Just tasted my first ever brew

[jennyss]

I bottled my first ever brew - a Coopers lager straight from the beginners' kit on Sunday 23.1.22. Fourteen days later we have tasted the first bottle.....and......pluses and minuses. Not flat, but not over 'fizzy', head very small, quite yummy, but definitely a bit of a 'toffee' taste. Will it improve? What should I try next time?

[Marty_G]

Congrats, tasting the 1st brew is always a huge moment that we have all had the pleasure of doing. 

 

Yes, it will improve. All home brew beer conditions and improves with time.   Some need longer than others but they do improve unless they have some sort of major issue.   I would recommend the Real Ale to do, it is a great base. Use 1kg of light dry malt with it, that will improve the head retention. Also use a different yeast you can get from your local home brew shop, LHBS, like an American Ale yeast. You will get plenty of suggestions on here but I would think keeping it simple for a few brews to get the process locked in is the best way to go. 

 

Cheers and congrats. 

Edited February 6, 2022 by Marty_G

[ozdevil]

7 minutes ago, jennyss said:

I bottled my first ever brew - a Coopers lager straight from the beginners' kit on Sunday 23.1.22. Fourteen days later we have tasted the first bottle.....and......pluses and minuses. Not flat, but not over 'fizzy', head very small, quite yummy, but definitely a bit of a 'toffee' taste. Will it improve? What should I try next time?

it may improve a little more as the brew may still be a bit green.

you could brew this one again and try using the brewenhancer 2  to help with Head retention and head

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

9 minutes ago, jennyss said:

I bottled my first ever brew - a Coopers lager straight from the beginners' kit on Sunday 23.1.22. Fourteen days later we have tasted the first bottle.....and......pluses and minuses. Not flat, but not over 'fizzy', head very small, quite yummy, but definitely a bit of a 'toffee' taste. Will it improve? What should I try next time?

Welcome to the hobby.

It will improve a little over time. You will find about a month and they will be at there best.

As far as next time I can give you a few pointers for your next brew.

1. Cleanliness. Make sure everything is spotless

2. Use more malt. The starter kit is a lager and a BE1 from memory. Next time use say a Coopers pale ale tin and a BE3 or BE2. It will make a difference to the taste and the head of the beer too.

3. Try to keep a temp that is stable as it can be but at or under 21 or 22c. The higher the temp the more bad flavours that will come through

4. Don't peek in to the beer too often. You will open yourself up to the chance of infection

5. Try a hop addition about 3 or 4 days into the brew. You can get hop bags from a home brew store. It adds that little bit of flavour and taste. Just drop it in and close back the lid.

This will give a decent brew to start off. You can get more into it and try more advanced stuff later on to greater enhance it.

[Oldbloke]

Wait 5 or 6 weeks. Will be a lot better.

Next one use enhancer 3 or malt. 

Getting another couple of brews in to build stock and time to mature. 

 

 

What to try?.

Depends what you like but real ale is popular

Edited February 6, 2022 by oldbloke

[Shamus O'Sean]

6 hours ago, jennyss said:

I bottled my first ever brew - a Coopers lager straight from the beginners' kit on Sunday 23.1.22. Fourteen days later we have tasted the first bottle.....and......pluses and minuses. Not flat, but not over 'fizzy', head very small, quite yummy, but definitely a bit of a 'toffee' taste. Will it improve? What should I try next time?

Congrats on the first beer.  I thought that my first brew was pretty good.  Other tasters were not so generous with the comments.  Having said that, every brew since then has been better.

I just posted on another thread for somebody to brew a Canadian Blonde Ale with a 1.5kg can of Coopers Light Malt Extract.

[Malter White]

@jennyss Congratulations on your first success and your beers will only get better from here as you learn more.
In regards to the lack of fizz, did you use 2 carbonation drops per long neck? I found this didn't provide enough fizz for my liking. I now use a combination of one carbonation drop plus a CSR sugar cube to prime my bottles. It increases your priming sugar from about 6g to approx. 7.5g. This gives the yeast a bit more to feast on and produce more CO2 ie. fizz.  

[jennyss]

12 hours ago, Marty_G said:

Congrats, tasting the 1st brew is always a huge moment that we have all had the pleasure of doing. 

