Suggestions/Improvements for the Coopers Microbrewery kit?

[Kilgore_Trout]

I've got this kit headed my way right now:
Coopers Microbrewery Kit | Beer Making Kit

I realize that it's not exactly high quality, but it looked like the best option for my starting price range.

It comes with their standard Lager canned kit.

Does anyone have any suggestions for improving the taste/quality of this kit? I'm not expecting anything spectacular, but if there is anything basic I can do I wouldn't mind. I'd like to get the best results that I can from my first brew.

Austin Homebrew sells the coopers kits with brewing sugar, so would that be an option? I believe the kit just tells you to use normal cane sugar.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[Chello]

The fermentation vessel in that kit is top notch in my opinion. I have been using that kit for 2 years without a single complaint.

It comes with an ingredient kit as well, but i would not follow the directions as it says to add a couple lbs of sugar which will just result in a cidery tasting beer.

I'd recommend substituting the sugar for some light malt extract, but you may need to add a bit more hops as well in order to balance the increased malt.

Once you brew the initial kit that comes with the package, there is no need to stick with Coopers kits. You can brew anything you want in that fermenter.

Enjoy!

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

The fermentation vessel in that kit is top notch in my opinion. I have been using that kit for 2 years without a single complaint.

It comes with an ingredient kit as well, but i would not follow the directions as it says to add a couple lbs of sugar which will just result in a cidery tasting beer.

I'd recommend substituting the sugar for some light malt extract, but you may need to add a bit more hops as well in order to balance the increased malt.

Once you brew the initial kit that comes with the package, there is no need to stick with Coopers kits. You can brew anything you want in that fermenter.

Enjoy!

I was a bit leery of the sugar based on what I've read here, so that's not too surprising. Thanks for the suggestion . Is the flavor really going to be that bad? I haven't really heard any complaints about the coopers recipes, and they all use sugar. While I read that it's not a good idea to heavily sugar a brew, is it going to totally ruin it?

I wouldn't mind ordering some DME and hops to add, but really have no idea to begin. How much DME should I use? I'm assuming it's not 1:1 with sugar.

Also, if I do want to add hops... what kind would I need? and how much?

Since this is my first brew I'm not really confident that i can just "wing" the amounts .

 

[Rezilynt]

My first brew was the Coopers Stout kit. My LHBS told me to absolutely ignore Coopers instructions and provided his own. Replace the sugar with 3lbs of LME or, (I believe I've converted this correctly) - 2.67 lbs of DME. You will not need any other hop additions. You can check this link for full instructions: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ignore-instructions-do-not-bottle-after-5-10-days-78298/

 

[Wrathbone]

I started with the Coopers Kit in April. Wow I've made some strides since then.

First off, I definitely recommend AGAINST using the sugar as directed. You will most definitely end up with some thin, cidery beer.

You can buy another can of unhopped pale extract from Cooper's, and use that with the can you currently have. I believe those are 3.3 lb. cans, so that amount in pale LME from any supplier would suffice.

Since the first can is prehopped, it already has the bitterness added to it. I would recommend picking up some flavor/aroma hops.

You'll also want to throw out the instructions for the most part. Just adding hot water will not suffice.

EDIT: Link above has better instructions than mine. Proceed.

 

[hopsalot]

I would recommend to a different route, for the same price you can get a quality set of brewing equipment form Austin Home Brew, you have to splurge a bit more for ingredients, but if you end up enjoying your home brew you are going to wish you never ordered that pop gun kit.

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

I would recommend to a different route, for the same price you can get a quality set of brewing equipment form Austin Home Brew, you have to splurge a bit more for ingredients, but if you end up enjoying your home brew you are going to wish you never ordered that pop gun kit.

An Austin Homebrew kit would've cost me well over $150 to get the first batch going. I figured for $100 it's not a bad buy, and I can reuse virtually everything in the kit. It's a nice fermenter and it comes with bottles & a hydrometer, it should scale well as I upgrade my equipment.

Thanks for the links & suggestions fellas, I'll probably just add the malt extract and see how it turns out. The instructions will come in incredibly handy, thanks very much.

