to prevent the temp dropping too much. 

[Abbot-67]

I've picked up the 23L brew kit along with a can of the English Bitter brew extract and two packets of light dry malt.

FYI,  with reference to comments mentioned above the bar code of the yeast is the same in the Lager extract kit as the English Bitter brew extract.

I Just need to get some sterilising solution and I'm good to go . 

The 10L bucket temperature started at 22C at 22:00 last night, was 21.5C at 06:00 this morning and reached 25C at 17:00. So looks like I may need to get the FV in the sink with water and Ice bottles. 

Edited July 8, 2019 by Abbot-67

[Abbot-67]

I've just been looking for a recipe for my first brew, using the English Bitter extract and found this one 

 

Extra Smooth Bitter

• 1 × English Bitter (1.7kg)
• 1 × Coopers Brew Enhancer 1 (1kg)
• 1 × Coopers Carbonation Drops (250g)
• 1 × 200g Molasses
• Ferment temperature should be in the range 21C - 27C

Ideal for me and uses the BE1, even found some Molasses in the fridge that needs using up..

May also through in 500g of Light Dry Malt