 

Yes, it will improve. All home brew beer conditions and improves with time.   Some need longer than others but they do improve unless they have some sort of major issue.   I would recommend the Real Ale to do, it is a great base. Use 1kg of light dry malt with it, that will improve the head retention. Also use a different yeast you can get from your local home brew shop, LHBS, like an American Ale yeast. You will get plenty of suggestions on here but I would think keeping it simple for a few brews to get the process locked in is the best way to go. 

 

Cheers and congrats. 

Thanks @Marty_G , @ozdevil@Greenyinthewestofsydney, @oldbloke, @Shamus O'Seanand @MUZZY

Yes, I will keep it simple for the next couple of brews. We won't taste any more home brew for two more weeks. There is a carton of Tooheys New lurking in the laundry. I will keep up the hygiene. Next time I might try a Coopers Pale Ale with a different enhancer. I will screw the lids on tighter. I did only use two carbonation drops, so perhaps I'll also add a sugar cube to each bottle. It is exciting, and nerve-wracking! Best wishes to you all. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

14 hours ago, jennyss said:

I bottled my first ever brew - a Coopers lager straight from the beginners' kit on Sunday 23.1.22. Fourteen days later we have tasted the first bottle.....and......pluses and minuses. Not flat, but not over 'fizzy', head very small, quite yummy, but definitely a bit of a 'toffee' taste. Will it improve? What should I try next time?

Hi @jennyss  I came across this late, my Congratulations also for your first home brewed beer, as the others have said, it will only get better. Everyone has their own method, habits & opinions yet they all seem to work in different ways.

Pale Ale/Real Ale are both excellent beers & if you tweak the recipe just a bit you will get an even better result, relying on just Brew Enhancer is not enough & as @Marty_G & @Shamus O'Seansuggested add 1kg Light Dried Malt or even Light Liquid Extract Malt, the supplied yeast will work but they are only 7gms, spend a few dollars more for a good Ale Yeast 11gms & you will notice the difference.

I agree, it does pay to keep the first brews simple until you get the feel for it but soon you could also try adding some hops, the Coopers Can's come pre-hopped but a hop addition gives you another layer of flavour also providing a degree of bitterness depending on the type of hop.

Regarding carbonation, this is also a well varied topic, I for one only use plain white sugar for priming - 1 full sugar scoop from the LHBS, Local Home Brew Shop & I get good results with carbonation & head retention.

This is only my opinion but I keep a diary of every brew I make, listing every detail including the whole recipe, brands of contents, type of yeast, pitch rate etc  & it gives you the opportunity to go back over your brews & strive for improvements.

I wish you continued success with your brewing adventure & be sure to get the next one going ASAP.

Cheers

Phil

[jennyss]

Thanks @Classic Brewing Co for your practical suggestions. I have a 'Brew Book' going already. Too easy to forget all the little details and differences. The information and encouragement from you experienced brewers is much appreciated by us newbies.

[Tone boy]

3 hours ago, jennyss said:

Thanks @Classic Brewing Co for your practical suggestions. I have a 'Brew Book' going already. Too easy to forget all the little details and differences. The information and encouragement from you experienced brewers is much appreciated by us newbies.

G’day Jenny and congrats on the first brew!

Yep note taking is a good idea. I still have a brew book and take notes on every brew I make. 
One piece of advice I received early on was to just make one change at a time, if you change too many things at once it’s impossible to tell which worked well or didn’t work well. Sometimes I need to remind myself of that advice!

As others have mentioned sanitation and constant temperature is important. Use a temperature appropriate for the yeast. 

What next? A great simple brew is the Aus pale ale with BE2. It’s good to try out different yeasts (I do all the time) but I really like the yeast that comes with the pale ale  It’s underrated in my view. 

5 hours ago, jennyss said:

There is a carton of Tooheys New lurking in the laundry

This is good news. Drink one of those before your own beer, it will make yours taste even better!!

Good luck and happy brewing

[jennyss]

Thanks @Tone boy, Makes sense to me to change one thing at a time. Several of you have suggested Pale Ale with BE no. 2 - sounds promising. And does anybody have a comment about what I called the 'toffee' taste I mentioned?