 

[Chello]

I would recommend to a different route, for the same price you can get a quality set of brewing equipment form Austin Home Brew, you have to splurge a bit more for ingredients, but if you end up enjoying your home brew you are going to wish you never ordered that pop gun kit.

The fermenter you get in this kit is of very high quality. Sure a bucket works fine, but the Coopers one is a nice 9 gallon vessel made specifically for brewing beer.

This kit is not like a Mr. Beer kit if thats what you mean by "pop gun kit"...

 

[Mutilated1]

Its a nice kit. I have one of those, plus several of the other kind brew buckets, craboys, etc..

If you bought the complete kit that comes with the Lager Canned kit, you will make just fine beer. I believe it comes with Cooper's brewing sugar - it is not the same as cane sugar. You don't need anything else to make a good beer.

You might try the Cooper's Brew Enhancer 1 & 2 from that site with the Cooper's Lager kit sometime, that makes good beer as well.

My favorite way to make the Cooper's Lager kit is to just use 2 cans and forget about the sugar entirely.

I also don't use the Cooper's yeast that comes with that kit, I have used it in the past but it makes the beer taste fruity/estery like an Ale - not bad, but since I've been making it with real Lager yeast and fermenting it cold I like it a lot better.


It will make very nice beer, just keep an eye on the fermentation temps and keep it cool.

 

[Mutilated1]

The fermenter you get in this kit is of very high quality. Sure a bucket works fine, but the Coopers one is a nice 9 gallon vessel made specifically for brewing beer.

This kit is not like a Mr. Beer kit if thats what you mean by "pop gun kit"...

thats very true - its a really nice kit, I wish I had two of them

I use mine and make an extract or can & kilo batch nearly everytime I make an all-grain batch - can't say enough good things about that kit.

 

[A4J]

I started out with a Cooper's kit as well and I followed their instructions and my lager ale wasn't cidery, but I would follow everyone's advice here about substituting sugar for DME.

A couple other pieces of advice:

If you can, sanitize with something other than bleach. I could taste traces of bleach in some bottles and it was just so nasty.

Keep your fermenation temps in the mid 60's, despite what the instructions say. IIRC, the instruction say that it's ok to ferment up to 72degrees, but I had noticeable fusel alcohol in mine because I fermented at 72 degrees.

I would also ignore the instructions about bottling within a few days.

I was expecting my first batch to be absolutely horrible, but I was pleasantly surprised to taste that it was actually good.

 

[Mutilated1]

Keep your fermenation temps in the mid 60's, despite what the instructions say. IIRC, the instruction say that it's ok to ferment up to 72degrees, but I had noticeable fusel alcohol in mine because I fermented at 72 degrees.

yes thats very true - it tastes much better fermented in the mid 60s, or use a real lager yeast and ferment in the 50s

I would also ignore the instructions about bottling within a few days.

bottle when the hydrometer says its done - if you fermented at 72 that will be a few days, but if you fermented at 65, 7-8 days is probably more reasonable to expect

but if you stick to the instructions and use the Cooper's brewing sugar or Dextrose and the Cooper's yeast at 72 - yeah the yeast will eat that right up in no time, it will take 4 maybe 5 days tops, but then you've got the fusel alcohol thing going

the kit comes with a hydrometer - use it

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

So you guys think I could get away with just using the sugar? If so I could save the cash from the malt and spend it on whatever I brew next.

How noticeable would the difference in taste be? I'm not expecting anything spectacular...

I plan on fermenting it in a room that currently sits in the high 60s, but as fall/winter approaches it's getting much cooler so it should be about right.

 

[gimmebeer]

Kilgore:
I realize science fiction novelists don't make a lot of money these days, but if springing for a little malt isn't in the budget, you may have chosen the wrong hobby. You'll have to buy lots of malt if you want to make beer.
Kurt

 

[A4J]

How noticeable would the difference in taste be? I'm not expecting anything spectacular...

I've never done a side-by-side comparison, so I can't say for sure, but all my friends loved my first brew [the only complaint was the "kick" from the fusel alcohol].

