Draught Kit

[bigrmac]

Well after a 2 year break I'm back. With being off work due to the current world climate i thought it would be a great time to pick up the hobby again.

I am using the Coppers draught kit as the base and have 1kg of LSDM to go with it.

I have found that my previous brews have been on the weak side so will likely add 500g of extra fermentable, any suggestions on what to add?

For this brew I will be using the supplied yeast, which I am guessing will be an ale yeast, how tolerant of lower temperatures is this yeast? I have a fridge and heater mat with a temp. controller so I have the ability to control the fermentation temp. fairly accurately.

 

I have always found this forum to be a great place for info with a fantastic bunch of people, and I am looking forward to hearing some suggestions.

 

TIA

 

[Beerlust]

Hi Bigrmac, & welcome back to the fray.

I am assuming you plan to brew to 23 litres... 

If so, if it were me I'd ferment @ 20°C, & add 250gms of light dry malt extract. That'll give you a bottled beer around 4.7%. You might get away with adding the full 500gms of extra fermentables, but you will be asking a lot of the kit tin yeast (7gms) to ferment through that extra amount, & you could run into a stall based issue if you do, & possibly some off flavours/aromas by causing the yeast to work too hard.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to put down.

Just my 20 cents,

Lusty.

[Journeyman]

If you want a strong beer, 1.5 kg of LDME will give you about a 6% brew. Depending on what you like, you could add .5 kg of a sugar instead of the extra LDME - the extract will give a beer with more body to it rather than emulating a commercial draught beer.

Re: the yeast issue - you can increase the amount of yeast by doing a starter - basically a mini brew designed to increase the yeast count rather than make alcohol. There's a thread from @Otto Von Blotto here... 

 

[bigrmac]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for the replys;

Yes, 23 litre FV, its the standard kit from coopers, some how managed to lose the hydrometer, which I am having fun trying to replace at the min! lol

I am planning to pitch 2 packs of yeast so 14g total, i must admit I didn't consider the possibility of a stalled brew so cheers for the heads-up on that. Yeast starters isn't something I have done before, and i'm not quite there yet but certainly something I will look at in the future.

@Beerlust when you say 'add 250g of LDME' is that on top of the 1kg I will already be using? From what you have said I will probably look at more like 750g LDME 500g Sugar, 4.7% would be a good strength for me.

 

 

[Beerlust]

 

14 minutes ago, bigrmac said:

@Beerlust when you say 'add 250g of LDME' is that on top of the 1kg I will already be using? From what you have said I will probably look at more like 750g LDME 500g Sugar, 4.7% would be a good strength for me.

My 250gm addition is advised if using only one kit yeast on top of the 1kg of fermentables + the Draught kit 1.7kg you initially mentioned. If you add the full 500gms of extra fermentables to this it would be advisable to pitch the 2 x 7gm kit yeasts. Using 500gms will produce a bottled beer around 5.1% ABV at that 23 litre brewing volume.

Cheers,

Lusty.

[bigrmac]

@Beerlust Thank you for the tips, very much appreciated 

 

Just awaiting game as to when the ingredients will turn up now.

[bigrmac]

My ingredients finally turned up today (yay) however its the Lager kit not the Draught kit I thought . Not sure if this is my mistake or theirs as I can't find the order now. Oh well

First job tomorrow will be to sanitise all the kit as it hasnt been used in 2 years! it was put away clean so shouldn't be too bad

Second: decided on what malt/sugar to add. Bought 1kg of light spray malt extract with the kit, and I have 500g of sugar that I could use as well. As mentioned before I have found my previous cooper brew a little on the weak side, ideally I would like some thing between 4.5% - 5%. That in mid what O.G should I be looking for?

So hopefully I will get my ingredients mix and will be pitching my yeast at 22^o  and fermenting in my temp controlled fridge at 20^o

I do have 2 packs of coopers yeast, is there any downside to pitching both?

[Journeyman]

6 hours ago, bigrmac said:

Second: decided on what malt/sugar to add. Bought 1kg of light spray malt extract with the kit, and I have 500g of sugar that I could use as well. As mentioned before I have found my previous cooper brew a little on the weak side, ideally I would like some thing between 4.5% - 5%. That in mid what O.G should I be looking for?

I do have 2 packs of coopers yeast, is there any downside to pitching both?

According to the spreadsheet, the kit, 1 kg LDME and 500 g sugar will give you 5% ABV in the bottle. Then what you do with hops etc is up to you nut that should be a quite drinkable brew.

Coopers packs are 7g which is enough for K&K brews but with the extra sugar, maybe add the extra pack to be sure of a good ferment.

 

[bigrmac]

Cheers,

Looks like today will be the day 

[Goldcoast Crow]

I am doing a 1.7kg lager as a toucan in the craft kit, will this change the alcohol levels or just the consistency and flavour?