[Classic Brewing Co]

9 minutes ago, jennyss said:

Thanks @Tone boy, Makes sense to me to change one thing at a time. Several of you have suggested Pale Ale with BE no. 2 - sounds promising. And does anybody have a comment about what I called the 'toffee' taste I mentioned?

More than likely it is coming from the Can of extract, each brew seems to impart different flavours, that's another good reason to keep a diary as there are heaps of other things you can add to the brew as you will find out down the track.

[ozdevil]

54 minutes ago, jennyss said:

Thanks @Tone boy, Makes sense to me to change one thing at a time. Several of you have suggested Pale Ale with BE no. 2 - sounds promising. And does anybody have a comment about what I called the 'toffee' taste I mentioned?

the toffee taste may have come from the malt in the tin of goop,  as caramel flaver will impart a toffee note  

did you enjoy the toffee taste?

Edited February 7, 2022 by ozdevil

[ozdevil]

Also it may well be  diacetyl   

which can impart   "Buttery, buttermilk, milky, oily. Lower levels can appear almost Caramel-like; at higher levels Buttery or butterscotch — think movie popcorn. It can cause a milky or slick sensation on the palate. Easier to detect in light lagers, any added complexity in a beer such as darker more robust flavors will make detection more difficult."

dcepending what temp your brew sat at   alot of people like to do a diacetyl rest where they bump up the Temp a degree or 2 for a couple of days so that  diacetyl gets picked reabsorbed by the remaining yeast.   and is usually done towards the end of fermentation   

and once done they  then cold crash to around 2°c  to drop everything out if they have temp control

Lagers that are brewed around  @ 14°c   will need to be bumped up to around 20-21°c  for a few days

The lager you made was most likely done with an ale yeast   so you most likely would have done it around 20°c approx 


eg if you did this brew again with the same ingrediants i would add the diacetyl rest  if you didnt want that toffee note

[Red devil 44]

Welcome to the forum, my favourite when I did Kit & Kilo was the Coopers Pale Ale, and a kilo of liquid malt, plus various dry hop additions along the way.

‘But as the others have said, start off nice and easy, find what you like and then expand on it.

‘Lots of knowledge & guidance on the forum so you are in good hands.

So many additions you can make to that to make some nice beers.

‘But it’s really up to the individual and tastes I guess. 
‘Happy brewing RD44

[Popo the Reprobate]

9 hours ago, Tone boy said:

Drink one of those before your own beer, it will make yours taste even better!!

This really works haha

[Stickers]

https://www.diybeer.com/au/recipes

there are so many good recipes here at the coopers site with really clear instructions.

[Space]

I'm a new brewer too - I've got to 9 brews and they're coming out good now.  If I had to give you the highlights of what I've learnt from here over the last few months it would be:

1)  You can never have too many bottle.  Order some more bottles.
2)  Temperature control is the key.
3)  Temperature control for your secondary fermentation is as important as your primary fermentation if you want fizz.  Do it the same temperature as your primary.
4)  Check that the tap on the SV is sealed properly before you start your brew.  Check it.  Then check it again.
5)  Did I mention bottles yet?  Order more bottles.
6) If you're not sure of anything ask on here before you do it.  You may get more than one answer but generally there's a majority decision.
 

[stquinto]

Welcome down the rabbit hole

As everyone says:

- sanitation

- temperature

- tweaking BE/malt, upgrading yeast, grain steeps, hopping… all easy to get into

- depending on the hop profile and the strength, maturing the beer really pays

- go for the recipes on the site, the Aus Pale Ale makes a nice, neutral base

- making the yeast culture is not too difficult but careful when you open it!

-I agree with @Tone boy not to change too many variables at the same time. Having said that, I think you can dive into the recipes easily enough, they’ve been properly tested

Happy brewing!

[JimInCollie]

Hi jennyss

I'm new to this forum, and to using Coopers kits, but I am not new to All-grain brewing which is more complicated, so I hope with that experience under my belt I can help with a few suggestions (most of which have been dealt with by the clever members who have already replied). My first experiment with a Coopers kit beer was also the Lager, and in my case it turned out to be excellent in the bottle, albeit a little frothy from my keezer tap. I have now brewed a few more beers, differing varieties, in both keg and bottle, and learned a lot about Coopers DIY beers in so doing, and by asking questions here and elsewhere.

