Coopers European Larger

[Dave Tan]

Hi Guys,

I bought a European Larger, a pack of enhancer, sanitizer and carbonation sugars 

I am going to do my first batch of Beer tomorrow.

Would like to know what the recommend temperature for fermenting?

And how long will it take to finish fermenting?

[Classic Brewing Co]

Hi @Dave Tan

Welcome to the forum,

Here are some videos on Brewing European Lager.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=coopers+european+lager+instructions&qpvt=coopers+european+lager+instructions&FORM=VDRE

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Phil

[Shamus O'Sean]

6 hours ago, Dave Tan said:

Hi Guys,

I bought a European Larger, a pack of enhancer, sanitizer and carbonation sugars 

I am going to do my first batch of Beer tomorrow.

Would like to know what the recommend temperature for fermenting?

And how long will it take to finish fermenting?

Hi Dave, and welcome to the Forum.

12°C - 13°C is my sweet spot for lagers.  The European Lager can comes with a lager yeast.  Seems obvious, I suppose.  But the Original Series Lager and the Original Series Draught do not, they come with an ale yeast.  The theory is that it is easier to brew a beer with ale yeast.  Many folks start with the OS Lager (it comes in the Coopers brewing kit) or the OS Draught.  The other Coopers Lagers (Thomas Coopers 86 Days Pilsner & Thomas Coopers Golden Crown Lager) all have lager yeasts.

My European Lager was finished in 6 days.  It could be a range of 6-10 days.

A few hints and tips for a good lager.

1. Once your specific gravity drops below 1.020, increase the temperature to 18°C to help the yeast clean up after itself.
2. After 2 days at 18°C, progressively drop the temperature over 3 days to around 1-2°C for a cold crash.  Leave at this temperature for 3 days.  for This will help the yeast settle out.
3. Then you're ready for bottling.  Prime the bottles with carbonation drops or table sugar.  Store at least at 18°C for 2 weeks to carbonate. 
4. After the 2 weeks, store as cold as you can for at least a month.

Lagers are a bit of a pain because of the above time frames.  But they are rewarding once you get to drink them.  You can drink them as soon as they are carbonated, but they get better with a bit of age.

For my first lager I skipped steps 1 and 2 and for 4 I stored in a cupboard at room temperature.  It still tasted quite nice.  I have done lagers since, following the steps above, and they have all turned out better than the first one.

[Tricky Micky]

2 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

My European Lager was finished in 6 days.  It could be a range of 6-10 days.

Shamus @Shamus O'Sean, I've done quite a few lagers now and I suspect I may be under pitching the yeast. My lagers take approximately 12 days to ferment out. Volume sits around 23 to 24 liters and the Liquid Malt additions at around the 1.2kg with 200 or so grams of MaltoD, depending on ABV also maybe 150grams or so of Dextrose (Optional)

Been starting fermenting temps at around 20 degrees C and dropping that gradually down to 12 degrees over a day or so. Been (Sprinkle) pitching with 11grams of Dubbya for each batch.

Very sluggish. Would increasing the pitch rate of the yeast help? Is sprinkling the best way to go for lagers with Dubbya? I follow steps 1, 2, 3, and 4. (As above). TIA

[Shamus O'Sean]

21 hours ago, Mickep said:

Shamus @Shamus O'Sean, I've done quite a few lagers now and I suspect I may be under pitching the yeast. My lagers take approximately 12 days to ferment out. Volume sits around 23 to 24 liters and the Liquid Malt additions at around the 1.2kg with 200 or so grams of MaltoD, depending on ABV also maybe 150grams or so of Dextrose (Optional)

Been starting fermenting temps at around 20 degrees C and dropping that gradually down to 12 degrees over a day or so. Been (Sprinkle) pitching with 11grams of Dubbya for each batch.

Very sluggish. Would increasing the pitch rate of the yeast help? Is sprinkling the best way to go for lagers with Dubbya? I follow steps 1, 2, 3, and 4. (As above). TIA

Hi Mick, I have read/heard that 2 packets of Dubbya is not enough for a standard brew.  Maybe that is right, but most of my early lager attempts were with only 1 packet.  They turned out fine in the end.

The European Lager discussed above was my second ever brew.  No temperature control.  Brewed inside at whatever temperature it was: Probably 15 - 24°C.  That is probably why it was done pretty quickly.