[Titan]

On 4/8/2020 at 11:15 AM, Journeyman said:

Coopers packs are 7g which is enough for K&K brews but with the extra sugar, maybe add the extra pack to be sure of a good ferment.

Yep you will need more yeast. As JM says go over the recomended KK with additional fermentables then you will need more yeast. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

29 minutes ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

I am doing a 1.7kg lager as a toucan in the craft kit, will this change the alcohol levels or just the consistency and flavour?

Probably all three.  The 1.7kg Lager kit into 10L in the craft kit, with no other additives, expect an ABV around 6%.  Bitterness around 48 IBU's.  Depending on your tastes, you might find this beer out of balance and overly bitter.  Having said that it is heading toward IPA realms, so maybe it will be fine.

[Goldcoast Crow]

2 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Probably all three.  The 1.7kg Lager kit into 10L in the craft kit, with no other additives, expect an ABV around 6%.  Bitterness around 48 IBU's.  Depending on your tastes, you might find this beer out of balance and overly bitter.  Having said that it is heading toward IPA realms, so maybe it will be fine.

I am a bit slighted towards bitter beers so this could work, being only my 2nd brew I’m still just feeling my way along. I have consumed draught before as in west end and Carlton  but not sure on lager... I was never a big fan of west end or Carlton so I’m thinking I just don’t really do draughts I do love a good pale tho.

[Shamus O'Sean]

@Goldcoast Crow, note that the yeast in the Coopers Lager is an ale yeast.  Therefore you will not get a true lager.  This does not mean the beer will be bad.  Probably more like a pale ale without much in the way of later hop additions.

[Goldcoast Crow]

Perfect, that’s my go to style and I would have got a pale if it was on the shelf... guess I’ll know in about a month....

[bigrmac]

Well mine is in the FV now, mixed it all up last night, add 250g ish of sugar to the kit and 1kg of light spray malt and got an O.G of 1.041

Not everything went to plan though, i mixed the ingredients in too hot a water, around 33^o it took several hours to cool down and eventually i pitched the yeast late last night at 27

I came down this morning and there were signs of fermentation and the brew was at about 22^o, It is now in my beer fridge and holding nicely at 20^o

How long would you expect fermentation to go on for with the ale yeast?

[UncleStavvy]

I've just done a dark ale with extra fermentables and double ale yeast, started last Saturday.  Sample in the fridge in the hydro tube was 1.046 OG and yesterday read 1.005. Tipped it out this morning and the fresh sample was 1.003. That's the lowest reading I've gotten in my last 2 brews. Possibly the extra yeast has chewed up every scrap of sugar in there. I've held the temp at 20-22 deg except last 24hrs at 24 to help the yeast starter breed up. So I reckon were your looking at 5-6 days minimum and a day or two at 24 to let the yeast finish up

[Otto Von Blotto]

10 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

I am a bit slighted towards bitter beers so this could work, being only my 2nd brew I’m still just feeling my way along. I have consumed draught before as in west end and Carlton  but not sure on lager... I was never a big fan of west end or Carlton so I’m thinking I just don’t really do draughts I do love a good pale tho.

Draught just means it's served from a keg, it's not an actual style of beer. Things like Carlton and West end we call megaswill. Style wise they're just bland lagers really. 

[Goldcoast Crow]

Ok cool....

[Journeyman]

11 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

Perfect, that’s my go to style and I would have got a pale if it was on the shelf... guess I’ll know in about a month....

I'd be willing to bet you're drinking it before then.  I don't think any of us wait it out patiently until the 'perfect' time to open a bottle. 

[Red devil 44]

9 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

I'd be willing to bet you're drinking it before then.  I don't think any of us wait it out patiently until the 'perfect' time to open a bottle. 

That’s why you have a few kegs in the bank JM, drinking a few whilst the others are sitting there maturing away

[Journeyman]

I'm getting 3 kegs for now with plans to add more later. But I still plan to do a bottle brew every now and then. e.g. the stout I have in the FV now - I can't see myself tying up a keg while that matures and it will keep nicely on the shelf for months. Also to make sure I have some for friends and social occasions etc.

[Red devil 44]

I was speaking to a guy the other day ( yes was social distancing ) outside the home brew shop near work, told him I had 12 kegs, he said mate you’re an amateur, I have 26 WTF

[Journeyman]

5 minutes ago, Red devil 44 said:

I was speaking to a guy the other day ( yes was social distancing ) outside the home brew shop near work, told him I had 12 kegs, he said mate you’re an amateur, I have 26 WTF

Which pub does he own?

 

[bigrmac]

Well i checked my brew today, the fridge/heater mat combo is doing a great job at hold the temp at 20^o and the yeast is really eating up those fermentables, I took another reading and its at 1.017 already, and after looking at my (new) hydrometer the actual O.G was more like 1.044.

This is going to be a strong one!

The next question is, what do i call it?