1. hygiene and sanitation are mandatory (as there is no boiling to sterilise the wort and equipment)
2. don't use sugar as a fermentable; use Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 or similar, or Coopers Light Malt
3. use chlorine free water - I use a carbon filter to remove chlorine and a lot of other things
4. follow the directions faithfully
5. maintain your fermenter at a constant temperature - I use a temperature controller on a chest freezer - set the temperature at the low end of the range recommended ( usually 21^oC )
6. Take initial and final SG readings and do not bottle or keg until the target SG has been reached and maintained for at least two days - I nearly always allow 14 days fermentation whether it needs it or not
7. Do not over carbonate (-> foam) or under carbonate (-> flat beer) - measure the priming glucose carefully into bottle or keg - Coopers carbonation drops are excellent for bottles, until you gain experience and decide on some other method.  75g glucose to a 9.5L Cornelius keg works for me, and 100g for a 19.5L keg
8. Allow the beer to condition in bottle or keg for 6 weeks (minimum 4 weeks but improves with age) at normal room temperature (not to hot, not to cold e.g. 20-25^oC)

Do all of these things and your next brew should be fine in bottles.  If you plan to keg your beer then there are a number of other things you have to get right in your kegerator or keezer to avoid frothy or flat beer, but we can discuss them when the occasion arises.

Hope this helps,

Jim

 

[Stickers]

19 hours ago, Space said:

I'm a new brewer too - I've got to 9 brews and they're coming out good now.

nice work. how hard/easy is it to get the coopers kits in the UK?

[Space]

48 minutes ago, Stickers said:

nice work. how hard/easy is it to get the coopers kits in the UK?

Quite easy.  There are plenty of independant online brew supply shops that sell Coopers kits and Beer Enhancers.  They're quite well priced.  You can buy cheaper kits but even my limited experience tells me that they're cheap for a reason.

[Tricky Micky]

On 2/6/2022 at 5:18 PM, jennyss said:

I bottled my first ever brew - a Coopers lager straight from the beginners' kit on Sunday 23.1.22. Fourteen days later we have tasted the first bottle.....and......pluses and minuses. Not flat, but not over 'fizzy', head very small, quite yummy, but definitely a bit of a 'toffee' taste. Will it improve? What should I try next time?

Well done @jennyss, welcome and happy brewing.

Not sure what you might have primed your beer with but if it was the Coopers carbonation drops and you weren't happy with the level of fizz you might consider the Muzzy Method. 1xCarb drop and 1xsugar cube in a 740ml Coopers PET bottle . If you're adventurous you could even try 2x sugar cubes. =9g/l. Definitely try one of the other Coopers Brew enhancer products like BE2 or BE3, that'll help with the head a bit more than BE1 which most likely came with the kit. Now the toffee taste is interesting like some of the others have said could be just the taste from the malt extract or if it's really pronounced could be Diacetyl.....I don't know whether you have temperature control but if you do or planning to most here will suggest you do what's called a diacetyl rest. That is to say (only applies if you have temp control) If you are brewing an Ale ferment it at 18 degrees and then for about 3-5 days toward the end of fermentation wind the temp up to 20 degrees C this will help "clean" the brew up and avoid the "butterscotch" (Diacetyl) taste in the beer. 

This forum is an incredible place where you'll find the answers to most of your questions. Happy Brewing!

 

[jennyss]

Thanks @Classic Brewing Co and @ozdevil, No, I don't like the 'toffee' taste. I prefer a 'bitter' taste, not fruity or sweet.

Woops, couldn't have posted the above comments several days ago. Still getting the hang posting on this site.  

I jumped back on to say thanks to everyone for all your encouragement and tips.  I am going to start my second brew in a few days. I'm going to try Coopers Australian Pale Ale with No 2 brew enhancer. I will check and double check everything. I'll have better temperature control, especially at the start. My Coopers leaflet says use 'unscented bleach' for sanitising, so that's what I'll use. I'll continue being conservative and stick to two carbonation drops per bottle. But I think I won't bottle until 4 or 5 days after FG has been reached. We're going to try another bottle on Sunday which is three weeks after bottling.