Your way of starting fermenting around 20°C is meant to increase yeast cell count, that is good for fermentation.  You also get cell growth at 12°C, but less.  Once you drop your temperature to 12°C, activity will slow down.  It's just a fact with lager yeast.

If you increase the pitch rate, say to 2 packets, you could start the ferment at 12°C.  It might not make it go any faster though.

Sprinkling is a completely acceptable way to go:  Either 2 packs at 12°C or 1 pack at 20°C for 24 hours then down to 12°C.

These days, for lagers, I rehydrate 1 packet of Dubbya (or other lager yeast) and put it in a starter via the @Otto Von Blotto method.  However, the volumes I use are based on Brewfather's yeast calculator.  This produces around the recommended 400 billion yeast cells that is supposed to be good for a full batch of lager wort.  It is much more mucking around than just sprinkling 2 packets of Dubbya.  On that basis, sprinkling 2 packets of yeast is the easy way to go.

[Tricky Micky]

4 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Hi Mick, I have read/heard that 2 packets of Dubbya is not enough for a standard brew.  Maybe that is right, but most of my early lager attempts were with only 1 packet.  They turned out fine in the end.

The European Lager discussed above was my second ever brew.  No temperature control.  Brewed inside at whatever temperature it was: Probably 15 - 24°C.  That is probably why it was done pretty quickly.

Your way of starting fermenting around 20°C is meant to increase yeast cell count, that is good for fermentation.  You also get cell growth at 12°C, but less.  Once you drop your temperature to 12°C, activity will slow down.  It's just a fact with lager yeast.

If you increase the pitch rate, say to 2 packets, you could start the ferment at 12°C.  It might not make it go any faster though.

Sprinkling is a completely acceptable way to go:  Either 2 packs at 12°C or 1 pack at 20°C for 24 hours then down to 12°C.

These days, for lagers, I rehydrate 1 packet of Dubbya (or other lager yeast) and put it in a starter via the @Otto Von Blotto method.  However, the volumes I use are based on Brewfather's yeast calculator.  This produces around the recommended 400 billion yeast cells that is supposed to be good for a full batch of lager wort.  It is much more mucking around than just sprinkling 2 packets of Dubbya.  On that basis, sprinkling 2 packets of yeast is the easy way to go.

Thanks heaps mate, I'll go with 2 packs of Dubbya then. I'll see how that plays out. I do like the home brew lagers. 

[Korbo]

On 5/20/2021 at 8:13 AM, Shamus O'Sean said:

12°C - 13°C is my sweet spot for lagers.  The European Lager can comes with a lager yeast. 

A few hints and tips for a good lager.

3. Then you're ready for bottling.  Prime the bottles with carbonation drops or table sugar.  Store at least at 18°C for 2 weeks to carbonate.

Being a lager yeast it will still carbonate at lower temps won't it?

Edited June 3, 2022 by Korbo

[ben 10]

3 hours ago, Korbo said:

Being a lager yeast it will still carbonate at lower temps won't it?

it will

[Cee]

What is the avg alc vol for the Euro :ager following the tin recipe?

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

12 minutes ago, Cee said:

What is the avg alc vol for the Euro :ager following the tin recipe?

 

Hi @Cee  Here is some info on it for you. Good luck with your Larger 

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=0f715a1321a9ab6be720288a9f6604bfJmltdHM9MTY1NzUxNTE2MyZpZ3VpZD1kYzM2MjBiOC02ZmM3LTQyNmItOGE2Yy0xZjg4ZTliZmY4NDgmaW5zaWQ9NTIyMQ&ptn=3&hsh=2&fclid=4c525af1-00d5-11ed-a878-bd8c53e1a468&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9jb21tdW5pdHkuZGl5YmVlci5jb20vdG9waWMvMTU5NDAtY29vcGVycy1ldXJvcGVhbi1sYXJnZXIv&ntb=1

Edited July 11, 2022 by Classic Brewing Co

[Aussiekraut]

On 5/21/2021 at 8:14 AM, Shamus O'Sean said:

Hi Mick, I have read/heard that 2 packets of Dubbya is not enough for a standard brew.  Maybe that is right, but most of my early lager attempts were with only 1 packet.  They turned out fine in the end.

I've heard of people only using 1 pack but I'm a little paranoid and always use 2 packets of dubbya without a starter and the Lagers turn out just fine. Usually they're done within 10 days (13C until 1.020, then up to 18C). After that I drop the temp 2C every day until I get to CC temp and then just leave it there. FV to keg roundtrip is usually 3 weeks.