Keep in mind that the fermentation process will naturally keep the wort temp higher than ambient temp, so you might have to do keep the fermentor in a water bath to keep the temps down.

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

Kilgore:
I realize science fiction novelists don't make a lot of money these days, but if springing for a little malt isn't in the budget, you may have chosen the wrong hobby. You'll have to buy lots of malt if you want to make beer.
Kurt

Thanks for getting the reference.

I'm not really leery of the price, but I haven't decided yet on what my second batch will be.. and spending $5-10 to ship just this one ingredient seems kind of silly. If I can get by without it, I'd rather wait and buy all my ingredients after I decide. Austin homebrew does flat rate shipping for each order I believe, so it's wise to order it all at once.

If it will still be of acceptable quality without the malt, I might just go ahead and use the sugar. This first run is just going to be to get used to the process anyway, I guess there is no need to complicate it.

The water bath wouldn't be too much of a hassle, I'd just need to find a big enough container. It doesn't produce THAT much heat does it? I've got an r-134 glycol chiller that I could use if I had to but I didn't think it would be necessary.

Thanks for the help!

 

[hopsalot]

I guess I did not do my research, looks like a decent kit....

 

[Mutilated1]

So you guys think I could get away with just using the sugar? If so I could save the cash from the malt and spend it on whatever I brew next.

How noticeable would the difference in taste be? I'm not expecting anything spectacular...

I plan on fermenting it in a room that currently sits in the high 60s, but as fall/winter approaches it's getting much cooler so it should be about right.

Yeah you'll be fine with just the Sugar. Sugar meaning the Cooper's brewing sugar that comes in your kit, and not Sugar meaning a bag of sugar from the grocery store.

I've made that Cooper's Lager kit probably a dozen times by now, you can make it with extra light DME if you want to - but its real easy to overdo it. The brew enhancer 1 or brew enhancer 2 is only part light DME. If you use the yeast that comes with the kit, do not go more than 3/4-1 kilo of DME.

If you want to try making it with Malt instead of the Sugar, I would try brew enhancer 1 or 2 with it. I've been happy with this kit made with either one of those, but I think it turns out best with the regular Cooper's brewing sugar which fortunately is also the most economical.

 

[Hibob!]

I've made a dozen batches with my Coopers fermenter. Works like a champ.
But listen to AJ7. I went cheap and used bleach to clean/sanitize my Coopers and my brews picked up a foul taste. I was about to call Austin home Brew to complain when I started to do a little research.

 

[Hibob!]

A4J. Crap.

 

[Pivzavod]

I am a newbie who just ordered Coopers Brewery Kit and I tend to agree with what Mutilated said in the other thread about Coopers.

I was doing a lot of research on Coopers and from many threads that I've read here most people said not to use the sugar that came with it and to use malt instead. M was the first person who said to go with what Coopers instructions say. From my research I know that Coopers is a family owned brewery that always kept a good reputation with the quality of their beer. They are also in the home brewing kit business since the 70's and that goes to show you they should know what they are doing. I bought my Coopers Brewery kit + European Lager. I will follow their instructions and see what happens. My next batches I will try with AH kits and expand my Coopers setup further

Hibob,

In my yesterday order I also bought Coopers Sanitizer I was getting FREE S/H so I bought some extras to expand my kit. I guess the reading I've been doing is paying off!@#!

 

[jturie]

I have made 3 batches with the Cooper's kit. The lager was good, although I could discern the sugar adjunct in the final product as kinda cidery (btw, I think it's technically steam beer as I heard that the supplied yeast is ale yeast).

Batches 2 and 3 were Cooper's Stout and IPA, but I used 3 lbs of Munton & Fison DME for the Stout and a can of Coopers LME for the IPA. Both batches were much much better than the initial lager. In fact, the Stout was downright phenomenal.

I'm having problems with the fermenter in that I think it is losing its seal. Batches 2 and 3 never bubbled thru the airlock. Don't know if it's the lid or the airlock grommet. Tried to contact Coopers to see if I could buy a replacement part, but they never responded to my request.