Coopers European lager

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brianc

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Hello all.
I'm Brian I've posted a few times with various queries and appreciated the advice received.
I've got another question now!
Being fairly new to home brew I tend to follow instruction supplied with the kits I've done. However I usually look at the forum for other peoples views regarding how they enhance or change the ingredients etc.

So Coopers European Lager most people talk about fermenting it at a much colder temperature than the kit instructions state. Well I've just bought one of these and was going to set it going but I've also got a Coopers Australian Lager kit as well.
The instructions for both state the same temperature recommendations so:-
Would I be better not doing the European one until later in the year when.

Our kitchen where I stand my fermentation bucket is probable averaging about 22 oC at the moment. But perhaps in the winter it's more like 16/17oC.
Best regards Brian
 
coopers seem to recommend a fermentation temperature range of 21-27C, for optimum results. if you can achieve this then I'd go ahead. obviously the fermenting wort will achieve a temperature which is a few degrees above the ambient air temperature in your kitchen and your kitchen will be cooler during the night
 
coopers seem to recommend a fermentation temperature range of 21-27C, for optimum results.

..with most of their kits, the ones with an ale yeast. But Coopers European has a lager yeast so does require a lower fermenting temp, from memory I did mine in the middle of winter at 12c.

Have a look at the instruction again, I think you'll find a little section referring to the small number of kits that use a lager yeast.
 
i'm quoting from instructions for the cooper's australian lager which
brianc says are the same as the european lager. no mention of lower
temperature for a lager yeast
 
Well it shows the benefit of asking questions via the Forum.

Also it shows the need to read the instructions fully!!!

Apologies to Joker because I have a bad habit of saving the copies of the old instructions and I initially picked up two sets one from a current Australian kit and one from my previous one.
I had took the instruction out of the European kit but mixed them up with the others.
So my initial post was inaccurate in that I was quoting from the wrong paperwork. I should have sussed it because I'd written the SG START & FINISH readings on the one I was quoting from.

Having now read the proper instructions more thoroughly there is a note on page two referring to page 7.

And this says because the European Lager kit uses a true lager strain then it needs to be fermented at the lower end of the usual temperature range and they quote 21 oC it also goes on to say that the kit can ferment ok right down to 13oC
I read somewhere that the fermentation process also slightly slightly increases the temperature of the brew above the surrounding air temperature so my kitchen would be no good for this at the moment.

So thank you all for the comments. I must admit to being guilty of just skipping through the notes having a false confidence that this kit is the same as the other Coopers kits I've done.

I'm going to leave it for now and do the Australian Lager because our kitchen has maintained an average of about 23 degrees over the last few days. I shall set the European kit going when the weather is cooler. I may wait until mid July because I'm on a weeks holiday then and it's always cold and miserable when I'm away!!!

Thanks again to Joker, & Darrellm for your comments.
 
Hi brianc

I hope you have put the yeast sachets in the fridge - they will come to a lot less harm in there. No matter when you plan to do a kit, separate the yeast sachet as soon as you get it home and put it in the fridge.

I've not done the European Lager kit from Coopers, but their other kits have been spot on for mine, including the Aus kit (Green Lid).

I doubt very much that there is much difference between contents of the Eur and Aus tins - the main difference, I guess, will be the yeast. (No problem if someone knows otherwise, but a production line is what it is, and the Coopers kit factory will be just that.)

The only way you could go wrong is if you use the lager yeast at ale temps - that might be bad news.

The instructions with the Coopers kits, as you say, are all the same and you have to actually read them carefully to pick up on the lager yeast thing.
 
Hi Brianc, just to give you heads up I have just recently done a coopers aus kit, but ended up with a bit of an issue. After 2 weeks in the fv and fermentation complete I proceeded to bottle when I discovered my problem. A banana like smell.:sad:
when it was fermenting although the outside of the fv was showing a temp of 22'c when I looked at the digital thermometer, which I place the prob inside it was reading 25'c.:???:

I am hoping the off smell will disappear over time but not looking good, so if you can't keep the temp stable and lower than 20'c then I would leave it till the colder weather:cheers::cheers:;-)
 
Hello thanks to Slid and Mtirkiesh for your comments.
I'm going to wait for cooler weather to brew the European kit.
I've done the Australian kit before and was very pleased with it. However I hadn't thought to keep the yeast sachets in the fridge of any kits I was saving for doing later.

Since reading these posts I've removed both yeasts from the coopers kits and am surprised to see that on first impressions they appear to be identical. Even down to the Bar Code on the back. 88119 00007 in both cases.
The only difference is that they have a further number printed not very clearly that differs.

32513P for the European Lager & 28213 for the Australian

I've written those on the individual instructions so will double check before starting that I have the right one.

I had read about the fact that the fermentation process tends to bring the temperature above the surrounding air temperature so my kitchen is too hot at the moment to do the European kit.
I didn't notice any strange odours during the making of my previous lager kit but have noticed that the instructions for the European kit says that it is common to get a egg smell whilst fermenting which will dissipate during the conditioning stage. It also says to give the brew at least 12 weeks to mature before trying.

Thanks again to all who have responded to my original post
Best wishes Brian
 
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