Coopers Lager taste test

[derekge]

So I tasted my Coopers Lager kit and here are the notes on prep:

• Pitched wort slightly high 30C - recommended 28C max
• Left in FV for 17 days at 22C
• Bottle conditioned for 1 month

NO FOAM/HEAD on any pour.

The first beer had a slight grapefruit tart to it and it passed as a very light lager.

The second beer tasted like apple cider and there wasn't too much "beer" about it.

It's drinkable......

 

[dezman]

Lager kit? 28C is way to high of a temp for a lager first of all. Is this an ale kit? What yeast did it come with?
Either way you pitched and fermented at to high a temp for an ale or a lager. Ales should be fermented at around 18C or so and lagers around 10C.
Just kind of wondering where you got the 28C max recommended. Sound like some bad instructions. If I were you I would search this fourm and read Palmers "How to Brew" for proper instructions on fermentation.
heres a link to Palmers site: http://www.howtobrew.com/

 

[aidan]

So I tasted my Coopers Lager kit and here are the notes on prep:

• Pitched wort slightly high 30C - recommended 28C max
• Left in FV for 17 days at 22C
• Bottle conditioned for 1 month

NO FOAM/HEAD on any pour.

The first beer had a slight grapefruit tart to it and it passed as a very light lager.

The second beer tasted like apple cider and there wasn't too much "beer" about it.

It's drinkable......

What did you add with the kit? If just sugar, dextrose or Coopers brew blend then yeah that would explain lack of head (and also body). I use the Coopers Lager kits as a base for some of my beers but not as straight kit + kilo as per instructions as I expect it would be a bit bland. If you are just doing a straight up kit + kilo, add malt extract instead of sugar (about 1kg dry or 1.5kg liquid malt extract) for more taste, body, head. A little maltodextrin may help too.

The kit yeast for the Original series is their standard kit ale yeast. But still 30C is too high for pitching and will contribute to that 'twang' it appears you've described. Best to go with the very low end of the range so as to avoid off-flavours - 18-20C is about right.

 

[derekge]

I followed the instructions per Coopers. Albeit, there are about 3 different places for the instructions in the kit and none are exactly the same.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[A4J]

The biggest mistake in those Coopers kit instruction is the temperature they tell you to ferment at. My first ever brew was the Coopers lager kit. Horrible!! blech! but now that I have a few brews under my belt, I think I might revisit it again. IIRC, I was fermenting at 75°F (24°C). I'm gonna try to see how well it turns out at 62°F(16°C)

 

[unionrdr]

The cooper's OS lager comes with ale yeast,so it's really a light pale ale. I got the cooper's brewing sugar with mine back then. It's 80% dextrose,20% maltodextrin. That malto gives mouth feel & better head. The yeast's temp range is said by Midwest to be 62-72F. 65-68F has worked well for me. But if you have temp control,try 62-64F,that should make for a cleaner tasting ale. I develped my own style of brewing for the cooper's cans as a base early on. Nevermind their instructions,as they're generic to the series the can comes from. HBT is def a better resource!

 

[derekge]

Haha! I just realized that the reason why my lager is flat is because I only used 1 carbonation drop per 750 ml. bottle when the instructions called for 2! Grrrrrrr.

This makes me feel better though because I did put 2 drops in one bottle and it tasted much better and had a nice head to it!

 

[ronclark]

Haha! I just realized that the reason why my lager is flat is because I only used 1 carbonation drop per 750 ml. bottle when the instructions called for 2! Grrrrrrr.

This makes me feel better though because I did put 2 drops in one bottle and it tasted much better and had a nice head to it!

Well, at least you got one of them right so you can get an idea of what to expect for future batches if you intend to do more kits from Coopers.

 

[unionrdr]

I used the cooper's carb drops for the first couple batches. I then built a bottling bucket & went to home cheapo for a coule sizes of clear tubing in the plumbing department. Not to mention a couple pounds of dextrose & demerara sugar for priming. Bulk priming is def better. That way you can mix sizes of bottles & it won't matter. I also think it does a better job,over & above priming to style.