Complete Beginners Question (Coopers IPA Kit)

Hoping someone on this forum can help out a complete beginner with what is possibly a very stupid question. I went to a local homebrewing supply shop to pick up ingredients for my first attempt at a home brew, and am now more confused then ever. I have a decent understanding of the process...but this kit has left me with some questions.

The kit (Coopers IPA) came with 3.3 pounds of liquid extract, and a packet of yeast (that looks to be expired), and some instructions that might as well have been written in Spanish (no cooking times, sugar is recommended?). This leads me to a few questions:

1. Shouldn't there be more? I assumed the beer would need hops, or some other kind of fermentables, not just some syrup out of a can.

2. The man at the store said that I needed two "kit cans" to make a 5 gallon batch, even though the kit says one can will make the batch. Who is right?

3. How long do I cook the wort for?

At this point, I'm a little weary of the whole thing. I'm a pretty prolific chef, and pouring extract from a can to get to beer seems a little like an easy way out. Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

1) Depending the kits, some have everything included in the can (pre-hopped extract); Coopers is usually one of these kits. If they only gave you the can and yeast then that is probably all you need. I would recommend buying new yeast though; an extra $2 for nottingham yeast is worth it in my opinion.
2) Depends which one you are making but most of the time the instructions will tell you how much each can will make. For instance, how many total gallons or liters do the instructions tell you to add to the fermentor? If it is this kit, it should make 5 gallons/23 liters: http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/how-to-brew/mid-strength/ipa
3) You probably don't need to boil the wort at all; but if you want to be safe and sterilize everything I would boil for at least 10 to 15 minutes.

Which exact kit did you buy? The Coopers website lists one or two. And yes, one-can kits is a really easy way to go, but it is great to do the easy ones first so you get an idea of how fermentation works and then try the harder stuff as you progress.

There usually are not any more fermentables as everything is in the syrup which is a dehydrated mash. There are partial mash recipes where you use syrup and some grain however this is not what an extract kit is. Whenever I have done extracts you bring it up to a boil for 60min and add your hops when the boil starts (which yes there should be some), other flavorings if any, and clarifing agents if you wish. Then you cool and put into a carboy. Also If you have dried yeast you should be okay as long as you are not way past the date.

I've done cooper's kits.

1. all the cooper kits I've seen were pre-hopped malt extract. With these you only boil about 15 minutes to make a sanitary wort.
2. one 3.3lb can is not enough for 5 gallons...hence why they wnat you to add sugar (or a second can which IS the smarter course of action) sugar will add alcohol, but thins out the body because it ferments 100% unlike the malt syrup.

Nothing wrong with a coopers kit but it is a lot like making soup from a condensed can...yah you can add to it, but the base is still out of a factory and not your hard work. But it is a starting place and it IS beer. Its good for understanding how fermentation works, and how to keep things sanitary. plus its cheap in terms of equipment (an all grain setup, even pieced together, still tends to run hundreds of dollars between cooler mash tuns, big boil pots, turkey fryers, and wort chillers.

Thanks everyone for the quick response. Fensterbos, the kit I am using is this one:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KWTEVO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

On the Coopers website (which you linked), it says that I need 500g of Light Dry Malt and 300g Dextrose. I do have some corn sugar (which I'm guessing is the dextrose), so should I just assume that the light dry malt is in the can with the liquid malt extract, or was that something that may have been missing from the kit? Do I need to add the extra sugar?

I know these questions sound REALLY basic, but I appreciate anyone helping me through this first brew.

It is better that you are asking these questions now instead of just winging it.

I haven't used a Cooper's kit in a while, but I think I know what is going on. The instructions mention the 1.7 kg can and the 500g of light malt extract; the 500g of light malt extract is probably something extra that you needed to purchase, which would increase the total ABV of the beer. The 300g of dextrose would be used to prime the beer for carbonation when bottling. The corn sugar you have would take place of the dextrose; this is something that is not added until after your primary fermentation (see: bottling).

