newbie cooper's kit oops?

[lkondolian]

(You guys must get a lot of newbie questions right after the holidays.)

Got a Cooper's kit as Xmas present and set up the primary last week.

The directions are: 1 week primary, 3 weeks in PET bottles, keep between 21 and 28 deg C.

After reading around here, I have two concerns I want to ask about:

1- I've been using a heating pad to keep the primary at about 24-26 C. After reading posts here, I'm worried that this was way too high, in spite of the Cooper's kit directions.

2- I'm considering doing 3 weeks in primary, then 3 weeks in the bottles with the carbonation drops. (Instead of 1 week primary, 3 weeks in bottles.)

What do you think? Thanks for your advice.

 

[Stratotankard]

3 weeks in the primary will be much better for your beer than the Cooper's directions. I have the same setup (got it last Christmas) and have kept mine in for up to 2 months. The 2 months was probably a little long, but I got busy. Personally I keep the primary around 70F or a touch lower if I can.
Three weeks in the bottle is a good start. You'll hear the experts here say 3 weeks/70F over and over. They know what they're talking about. Longer in the bottle is normally better.

I will say that the first beer i made with the Cooper's kit tasted very nice after 3 weeks in the bottleand got better over the next couple months. I set one aside and opened it 6 months later and it was terrible!

Good luck on your first brew and keep asking the questions, it's the best way to learn and the folks here know more than anyone else.

Terje

 

[WBC]

You are right, keep it in the primary longer and hold the temperature lower between 66F to 68F. The lower temperatures will have less esters and taste better.

 

[Flattop]

I've done quite a few Coopers.
Temps are too high try to keep under 24*c worst case under 28*
You don't mention if it's an ale or lager.
Ales around 18-20*c is fine .
Lagers a bit cooler is better.
14 days primary
Secondary optional (not really needed)
Bottle 3 weeks minimum (suggest 4-5 much better), keep bottles at room temp for a week then cellar at a cooler temp to help the yeast drop out.
Coopers tend to be yeasty when green, pop a bottle at 2 weeks to get the taste.

 

[Vic_Sinclair]

My first kit was also a Cooper's kit that claimed to be a lager. The directions said it would be OK to ferment in what I now know are surprisingly high for lagers. I suspect Cooper's uses an ale yeast in their lager kit. At any rate, I made a Cooper's "lager" as my first brew in the middle of July and it turned out just fine. Your idea to leave it in the primary longer is a good one. Enjoy.

 

[billy_awesome]

I made a mistake by following the Coopers directions.......

After 9 days in primary I went to bottles, then 10 days later I opened a bottle and it tasted like CRAP! not worth it at all, after doing some reading on this site and I found out to practice the 1-2-3 or 3-3 method.

1-2-3 method is: 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary (if u have another carboy), then 3 weeks bottle.

3-3 method is 3 weeks primary, 3 weeks bottles.

Same length of time just no secondary storage which is just optional for a cleaner beer.

good luck!

 

[Flattop]

Most of the base Coopers kits use ale yeasts, some of the high end kits use better more specific yeasts. If you are concerned about the yeast Us-05 is a god substitute. I find the Coopers yeasts take some time to clear whereas US-05 is a clean fast yeast.

Billie's problem was he opened the bottles too quickly, like i said 21 days minimum in bottle and 30+ is better.

 

[TroubleBrewing]

Coopers is great in that they're opening the door to so many new home-brewers. Unfortunately, though, they've recognised that the best lure to most new brewers is cheap beer quickly.

20-24's more or less the sweet spot for temperature, with standard ale yeasts. I'm brewing higher than that as I still don't have temperature control. Don't think you should throw out the batch, it's not ruined! But when you taste it (after it's bottled for 3 weeks) just remember your future batches will be better, so don't be too disappointed if it's not great.

I think it'll taste great to you though, the first batch tastes great for everyone! And Coopers do make a fairly decent kit. Which goo did you get with it?

 

[lkondolian]

Coopers is great in that they're opening the door to so many new home-brewers. Unfortunately, though, they've recognised that the best lure to most new brewers is cheap beer quickly.

20-24's more or less the sweet spot for temperature, with standard ale yeasts. I'm brewing higher than that as I still don't have temperature control. Don't think you should throw out the batch, it's not ruined! But when you taste it (after it's bottled for 3 weeks) just remember your future batches will be better, so don't be too disappointed if it's not great.

I think it'll taste great to you though, the first batch tastes great for everyone! And Coopers do make a fairly decent kit. Which goo did you get with it?

Thanks for the advice! This is a lager kit. I gather (from another thread here) that all Coopers kits use the same yeast?

 

[WBC]

Thanks for the advice! This is a lager kit. I gather (from another thread here) that all Coopers kits use the same yeast?

Most kits are Ale yeast as most first time brewers do not have the means to control temperature.

The sweet spot fermentation temperature for yeasts are....

Ale: 66F to 67F (19C to 20C)
Lager: 50F to 53F (10C to 12C)