Cooper beer enhancer

Does the enhancer have a big effect on flavour?
Do the beers taste good without it??

Only just thought of this, after bottling a Mexican lager today, what tasted a little weak, but i'm guessing this is down to it being "green" and needing a longer in the bottle etc.

I was just wondering what people think of the coopers kits, with and without enhancer ?

(Second kit is the English Bitter)

Thanks.

hey thanks for that uniondr! I was wondering the difference between them as well.

I added the brew enhancer 2 to a draught and I thing it hurt the flavor. B2 is more for dark beers, I personally think your better off using B1 for lighter beers. Just my .02. Happy brewing.....

If you use these "brew enhancers" and they only contain 75% fermentable sugars will you end up with a mid strength beer? would you need to top up an extra 250g of dextrose to compensate for the 250-300g of non fermentable maltodextrin to obtain a full strength beer?

I did a number of Coopers Kits before switching to AG. To each I only added 3.3 lbs of LME and of course the yeast that came w/the kit. Each made a fine beer not watery at all. The only one I didn't like was the wheat beer.

I am experimenting with as it is 100% maltodextrin I just mad ea batch with 400g of this gold medal carbs (maltodextrin) and 600g of dextrose my wart tastes alot better than when i use dme.. (i dont like the malt flavour in my lauger).. so *cross fingers I hope it works out ok..

As for the original question ..the coopers brew sugar that has 200g malto and 800grams of dextrsoe was my favorite brew I ever made... I have tried others with dme+ table sugar, dme+ honey, dme + dextrose, and all were OK but only ok.. I recommend getting maltodextrin if you enjpyed the first batch from the coopers kit. I'm not into dme in a lauger I like a lauger because it tastes like a lauger not a malt beer.. so personally I'm pretty excited about my newest batch.

if your curious maltodextrin is what is in the coopers brew sugar, the cooper brew enhancer #1 and brew enhancer #2...if your confused..lol.. it seems nobody has tried this (or i cant find anyone who has but, me)... so yah.. making my own brew enhancers for half the price XD

I added the brew enhancer 2 to a draught and I thing it hurt the flavor. B2 is more for dark beers, I personally think your better off using B1 for lighter beers. Just my .02. Happy brewing.....

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The reason is the DME in BE2 is not suitable for lauger brews... thats exactly why I am stocked about the maltodextrin i bought... BE1 and brew sugar do not have dme... and are recommended for use with the coopers lauger ..

I personally think DME has no place in coopers lauger, coopers draught or any of their lighter beers. Lighter beers get bombarded with a strong malt flavour if even 500g is used, making the brew OK but, only ok.. i will report back on what I think of the maltodextrin when its complete.

your correct on all accounts..(and yes i knew about the ale yeast) I do have a question what hops would you add to a coopers lager, to keep that good flavor balance. cascade? (sorry don't know that much about hops yet)

Certainly agree about the Coopers kits having a malty tendancy; especially evident when they're young.
I used BE1 in a Canadian Blonde and although now it's coming good, it was quite malty to begin with even with just the maltodextrin from the BE1, I'd be very reluctant to add much/any DME without a decent sniff of hops.

To compare to the Canadian Blonde, I followed it with a Coopers Australian Lager brewed only with dextrose so when it's ready I'll be interested to see how it compares on the malt front.

Also, agree (although hadn't realised myself) that the hopping seems only to add to light bitterness, at least when brewed with the supplied yeast.

Im sorely tempted to try another kit with a lager yeast and see how the malt and hoppyness turn out and use that as a base from which to modify.


Cheers


edit** Also, forgot to ask - for all maltodextrin is non fermentable so it adds the creamy mouthfeel, how much malt flavour does it bring compared to the same quantity of Light DME?

I did a lauger brew last week with BE2 and i only came out with a OG reading of 1.030 and my final was 1.012 which gives me like 3% avg. should i add more brewing sugar to batches when i get low readings???

Ninj said:

Certainly agree about the Coopers kits having a malty tendancy; especially evident when they're young.
I used BE1 in a Canadian Blonde and although now it's coming good, it was quite malty to begin with even with just the maltodextrin from the BE1, I'd be very reluctant to add much/any DME without a decent sniff of hops.

To compare to the Canadian Blonde, I followed it with a Coopers Australian Lager brewed only with dextrose so when it's ready I'll be interested to see how it compares on the malt front.

Also, agree (although hadn't realised myself) that the hopping seems only to add to light bitterness, at least when brewed with the supplied yeast.

Im sorely tempted to try another kit with a lager yeast and see how the malt and hoppyness turn out and use that as a base from which to modify.


Cheers


edit** Also, forgot to ask - for all maltodextrin is non fermentable so it adds the creamy mouthfeel, how much malt flavour does it bring compared to the same quantity of Light DME?

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Maltodextrin won't bring any malt flavor at all. You have to add DME or LME to get that. I use 3lb bags of plain DME in my recipes. Half the bag in the boi,half at flameout with the Cooper's can.

stevedog2020 said:

I did a lauger brew last week with BE2 and i only came out with a OG reading of 1.030 and my final was 1.012 which gives me like 3% avg. should i add more brewing sugar to batches when i get low readings???

