Coopers Brew Enhancers

[Trizza]

Is anyone aware of the composition of coopers BE1 and BE2?

I've been using them in most of my brews for months now and have been having excellent results, but it must be cheaper to make them up from scratch.

Thanks to the use of these enhancers, I've found it difficult to make an undrinkable beer.

[rwh]

BE1 is dextrose+maltodextrin. Good for light beers like lagers/pilsners/blondes.
BE2 is malt+dextroxe+maltodextrin. Good for medium bodied beers like the pale ale/bitter.
Plain malt is better for your heavier bodied beers like stouts and porters.

Having said that, a lot of people don't use anything other than malt.

I'm not sure what the proportions are. I'd be guessing:
BE1: 750g dextrose + 250g maltodextrin.
BE2: 500g LDME + 250g dextrose + 250g maltodextrin.

But those are GUESSES.

LDME is about $8 a kilo isn't it? The brew enhancers are around $5.50 yeah? So not too much to be saved there. But I could be all wrong wrong wroooong.

[Trizza]

I'm just trying to work out the exact contents of each, so i can pick up a couple of kilos of each and save a fair bit of cash.

I'm just loving my beer, and i think its largly due to the Brew Enhancers.
9 brews so far and all have tasted better than VB or Carlton

Its not on the Packet!

[rwh]

Its not on the Packet!

The contents are on the packet, just not the proportions. But I don't think anyone knows those except Coopers. Maybe try posting on their forum (and post back here when you find out ).

[lethaldog]

No one knows, its the same as brewcraft packs, they dont tell you for the reason that if they did then you wouldnt buy them Have a look at the country brewer packs, they tell you exactly whats in them and it might give you some idea of whats in the others, it will be guessing but hey

[Trizza]

Maybe I should start playing around with random quantities of each ingredient, and see what happens.

I sorta did that with some Coopers Ginger Beer by putting in 500g of honey. The PET bottles can't stand up straight anymore because of the over carbonation. It's just as well I used plastic or else every single bottle would have exploded.

Amazingly, it tastes f---ing fantastic.

[NTRabbit]

BE1: 750g dextrose + 250g maltodextrin.

600g dextrose + 400g Maltodextrin

BE2: 500g LDME + 250g dextrose + 250g maltodextrin.

is correct

[Trizza]

Thanks a lot!

How does everyone feel about the use of these in HB? As someone who is kinda new to the whole brew scene I find them really helpful in making all my beers fully drinkable.

So a Question To All: Are Brew Enhancers (Coopers, Brewcraft, Country Brewer ect...) useful in modern brewing and effective and at producing good brews?

[Trizza]

Thanks a lot!

How does everyone feel about the use of these in HB? As someone who is kinda new to the whole brew scene I find them really helpful in making all my beers fully drinkable.

So a Question To All: Are Brew Enhancers (Coopers, Brewcraft, Country Brewer ect...) useful in modern brewing and effective and at producing good brews?

[gregb]

Are Brew Enhancers (Coopers, Brewcraft, Country Brewer ect...) useful in modern brewing and effective and at producing good brews?

Used with a basic kit in place of a kilo of white sugar - absolutley Yes. For mor advanced kit brewing, well, subject to what you are trying achieve, yes they can be.

Cheers,
Greg

[r.magnay]

said it before and I'll say it again................Coopers bitter with BE2 takes a lot of stacking,......................................and I have drank a lot of beer in my time!!!

[Chris]

Even better, use all malt.

[Shagger]

No one knows, its the same as brewcraft packs, they dont tell you for the reason that if they did then you wouldnt buy them

This is from the Better Brewer's Resource Book (1997) by Mike Rodgers-Wilson. (It came with my starter kit way back)

#10 Brew Enhancer - 750g dex, 250g maltodextrin
#15 Brew Enhancer - 500g dex, 250g light dry malt, 250g maltodextrin
#20 Malt Plus Booster - 250g dex, 500g light dry malt, 250g maltodextrin
#25 Stout Booster - 750g dark dry malt, 250g maltodextrin
#30 Milk Stout Booster - 750g dark dry malt, 250g maltodextrin, 250g lactose

[NickMoore]

When I asked Coopers a year or so ago they said BE2 was 50% dex, 25% malt and 25% corn. Has that changed?

[dogsbeer]

Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 for me means a beer that has no substance to the flavour and just plain old boring beer. If I wanted to drink boring beer I could try stuff like XXXX or a Tooheys. Go to your HB shop and buy a blend that they have put together or recommend.

I have just put down a Coopers Sparkling and used a recipe from the tin only to see how their recommendations are.

1 can Thomas Coopers Spark
1.5 kg Coopers light malt extract
500g Light dry malt
300g dextrose

Alternatively I could have used my HB shop own mix of South Australian Sparkling Ale Blend. The HB shop I use have their own blend for a vast range of beers and have never let me down with flavour and body.

I f I haven't said it yet Coopers Brew Enhancer 2, BORING.............. I feel this the same for everyones favourite BC #20. I just love hearing how good that stuff is......

[Cortez The Killer]

Thanks a lot!

How does everyone feel about the use of these in HB?

Try buying in bulk

I bought
3kg Malt $23
3kg Dextrose $9
1kg Maltodextrin $6

And have been making my own mixes

[r.magnay]

G'day dogsbeer,
I'm not too sure how you arrive at Coopers BE2 being ...boring, I generally don't sit and look at it.....or talk to it.... or expect it ot talk to me so I don't find it boring, It is just a factory blend which I and many other brewers find convenient and satisfactory. If you have the time and facilities to root around making your own, or you prefer to use some other brand or HBS mixture, fine, but for the sake of answering the origional question asked by Trzza, Coopers BE1 & BE2 are quite good products and can be used with a fair amount of confidence, Coopers have been making some pretty reasonable beer for some time now, and do have some idea of what they are doing.

[drtom]

Ross makes a good point. The great thing about home brewing is the scope. You can do K&K, using off-the-shelf products, or you can do more yourself, using extracts, hops, etc, all the way through to all-grain. And compared to mega-swill, it's all great!

How much you do yourself really comes down to what you want. If you want cheap piss, then K&K is pretty hard to beat, or if you want the satisfaction of developing craftsmanship, you can get as sophisticated as you like.

If you want to see sophisticated, check out the Maltose Falcons website sometime. There's a great account of how they made a clone of this fancy Belgian desert beer, using the full champagne method of turning the bottles, freezing the neck and uncapping to eject the yeast sediment, then topping up and recapping. Wow. There's lots of other good stuff there too.

Myself, I think I'll probably stick with extracts and hops for the time being. More time for the kids that way.

T.

[Trizza]

Speaking of buying Malt and Dextrose in bulk, where's the best place in melbourne to get some cheaply?

Money is the limiting reagent to my homebrewing.

[rwh]

Grain and Grape isn't bad, especially for all-grain brewing. Dunno about "best" though. They're in Yarraville and I'd suggest the price of petrol should be factored in to your buying decisions.