Expert: Dave Nyce - 4/4/2007

Question
QUESTION: Hi, just got my first Coopers home microbrew kit, and am ready to go tonight
but have a couple specific questions hopefully you can help:

1) I’ve read that the Coopers brewing sugar (sucrose and maltodextrin)
doesn’t give great results. So, I picked up a 1kg bag of Light Dry Malt.  Will
this amount suffice when I brew, or do I need to supplement with more sugar?
I also have a bag of "Coopers Brew Enhancer 1" … does this “count” as a
sugar? Again, what are the quantities needed, on my way to making my 23
litre batch?
2) I have 40 grams of Hersbrucker Hallertau hops… I think they are loose
(haven’t opened the pouch). When do I add these, for how long, and how/
when are they to be removed?
3) I also am discarding the yeast packet that came with the Coopers kit, and
instead bought “Saflager 34/70” … I plan to simply add/pitch this into the
fermenter, once I have my wort going, and temp is right… sound right?

More info: the beer kit that came in the box is simply “Coopers Lager”… my
local temp (Melbourne Australia) over the next couple weeks will be in the
18-22 celsius range.

THANKS! For any help and your volunteering… cheers/kanga

ANSWER: It's best not to use sucrose.  Yes, the brew enhancer can be counted as malt.

The 2.2 kg plus the enhancer should be about the right amount.  

I would add half the hops during the last 10 minutes of brewing.  Then add the remainder of the hops to the wort in the fermenter.

I like to take 1/2 cup of the wort in a cup and add the yeast.  After about an hour, the wort should be bubbling.  Then I pitch it into the fermenter.

You can read some more info at:

http://www.brew-monkey.com/brewschool/introtoextract.php

Hope this helps!

Dave

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the reply. One follow up question, I often see this suggestion to start
the yeast growth process by starting it in a bit of cooled wort... what's the
benefit of this primarily? Is it a question of ability of the yeast to start growing
'strongly'?  what's the difference if it is starting a cup of cooled wort, or in a 23
litre fermenting bucket of cooled/diluted wort?
ANSWER: If you start the yeast in a small cup and see it bubbling well, then you know everything's ok and it will progress quickly in the fermenter.  If it didn't bubble quickly, the yeast may be old and you can try again right away with another batch.  If you just pitch directly into the fermenter, you'll have to wait about two days to be sure it's working.  

Hope this helps!

Dave

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks again. Last question (for today) (on this topic): the yeast i used (which
is bubbling away and working) is the one that came in the kit.. pack of Dry
Coopers (probably Ale) Yeast. OK, it's working and everything but EVERYONE
almost says what crap taste these yeasts provide, they're the reason home
brew has a bad rap, etc etc.  But why would this be? Why would Coopers or
any packager, pack a yeast that produces a poor tasting beer? It’s not like
yeast is in short supply, or that they are particularly expensive? I sometimes
wonder if purists get too snobby and, really, for the everyday/layman/novice
home brewer (that’s me), I’ll end up with a great tasting beer and wonder why
everyone went on about how bad kit yeasts are. Just interested in your
opinion, thanks again.

Answer
In my opinion, you are correct.  My first few batches, years ago, were made using the ingredients that came with a kit.  I thought the beer was great, and so did all of my friends.  The only big problem is that the beer is definitely inferior if you use any table sugar instead of malt.  (You can use corn sugar for the infusion at bottling.)

Then I made a few batches using a can of hopped malt, the yeast that came with it, plus a bag of malt extract.  That was also great.  Then I moved to the next step, etc.  

I had one snobby friend who made his beer from malt that he ground and sparged himself.  It was very good, but he was the only one who thought his beer was better.

So, go ahead and make some great beer.

Hope this helps!

Dave