Even with the 1.7kg/3.75 pounds of liquid extract and 2 pounds of light malt extract you are looking at making a 4.32% abv IPA, which is really light for the style. The reason why that guy at the home brew store recommended you get two cans is because the IPA would be really light for a five gallon batch. I used the following calculator to get those numbers: http://www.brewersfriend.com/extract-ogfg/
I would recommend only make a 2.5 gallon batch with the one can you have.

Okay, so it sounds like I may have to go back and talk to the guy at the store and see what I if I forgot to grab light malt extract. Hopefully this will be the last thing I need to grab before I can take a stab at this. Thanks everyone for all the help! I really appreciate it.

No problem; that is why we are here.

As boring as the Cooper kit sounds, I definitely think it is the way to go for the very first batch of brew. While you have this kit going pick up The Joy of Home Brewing or How To Brew and read up on the beginner practices; that way when this batch of beer is ready you can drink it while you make another batch.

Unionrdr is correct. I just did a Coopers Australian ale as my first brew and it actually came out very good.
The can is for a 6 gallon batch but you will need additional fermentables such as the Coopers BE1 or BE2. Personally, I just used 3lbs of extra light DME and it worked great. Also, as uniondr mentioned, you do not need to boil the prehopped kits. Just boil the water, add the fermentable (DME in my case) to disolve it, add the LME kit and take off the heat.

Unionrdr and kanddr are pretty much spot on. Ive used Coopers kits for almost all my brews, and the rest have been with just lme/dme. Ive found the most successful way to work with the kits to be this:

1. Boil somewhere between 2 and 6 # of lme/dme and roughly 1 # of sugar and dissolve well in a 2 gallon pot with a good amount of water, but with enough room for the coopers can later.
2. If extra hops are wanted (and they usually are) boil them for the amount of time that fits your taste/style of beer. I usually use 3-6 oz, some for bittering (60 minute boil) but most for aroma (10 minutes or less).
3. Take the pot of the heat and add the Cooper kit.
4. Pour into fermenter which contains 3 gallons of cold water.
5. Sprinkle yeast on top.

voila! I even made a DIPA like this, that according to most tasters, is right up there with the expensive microbrews.

You guys are a fantastic resource. Seriously, thank you for the help! So, it seems to me that the kits instructions should read something like this:

Cooper's IPA Instructions:

1. Boil between 2 and 6 lbs of either liquid or dry malt extract with roughly 1 lb of corn sugar with 2 gallons of water. Add extra hops if wanted.

2. Take the pot off the heat and add 1 can of Coopers IPA kit.

3. Pour into a sanatized fermenter, which already contains 3 gallons of cold water. Sprinkle yeast packet on top.

Makes 5 Gallons

A few more questions. What temperature does the wort need to be cooled to before adding the yeast? Also, If I'm not adding any other hops, I don't need to cook the DME/sugar mixture for very long, do I (just long enough to get everything mixed together)?

Thats what it should say, yes! But be careful, 6 pounds of some malt extract without any extra hops will give you a very malty, not IPA-like beer.

When I use really cold water, and dump it in there, its usually just right for pitching the yeast right away. And if you dont use extra hops, you could just boil it for 5-10 minutes to get it mixed and sanitized.

You can probably get away with only boiling 2 gallons of water since your main goal is to sanitize and dissolve the extract.
Temperature: Depending the style/strain of yeast I would recommend dropping the temperature to the 68 to 72 F degree range; I would not recommend pitching the yeast at anything higher since off-flavors can be produced at higher temperatures. You do not want to pitch at too low of a temperature or the yeast might not be active enough to initiate primary fermentation.
Is there any documentation regarding the yeast that was included in the kit and/or did you buy separate yeast at the home brew store?
And since you are not adding any more hops you do not need to do an additional timed hop boil.

pdxbrewnoob said:

You guys are a fantastic resource. Seriously, thank you for the help! So, it seems to me that the kits instructions should read something like this:

Cooper's IPA Instructions:

1. Boil between 2 and 6 lbs of either liquid or dry malt extract with roughly 1 lb of corn sugar with 2 gallons of water. Add extra hops if wanted.

