First Batch Report

I just tasted my first batch of home brew the other night. I must say that it was disappointing. Honestly I have no idea what it was called or what type of extract it was seeing that it was a Christmas gift from my step mother in law. In all fairness her beer experience is glimmered to American lagers, so when I looked at the "kit" she got me from her local HBS I was skeptical. It was 7lbs extract(Unknown what type, no label and she had no idea), some crystal malt, Tettnang hops (for both bittering an aroma), and Coopers Dry Yeast. The result? well it tastes like a Corona without the "bite" as SWMBO says. A rather depressing result. Later this week I am going to start with my next batch. A take on a beer that I had in Munich this summer.

Edit: Sorry if this is a bit disjointed I am recovering from a migraine.(No, it started days after my taste of this batch)

Sorry the first taste was bad. However, how long ago did you brew? When was it bottled? Give at least three weeks after bottling before you try it.

Practice the Patience and the brew gets better, really.

Migraines SUCK. Can't have Imitrex myself, so I just crawl in a cold dark quiet hole and puke occasionally and wish I was dead. Hope your better now.

What was the OG and FG of the batch?

Not having the info on ingredients would make me skeptical too, but really tasting like corona is not nearly the worst thing in the world.

Next time I would research a different or neutral yeast (US-05) to use as I wouldn't trust or want to use Coopers brand yeasties. Maybe trying a kit from Midwest supplies would be a good way to start out; most people have given their kits and prices A+ reviews.

It was only 2 1/2 weeks in the bottle, and just 2 weeks in primary, no secondary. I know that beer gets better with age but I wanted an idea of what it actually was because I chose none of the ingredients. Honestly I hopped that my step mother in law knew more about my beer tastes, guess 500 miles and seeing them 3-5x a year should have told me something. I'm sure my beers can only get better now that I can choose what to make.

The O.G. was 1.032 and F.G. was 1.010
I have some WLP300 for my next batch, It fits the bill of what I wanted in the next one. I'v accumulated ingredients(for the next one) from suggestions I have seen around here. Hopefully i never have to use another kit...

BakaBrew said:

The O.G. was 1.032 and F.G. was 1.010
I have some WLP300 for my next batch, It fits the bill of what I wanted in the next one. I'v accumulated ingredients(for the next one) from suggestions I have seen around here. Hopefully i never have to use another kit...

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Kits aren't bad if you know what you're getting, and most will list what their contents are. The beer has a low ABV so maybe that is causing the lack of "bite", as your SWMBO put it.

Making your own recipes makes for interesting experiments, just be careful and make sure you know what you need for what you want. Check out ProMash or in my case BeerSmith, they will prove as an awesome resource when planning your next brew day!

Mark K.

BakaBrew said:

The O.G. was 1.032 and F.G. was 1.010
I have some WLP300 for my next batch, It fits the bill of what I wanted in the next one. I'v accumulated ingredients(for the next one) from suggestions I have seen around here. Hopefully i never have to use another kit...

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No, if you used 7lbs of liquid extract in 5 gallons of water, you have an OG of 1.050. You probably took the hydrometer reading wrong, although I don't know how you do that, or when you topped off with water, you didn't mix well which gave a bad reading.

SkylerChaBro said:

What was the OG and FG of the batch?

Next time I would research a different or neutral yeast (US-05) to use as I wouldn't trust or want to use Coopers brand yeasties. Maybe trying a kit from Midwest supplies would be a good way to start out; most people have given their kits and prices A+ reviews.

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Interesting that the only thing you blame is the only branded product in the ingredient list. How is it that the yeast that a 5-star brewery uses is to blame?

tomheff said:

Interesting that the only thing you blame is the only branded product in the ingredient list. How is it that the yeast that a 5-star brewery uses is to blame?

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while you're right the yeast are not to blame here... Though in all fairness coopers has to be the worst yeast I've ever used. It doesn't attenuate well and flocs very poorly. I guess that could be desirable in some cases, but usually not something that is supposed to be clean and neutral.

