New to Coopers home brew.

[JasonB18]

My Brothers Got me a Coopers home brew kit for my birth-day gift. (love em!) Anyways I got my first Coopers Lager going. I am on day 5 now and did a FG check, will check again tomorrow, and until it is the same 2 days in a row, then bottle it up. So far all is going great, fermented my brew at a temp around 23-25C, I cleaned my bottles ( ready for final sterilization )Got my labels ready to go and I am cleaning and adding new shelving in a closet for bottle storage.

 

I love this DIY kit so I ordered another one to help keep a steady Coopers brew flowing in my house :) I also ordered 4 different Coopers complete brew ingredient kits so I can try more flavors.

I live in small town U.S. so I haven't seen Coopers brew in any stores yet. I don't know what they taste like, I tasted my brew tonight and its good :) can't hardly wait till its done brewing.

 

Sorry for being long winded and telling my whole life story heh. I have been reading this forum and trying to learn as much as I can so I can make the best Coopers Brew in my area,, something my friends will love. Any advice you can give me will be appreciated, Thanks guys.

[CliffH1]

Welcome Jason. The best advice I can offer is to not rush things. A few extra days in the fermenter will help clear the brew up and help make sure the fermentation is complete. Nice to have clear beer and avoid "bottle bombs" from bottling too soon.

 

Then wait some extra time for the bottle conditioning to take full effect. You will find your brews will taste much better after at least a month or so.

 

Have fun brewing.

 

 

[Squishy]

Welcome!!

 

My first piece of advice is that you like the brew that comes with the kit you'll LOVE the other stuff you've ordered!!!

 

Enjoy the addiction of brewing

[Damien E1]

Try to get those temperatures down below 20. 18-20 is good, above can cause off flavours.

[JasonB18]

Thanks Guys:) Is there a list of recommended fermenting temps on the Forum for the different Coopers brewing kits? What about a list of original and final gravity readings I should be kinda close to with each Coopers Brew kit.

The instructions that come with the kits are kinda vague.

 

I am starting with the DIY kits then working from there to adjust (if needed) the flavors to my liking. I will probably do 2 brews of each kit just to be sure that I didn't mess up the first batch and make it taste bad.

 

So far the lager is looking and taste good, it has been at 24C the whole time, should I lower the temp on the next Lager brew?

 

The Coopers Pilsener is next up, instructions say to keep it at about 18C, Any advice on the Pilsener, things to watch out for, mixing tips, how long to let it ferment and what temps? things like that.

 

Remember I am brewing only with what comes with the ingredient kits (for now). This way I have a base line to what I might want to change on the next brew. But I want to make sure I do everything the best way I can so my base line brew kits taste as good as they can, and hopefully close to what a real Coopers brew might taste.

 

Thanks again guys, your awesome!

[Hairy]

The Coopers Pilsner comes with a lager yeast so I wouldn't be brewing it at 18 degrees.

 

If you are only using the kit yeast then pitch it and keep it around 20-24 degrees for a day or so and then drop it to 10-12 degrees for the remainder of fermentation. This will be 2-3 weeks with a low temp fermentation.

 

Anyway, welcome to the world of home brewing and good luck with it all.

[JasonB18]

Well it is day 8 now, On day 7 I did a FG reading 1.013 it is still moving. Going to check it again today. It has cleared up nicely. It looks like it is going to be a clean batch of Lager :)

 

It looks like beer,,smells like beer,, taste like beer,, I think I made my first batch of home brew :)

 

At first I had to keep heat on my fermenter, I was trying to follow the instructions that came with the kit and keep my brew at 24c ( between the recommended 21-27c). Now I know that lower temps are better, I took the heat off on day 5 and my brew stays at 20c, which is a much better brewing temp for this Lager that comes with the DIY kit :)

 

Anyways all is going well Maybe bottle today, maybe tomorrow, just waiting for consistent FG readings 2 or more days in a row.

[AdamH1525226084]

G'day Jason

I am drinking my lager at the moment (well not at this very second it's not 11am yet) and was fermenting at about 20-22, it was a bit chilly at nights so I was putting a blanket and sleeping bag on the FV. The end result - it's a very drinkable beer.

So drinkable in fact my Dad liked it on the weekend. He's the sort of beer drinker who only like VB and Carlton Draught, so I'm very pleased. [happy]

My bro is a little bit more cultured, and he was disappointed I didn't take more to his house [lol]

[GregT5]

Jason, glad to see you have things under control & your brew is going along nicely.

 

Leaving it a few extra days in the fermenter will do it a world of good so don't be in too much of a hurry to get it into bottles. I know that is a bit of a challenge, being your first brew, but the resultant beer will be a lot better.

 

@ Adam, what's with the 11am restriction? I was enjoying a beer at 3.30am this morning. It's got to be after 11am somewhere in the world [cool]

 

[Guest]

[edit] whoops, wrong topic

[JasonB18]

I put a Coopers Real Ale on tonight, I wont be doing the Pilsener until I have my climate control system installed and can keep the temps down below 18c, I am looking for around 12c. Hopefully I will have it ready sometime next week, and do some testing. If all works like it should one of my fermenters will be ready by then, and I can try the Pilsener.