Suggestions on 2 Can Brewing with Coopers

[787Beerman]

10 days ago I started a 2 can brew using Coopers Lager with their dry yeast. Does anyone have any suggestions on how long to leave in primary plus any suggestions on dry hopping before bottling would be appreciated. Many thanks!!
787Beerman

 

[KevinW]

Some kits use "lager" yeasts and some use "ale" yeasts in their kits! If yours has a true "lager" yeast then you would probably want to have fermented it cold like about 52°or so. If you fermented cold then you could do a diacetyl rest which means bringing the temp up to about 70° or so for a few days then lager for about 3 weeks at about 35°.
After lagering then bottle/keg.

If you have fermented at warmer temps like the low to mid 60's then I would leave it in the primary for at least another week or two then bottle/keg!

 

[787Beerman]

I'm told it is a ale/lager yeast and that Coopers suggests 21-27C which it has been since first put into FV. I wanted to know how the "2" (toucan) method turns out. Let me know if you have ever tried this method. Thanks!!

 

[walbre89]

I tried this and after a month and a half in the bottle it is getting better but it had a huge bitter over tone up until now guessing because of the double whammy of hops.

 

[Sadu]

Coopers European lager is a true lager yeast. The original series lager is an ale yeast.

If it's the ale version then 2-3 weeks is good for these.

I did a 2 can using a can of lager (past expiry date) and a Coopers real ale. Came out ok, drinkable, not great. Could be the extra hops, or the tin being expired, or that my temps were a bit high.

I read that the original series lager is like 8 ibu worth of buttering hops with no flavour or aroma hops. So doubling up on 2 lager kits shouldn't come out too bitter. I bottled one last week, should come out ok, and have a European lager brewing now at proper lager temps.

 

[walbre89]

I'd like to know how that euro lager comes out, as it's winter here in australia I have a black rock pils with some specialty grain and wyeast 2278 lager strain it'll be my first real lager!

 

[Sadu]

I'd like to know how that euro lager comes out, as it's winter here in australia I have a black rock pils with some specialty grain and wyeast 2278 lager strain it'll be my first real lager!

Go for it I say. I'm in New Zealand so my winter might be a bit cooler than yours but the lager sits there at 10-12c in it's bucket of water. All my ales have heat belts and temperature controllers on them but the lager is super happy in the cold with no special fridges or technology. In summertime this would be a different story. When it's time to lager I will throw in some frozen water bottles each morning to keep it as cool as possible.

I toucanned the Euro lager, added some saaz and hallertau at 15/5/0 and fermented with 34/70 yeast instead of their yeast. So for better or worse, this one will be largely my own creation. I'm assuming the euro lager is mostly pilsner malt with bittering hops only, so I'm aiming for a somewhat hoppy German pilsner style beer here.

 

[walbre89]

Yeah I think the coolest we get here is around -1C and that's at 4am.. enough to frost over the windscreen in the car but not enough to do much else.

That sounds like a good brew your putting down I love pilsners, I'm trying to get a lowenbrau clone and have some saaz hops to add 15 minutes before flame out, the only thing is I've always been an extract brewer so I'm very interested to see how it turns out. Eventually the idea is to buy a grainfather and create something unique but I just have to convince the minister for war and finance first!