Thanks for all of the suggestions, but I think the real problem was that my Step Mother In Law does not know what type of beer I like and instead told the guys at the HBS there that I drink ______ beer when at her parties, not realizing that that is the ONLY beer she has at her parties... Usually corona or some Native American named red can thing.

Quote:
Usually corona or some Native American named red can thing.


Nice!!! Well at least you don't see her more often than 3-5 x a year! he hehe he

Cheers

z987k said:

while you're right the yeast are not to blame here... Though in all fairness coopers has to be the worst yeast I've ever used. It doesn't attenuate well and flocs very poorly. I guess that could be desirable in some cases, but usually not something that is supposed to be clean and neutral.

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In all fairness? You sound a little prejudiced to me. It flocculates poorly? That's not my experience. Low attenuation? You must not have used Coopers yeast. One has to wonder why you post such nonsense when you admit that the yeast is not to blame here.

tomheff said:

In all fairness? You sound a little prejudiced to me. It flocculates poorly? That's not my experience. Low attenuation? You must not have used Coopers yeast. One has to wonder why you post such nonsense when you admit that the yeast is not to blame here.

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From what I have read from here and other forums I lurk around, consensus is Coopers yeast is poor, or not desirable. But if you like Coopers yeast then by all means use it.

The yeast is not the sole thing I meant to blame, but it's one thing I would have changed from the kit. Lack of labeling would drive me nuts, hence the Midwest kit recommendation.

BakaBrew said:

Thanks for all of the suggestions, but I think the real problem was that my Step Mother In Law does not know what type of beer I like and instead told the guys at the HBS there that I drink ______ beer when at her parties, not realizing that that is the ONLY beer she has at her parties... Usually corona or some Native American named red can thing.

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That would make much more sense. In the end if you are producing a mystery beer that doesn't fit the style you generally enjoy, well, there you go

Z978k Is probably right about your hydrometer reading. The wort may not have been mixed up enough or top off water may have been sitting on top of the thicker wort.

tomheff said:

In all fairness? You sound a little prejudiced to me. It flocculates poorly? That's not my experience. Low attenuation? You must not have used Coopers yeast. One has to wonder why you post such nonsense when you admit that the yeast is not to blame here.

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what I meant was this is obviously not a yeast problem, but coopers yeast has to be the ****tiest yeast I know of. It does nothing well to no style. How about that.

z987k said:

what I meant was this is obviously not a yeast problem, but coopers yeast has to be the ****tiest yeast I know of. It does nothing well to no style. How about that.

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He works for Coopers.

SkylerChaBro said:

He works for Coopers.

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really? Cause if so that's funny.

SkylerChaBro said:

From what I have read from here and other forums I lurk around, consensus is Coopers yeast is poor, or not desirable. But if you like Coopers yeast then by all means use it.

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You are correct that I represent Coopers and the reason why I am responding is because as you say people tend to say it is not desireable but these people have not really used it. These are the same people that say the manufacturer's instructions for beer kits are awful and recommend throwing the instructions and yeast away. But they have never made the beer kit following the instructions. It is a highly consistent yeast. It will produce a yeasty beer when fermented at higher temperatures. This can be desireable for Belgian or similar styles. It ferments clean at a lower temperature range, 65 - 70 degrees. The BYO folks were in my office just last week and commented how clean the beer I served them was.

I think many people that frequent the forums don't like the simplicity that Coopers has to offer. It doesn't give them much to write about.

Since Coopers ales are served all over the world, I guess many people like the ales that the yeast produces.

I have been a home brewer for over 16 years. I used to be an all-grain brewer.

tomheff said:

I think many people that frequent the forums don't like the simplicity that Coopers has to offer. It doesn't give them much to write about.

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Yeah that's why I brew all grain. It gives me something to write about. It has nothing to do with an obsession over control and having a beer with the utmost quality that I can possibly make.