2. Take the pot off the heat and add 1 can of Coopers IPA kit.

3. Pour into a sanatized fermenter, which already contains 3 gallons of cold water. Sprinkle yeast packet on top.

Makes 5 Gallons

A few more questions. What temperature does the wort need to be cooled to before adding the yeast? Also, If I'm not adding any other hops, I don't need to cook the DME/sugar mixture for very long, do I (just long enough to get everything mixed together)?

Click to expand...

Ok,1st off,cooper's kits are designed for 23L=6.072 gallons. If you're adding DME instead of brewing sugar,then add that to the BK & get it stirred in good. It'll foam a little for a couple of mins,then do your flavor/aroma hop additions for,say,15mins,5 or 10 mins,then 10 min steep at flame out. Remove that & add the cooper's can,stir well to mix completely. Then put a lid on it & let it steep for 15mins to let it sanitize a bit while it's still really hot while you sanitize the fermenter,etc. Then,chill the BK in an ice water bath in the sink till it's down to about 70F. Then pour it roughly into the fermenter,dito with the top off water to aerate it some. Then stir it like mad for 5 mins or so to aerate it further. Take hydrometer (OG) reading,then pitch the yeast & seal it up.

Great! This happens tonight. Thanks all.

Let us know how it turns out.

Read your directions again. I've made a number of Cooper's kits in the past few months and my LHBS always advises to add and extra 3.3 lbs of LME, but you can use DME as well.

the instructions read "Dissolve contends of can and OTHER FERMENTABE SUGARS W/2 liters of water......etc"

The trouble is they don't tellyou what the "other fermentables" are or how much of them. YOur LHBS should know better than to just sell you the kit as is.

UPDATE:

So I finally bite the bullet and gave it a shot last night. I clearly made a lot of mistakes, including the following:

-Not stiring the wort, so a tiny bit burned in the bottom of the pan
-Pitching the yeast when the wort was too warm
-Not realizing how HEAVY a glass carboy full of liquid is

Other than that, I think things went pretty well. When I woke up this morning, the brew was fermenting away....unfortunately, there was something on top of the beer which didn't look pretty (and I apologize for the huge size)



Doesn't that look a little gross? I'm guessing I didn't sanatize everything well enough (although I did spend a TON of time doing that). Do I need to toss this and start again? It would be a shame to waste all that hard work, but I'd rather start over now then wait and not be able to drink this.

UPDATE

Came home today and foamy sudsy stuff had blown through the air lock and dribbled it's way down the carboy. Not exactly attractive (or good for my hardwood floors). Probably should have attached a blow off hose to prevent. Should I take the air lock off and clean it out, or just leave it (C02 is still coming through the airlock)?

pdxbrewnoob said:

UPDATE

Came home today and foamy sudsy stuff had blown through the air lock and dribbled it's way down the carboy. Not exactly attractive (or good for my hardwood floors). Probably should have attached a blow off hose to prevent. Should I take the air lock off and clean it out, or just leave it (C02 is still coming through the airlock)?

Click to expand...

I'd put a blow off tube on it. One thing I'm concerned about is the temperature. If you pitched warm, and it's in a warm place, the fermentation is probably way too hot! Fermentation produces heat also, so it can get explosive.

I'd check the temperature (do you have a "stick on" aquarium thermometer?) and make sure it's under 70 degrees!

Yep, the nasty stuff on top is completely normal and will eventually fall to the bottom of the carboy. You will definitely want to keep an eye on the temperature of the fermentor and try to keep the temps below 70 (generally).

It looks like it's well on it's way to becoming beer! Now the patience begins......

I know I'm resurrecting a very old thread here but it seems the Coopers instructions are still as bad now as they always were. I recommend anyone about to brew one of these reads their website (here) as the instructions online are far superior to the printed ones.