Brewing coopers lager first timer

[nivaguk]

Hi All,

I am new to all this home brewing and i will be starting my first batch tomorrow.

I will be using a Coopers lager kit that came with my micro kit.

I have read a few post but as i am a little bit nervous about the first one i want to get it right even though perfection come with experience.

So i wll be using the cooper lager extract and yeast even though it isn't a true lager yeast.

Do i use the brew enhancer and add DME or substitute the enhancer with DME?

If i substitute can i add some of the brew enhance aswell to up the content.

i believe i will need to add hops if using DME.

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

I've never used the Cooper's enhancer, but I have used a Munton's and I'm usually happy with the results. That said, the DME would be a significant improvement.

My experience with hop additions is limited an and I've never made the Lager kit, but I made a pretty tasty beer with the IPA kit and some fresh hops and LME. The method I used was boil 4L of water, add about 400mL of light LME, a bittering hop addition for 60 mins and a flavour/aroma hop addition for 20 mins. I think it was half an ounce of each(?). Probably a Saaz or Helleratau would be a nice hop to use in a lager. I took the pot off the heat at the end of the hour, added the rest of the unhopped LME, added the Cooper's kit LME, stirred well, dumped it in the bucket and topped it up to 20L, and stirred it all together really well, lots of frothiness on the top. I always try to pitch the yeast into about 64-65* wort.

I've never followed the instructions; instead I'd try to find a spot in your house that will stay in the low 60's and leave it alone for three weeks. You'll probably see signs of fermentation a day or two in. Never made the Lager kit, but i think I've seen mention of it's yeast being an ale yeast. Essentially, let it ferment on the cool side, for 2-3 weeks, take a hydrometer reading a day for a couple days to see if it's done, then bottle.

Hope this helped, and I hope someone with experience with the Lager kit chimes in!

Good luck!

 

[unionrdr]

I've done a lot of ales with the Cooper's cans. Making them into something else. Anyway,the OS lager (Original Series) comes with their ale yeast,so it's really a light colored pale ale. You could use the enhancer with a pound of plain light DME (I like Munton's with Cooper's cans). Mix them with boiling water,remove from heat & add the Cooper's can. This is about the simplest way to brew it. But those OS cans usually have some bittering only,& really need finshing hops.
So I started doing this;
I boil 2.5-3 gallons of water,adding half a 3lb bag of Munton's plain light DME. Stir to break up & dissolve. You may get a tiny hot break. Then add,say,an once of German Perle hops @ 20 minutes left in the boil. Then an ounce of Czech Saaz @ 10 minutes left. At flame out,quickly add the remaining DMe & stir to dissolve. Then add the Cooper's can (off the heat source=flameout!) & stir till no more of the LME can be scraped off the bottom of the kettle. I usually have the hop sacks removed & drained before this step. Then chill down to pitch temp in an ice bath in 20 minutes or less. You'll get little or no chill haze at fridge time doing this.