Coopers Wheat

[AgentPooky]

Hi all,

I'm wanting to make a Cooper's Wheat beer and I need some advice.

Can I add two cans of the Coopers wheat beer, or should I rather add 1 can wheat beer, and 1 can wheat malt.

Or alternatively I could use 1 can wheat beer and 1kg DME.....

At the moment I'm thinking 2 cans wheat beer and some white sugar to up the ABV...

Also, anyone that has tasted this wheat beer, do you know if it has a bubblegummy taste, as I really like that.

Thanks!

 

[trogdor447]

I have not, I am looking at trying this kit out myself - Curious to see your experiences.

 

[Math0]

Why would you put 2 cans in? The mix is only one. If you want to tilt the basic recipe a bit, I would try only one can of Coopers wheat and add about 500g of your DME.

 

[AgentPooky]

Why would you put 2 cans in? The mix is only one. If you want to tilt the basic recipe a bit, I would try only one can of Coopers wheat and add about 500g of your DME.

I like to tinker and I have read that 2 cans of extract can give a better result.

 

[PistolaPete]

Those kits are high in unfermentable sugars since they are designed to be paired up with something that is very fermentable like more LME, DME or corn or table sugar. That's not to say using two cans of the same kit still won't turn out well, your abv might just be a little lower and your FG a little higher. I'm not sure what yeast comes in the kit, but if it's an ale yeast you can use some dry wheat yeast instead and that should give you more esters which are responsible for those bubblegum/banana flavors. The higher the fermenting temp is the more esters you will get...over 78F and you will get very strong ester flavors if you use wheat yeast.

 

[AgentPooky]

Those kits are high in unfermentable sugars since they are designed to be paired up with something that is very fermentable like more LME, DME or corn or table sugar. That's not to say using two cans of the same kit still won't turn out well, your abv might just be a little lower and your FG a little higher. I'm not sure what yeast comes in the kit, but if it's an ale yeast you can use some dry wheat yeast instead and that should give you more esters which are responsible for those bubblegum/banana flavors. The higher the fermenting temp is the more esters you will get...over 78F and you will get very strong ester flavors if you use wheat yeast.

Thanks a lot that's helpful. So perhaps it better to use 1 kit and 1 wheat LME with a different yeast.

Or should I use 1 can with some DME and sugar?

So hard to decide. Aiming for around 5.5%

 

[Math0]

I would do both! You have nothing to lose! You will need more than 1kg fermentable sugar to get about 5.5% though. You can always add some more on the way if the % is not high enough.

 

[PistolaPete]

For better taste, I would also recommend only brewing a 5 gal batch instead of 6 gallons like the instructions say. This will help you achieve a higher abv also. The Cooper's kit plus a 3.3lb can of LME OR a 3lb bag of DME plus about 4-8 oz corn sugar should get you to about 5.5%. You could also boil some of the extract with some hops if you want (boil the reg extract NOT the Cooper's kit)

 

[mChavez]

Hi,

I've brewed a Coopers Wheat before (was my second batch ever) and I went with:

1 can of coopers wheat
1kg of brewing sugar
0.5kg of wheat DME.

I'd guess that the beer ended up in ~4-4.5% so maybe going with 1kg of wheat DME will give you a stronger beer.

I bottled at 4 vol CO2 (beginners mistake) so had to release some pressure while it was carbing. 3 vol CO2 is probably best.

The beer turned out great and was very popular among my friends. I still have a couple bottles in long storage in my attic and I had one a couple days ago (3 months in storage). The beer tasted great.

If I had to brew it again, I'd throw in 50 grams of 4%AA hallertauer for 20 minutes into the 3 litres you use to wash out the remains of the LME. IMHO all kit beers really lack hoppiness.

Good luck!