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beerdom · 12-12-2009, 06:54 PM

Hi all,
i'm about to brew up a coopers lager kit, and was wondering what the ideal quantity of as well as type of fermentables would be for this. I also noticed the kit instructions (i know they're never very good) say to let its primary fermentation occur in the 21-27C range while i was under the impression lagers were fermented more commonly at much lower temperatures. Is there any way to tell if they actually supply a lager yeast or if they just throw in a standard ale yeast and call it a lager... Yeast packet just says "coopers brewing yeast".

thanks
beerdom.

samc · 12-12-2009, 07:03 PM

The yeast is a "combined lager/ale yeast" according to someone @ Coopers that I emailed last year. They do that because the average new brewer would have trouble with maintaining Lager temps for fermenting. I usually used whatever they included in the kits.

beerdom · 12-12-2009, 07:07 PM

hmm, so whats the primary difference between a coopers lager and a coopers pale ale?

obviously they've never been to canada during the winter where i can easily keep a room at 10-15 degrees no problem

samc · 12-12-2009, 08:37 PM

no idea - if you have the regular Lager you might not have that "special" yeast- here is the email I received.

Heritage Lager is provided with a blend of two strains of yeast - one a
lager and the other an ale. The ale yeast will stall below 16C, after
pitching at 22C allow the temperature of the brew to fall no lower 18C.

Cheers,

Frank Akers
Home Brew Advisor
Coopers Brewery
Adelaide, SA

Toll free 1300 654 455

http://www.coopers.com.au

**HopSong** · 10-20-2011, 08:57 PM

I am brewing this currently. My first. I'm 16 days into the process. I talked to the folks at Makebeer.net and they suggested fermenting at 18*C which I have closely maintained thanks to a water bath. My starting gravity was 1.040 and at this point it's 1.011. I don't know if it will go lower or not. But, I'll take another reading on Monday which will be Day 20. If it hasn't moved, I'll bottle it with the carb drops and let it condition for a couple of weeks before trying it. It looks and smells pretty good.

Also, I'll live with this one.. I think it will only be 3.8% or something like that. But, if it really turns out nice (to my expectations for a first time brew), I'll probably try it again and add enough sugar to up the alky to about 4.5% and add some additional hops.. probably Saaz.

**unionrdr** · 10-20-2011, 09:57 PM

Ok,the Original Series (that I call OS)lager has an ale yeast,so it's really a light pale ale. The heritage lager can has the lager yeast. I got the OS lager kit with my micro brew fermenter kit from Cooper's. The OG was 1.048. They gave me the brewing sugar,1kg with 80% dextrose,20% maltodextrin. And of course the mentioned ale yeast sachet of 7g.
Temp was 22C,going down to 19C at one point. FG was 1.012,& used the supplied PET bottles after sanitizing. About 2 weeks in primary. Bottled 2/13,was pretty good after 5 days in fridge starting 3/10. Had to get out the note book this time.
I've since used the OS lager as a base for other ales. It's pretty good used in that light. Like with some 3-4lbs of DME & hops. Different DME's,different hops,combining with another LME can & different DME's,etc. It can make some different styles of ales.
But the stock kit def needs some late hops,at least.