Coopers Wheat Brew Process

[BDRJ]

Hi

Another newbie here.
I am most likely going to ask a question that has been answered a hundred times so I apologize.

I recently purchased a beer making kit, this one in fact
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00AYIYYYQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I went to the local brew shop here and all they had were bunch of Coopers kits and being a fan of wheat beer I decided to pick it up and try it out.

I also have 500g of dry malt extract and 300g of dextrose ready as the side of the can says to add this for best results.

Now I have read many fourms including this one and I can't seem to find a solid answer on the process of this.

My understanding through reading these forums is the Coopers kits are a no boil extract, correct?

Now my questions are:

Do I need to boil the DME and dextrose at once? Does it need to be a 60min boil?

Do I need to add the extract into the boil?
If not, do I just put it into the fermenting bucket and pour the hot dme and dextrose liquid over top and mix?

Once fermented in the bucket, does it need a secondary fermenting? If so how do I go about doing this? adding more dextrose or just leave as is?

Thank you for all your help in advance.

 

[SippinSudz]

Do not boil anything but a kettle of water.

Sanitize EVERYTHING. I use starsan sanitizer in a spray bottle, Bucket, lids, can opener, and scissors you use to open malt sac, etc. Anything you are going to touch.

First add the Dry malt extract to the fermentor, and pour 1.5 litres of boiling water from kettle on it. do not use a spoon to mix, simply swish the bucket around in a circular motion to dissolve the malt.

Carry on adding the Coopers kit, dextrose and top up with Cold water to your chosen volume. I usually do 18-23L so it's quite a range you can choose.

Pitch yeast at 18-21°C

 

[BDRJ]

I wish I read that before I did what I did.

I did sanitize everything that I touched or would touch the wort in any way.

I sort of boiled about 2 gals of water (not a rapid boil just a low boil) and added the dextrose and dry malt extract and mixed it around for about 20mins until I felt it was all mixed in.

Then took it off the heat and added the can of the extract and mixed it thoroughly.

Then right into an ice bath to cool the wort down.

I then added the wort into the fermenting bucket, added cold distilled water, and waited until the temp dropped to 81F, which I know now may have been too high to pitch the yeast however I also placed the bucket outside right after to cool it down faster.

Since then its been sitting constantly at 21C or 69F

I hope it works out, and that I didn't do too many things wrong.

 

[SippinSudz]

You nailed it.

That's how I started. As long as you're not actively boiling the canned kit, everything else can be preboiled in a pot.

If you did boil the kit in the water + malt etc it will darken, and cooking the malt isn't the best, but will make good beer.

Well done

 

[BDRJ]

Update

The first few days there were lots of bubbles coming out of the airlock, now there is very little if any.
I know that bubbles don't always indicate fermentation so I am just going to wait it out.

Should I test the gravity in a few days (around the 10 day mark) or should I just continue to wait?

The temp is sitting around 20C consistently

 

[Kent88]

Sounds like you did alright on brew day.

Now the big thing is patience. While you can take a gravity reading at 10 days, you probably should wait until day 14. From my own personal experience and reading what people here have said, once one learns to leave his or her fermenting beer alone, things get better.

 

[SippinSudz]

I don't go for my FG until bottling day. I only do FG to calculate my ABV now.

Good job, enjoy.

14-21 days is what I wait, minimum. I'm not in a rush.

 

[BDRJ]

So about to come up to day 14 and wondering what FG i should be looking for.

Also when bottling generally how much dextrose should I use in the bottling bucket. I read somewhere 200g mixed with some water works for a 5 gal batch.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Kent88]

It should have given an anticipated final gravity in the instructions. Below 1.011, I'd assume.

You're mostly looking to see if it stabilizes. If the reading is the same on day 16 as it was on 14, you're good to go.

 

[Kharnynb]

200 grams on 5 gallons is a lot, try around 160 grams for wheat beer.

 

[SippinSudz]

I went with 116g of dextrose for 21L at 19°

Hoping this will be a low-medium carb for my Real Ale, coopers

 

[BDRJ]

I went with the 160 and bottled with a FG of 1.012
So far no bottle bombs or anything like that, but I did try some and it seems pretty good.
Can't wait to try it when it is cool and ready.

 

[Kharnynb]

that's nice, should be a good drinking in 1-2 weeks

 

[BDRJ]

I ended up bottling 24 650ml bottles and 4 600ml bottles from a few empties I had a around.

The 4 empties I had, for some reason the cap would not go on (different bottle) so I plastic wrapped the top of them and tied some elastics around it

Being all excited I tired one of the 4 last night and it had a slight wine taste to it, nothing major, and nothing that an orange or lemon wouldn't mask.

Actually come to think of it, there was a slight wine taste to it when I bottled.

I think the high pitch temp may have had something to do with it, but I am open to other suggestions.

 

[Kharnynb]

20 c is in the sweet zone for a wheat ale, should be nice, can you specify the "wine taste" more?
acidy or sweet or dry?

 

[BDRJ]

The only way I can describe it would be like a white wine on the tail end if that helps.
Its not over powering but I can taste it.

 

[BDRJ]

So I just tried another bottle and there was a definite wine smell and taste with it. Like a dry white wine or cider. Nothing too crazy but still there.

It has only been a week in the bottle but i am wondering if there is anything that can be done.

I plan on giving it more time in the bottle if need be but just wanted other opinions.

 

[Kharnynb]

at this point all you can do is age it a bit and see what happens.

other than that, brew something new and see what it does

 

[BDRJ]

Thanks for the reply I just tried it with a slice and squeeze of a orange slice and it was actually pretty good so maybe giving it a bit more time might make it better. Thanks for all the help everyone.