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The BE2 has some plain light DME mixed in with dextrose & maltodextrine. But 3%ABV is a good session beer. Don't add brewing sugar. plain Extra light DME would be better for gold/straw gold colored beers.
And since you're using plain DME in a partial boil,you could do a bittering addition @ 60minutes,then flavor additions @ 20-25 minutes & 12-15 minutes left in the boil. At flame out,add the remaining DME & the Cooper's can. Cover & steep 10 minutes to pasteurize,sin that happens at 162F & the wort should still be around 180F. Plenty of heat left to pasteurize it,which doesn't take long.

Need help-maybe. Ok, bought a cooper's diy brew kit then wife got me a Mr Beer American Porter. I followed the directions on the porter can which calls for no sugar and only the contents of the can itself until the carb drops are added at bottling time. My brew has been fermenting for a week and it looks like all the yeast has settled to the bottom and does not appear to be doing what I think it's supposed to be doing. This is my first ever home made beer attempt. Is there more I could/should have done or is this natural? The brew has been kept at a near constant 24deg celsius dropping only as low as 22 on some night and not going higher than 26 for one or 2 days at this point.

The mr beer cans by themselves are relatively weak/low in fermentables and it is not uncommon for them to finish up relatively fast depending on how fresh your yeast pack you got was. What a lot of people including myself tend to do with those mr beer kits is to add a lb of DME which ups the flavor, substance, abv of the kit. The best thing you can do is to buy a hydrometer and to test the beer and if it comes out with the same reading twice 2-3 days apart it is done.

Thanks Tim, I bottled it today without tasting it. It smells like it should and all the yeast was absorbed into the brew. I took a SG reading and it read around 900. Might not be the strongest but after it finishes it should be fine. Thanks for the advice, next time we get a mr beer can I'll be able to put your advice into play. I have 4 cooper's brews and brew enhancer to play with so after I might try the Mr Beer again, perhaps 2 to get the same quantity as I do with coopers.

Hi guys, I have made the Draught and the Canadian Blonde so far, with each one I used the enhancer 2. I let each of them ferment for about 4 weeks and then kegged them. Both had a green apple taste and I really didn't like them at all.

I just got the IPA and picked up another enhancer 2... any suggestions as to how not to get the green apple taste?

unionrdr said:

You either added too much table sugar to the wort,or the temps got too high during initial fermentation. Keep ferment temps down,especially during initial fermentation where temps are more critical because of how much of the total fermentation is happening at this point. That should cure it.

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I never used any table sugar, just added the enhancer 2. So the temps got too high during fermentation then?

thanks for the response!

ya I have a stick on thermometer on my bucket and carboys. They showed 24 degrees C at first but after the fermentation slowed they went down to 22. I thought that was in the right range. I dont know how I am going to get it any cooler, that is in the coolest part of my house.

Hope its going alright for you James.

Guys earlier in this thread were talking about adding hops to the Coopers hopped extract to offset the maltiness when using the extract with DME for a fermentable suger.

Me being a noob playing around in beersmith, my first brew was a scaled down 1 gallon batch with Coopers real Ale LME and Briess Sparkling Amber. The only difference is that I scaled the amounts down to a 1 gallon batch, and then upped slightly the amount of Coopers LME to hike the bittering up that way. With this being one of my first batches ever, I didn't want to mess with adding hops right now. A lazy way to up the bittering, I thought. Will this work?

The nice thing about using software -- it's easy to see what the general effect is on the IBU, etc. is when the amounts are changed.

I ended up gently boiling the LME with the DME for only about 20 minutes, and didn't notice any carmelizing. I cooled the pot in a snowbank outside, wisked it a bit to airate it, pitched the Coopers yeast (about 1/5 of it), and put it in my gallon jug for fermentation.

I had a load of kreuzen happening and had to make a quick blowoff tube, but that's probably from my lack of headspace in my jug. I found a good place in my house that stays very close to 65F this time of year. Only 8 days so far, but I sampled it last night and it tastes pretty good so far! I'm excited to get it bottled.

This forum is so helpful, and having fun so far.

Scottie

I noted you said that earlier in the thread, but my batch was in already! My basement has cooler spots, I'll look into that and not boiling it next time. I have enough Coopers for about 4 more batches.

Thanks!

Scottie

I just checked something -- I fermented at 65F, which is just over 18C. That works, right?

Scottie

I'm a noob at this and on this forum, as this is my 5th post. You're over 15K! Whoa.

Is that an R. Crumb avatar? Very cool!

Thanks for the advice!

Scottie

I just started brewing a corona style coopers. It's been going for a couple days. Just got the maltodextrin in. Can I add it now?

Hey guys, I'm new and noob at all this. Just bought the coopers home brew kit and watched some wrong video. So i poured the enhancer after I tipped the lager in. So went lager, water, enhancer... does this make a difference or ruin it. Also in Australia, in an apartment I couldn't get my temperature low... so had to do it all what seemed to be 28 degrees.. this will still work it also ruin it? Atm got a cold wet towel with a fan blowing on the fermenter case lol. Cheers boys hope I havent ****ed it.