AboutDave Nyce Expertise I have been brewing beer at home for more than 10 years. Would like to help other people get started. I can recommend equipment, methods, ingredients, and estimate what it would cost to get set up. I have travelled a lot in Europe, and have tried many kinds of beer.
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.
