Hi there Guys. Coopers starter kit

[Huck]

Hi guys.

I'm thinking about buying a coopers starter kit, and giving this kit brewing a bash. I have a few questions, if yous don't mind

Is the lager with ale yeast that they provide in the starter any good? Would my house guests turn their noses up at it?

I'm mainly a lager or pilsner drinker, but moving a new fridge into the house would upset the wife big style at this stage. I heard that a blonde ale would suffice without the temperature issues. So, i was thinking that if i managed to get this going i could brew blondes in the summer, and lagers in the winter maybe (we'll see). . . So, Is canadian Blonde an ale, and is it any good? Can any of yous recommend a decent kit that would get me going over the summer and provide an accceptable BBQ beer?

Lastly, if the lager they provide in the coopers is drinkable, i'd be happy just doing that for a while. I've seen a few videos about how to improve it (adding Saaz, and reducing the dextrose mainly) How would you hack this starter beer to make it something you could enjoy?

Thanks in advance...Huck

[Drum]

Welcome aboard Huck. If you havent already have a good read through Lord Eoin's guides to kit brewing and hacking, http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,669.0.html 
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,2732.0.html

These will give you a good idea of where to start and what equipment/ starter kit to buy.

I did a few canadian blondes back in the day    They were never great on their own to be honest but they were ok as a base for hacking. I did brew it once with 2 or 300g of cara pils steeped and then used the steep water to boil about 20g each of Saaz and Hallertauer Hersbrucker for 15 mins or so. sorry I can't remember any of the quantities exactly it was a few years ago. But this turned out as close enough to strongish lager. Swap the kilo of sugar for extra light spraymalt (dme) and ferment with safale us 05 at as close to 16 C as you can keep it, dont touch for 3 weeks except to cool it down for the last few days if you can. That should get you somewhere along the lines of a lagerish ale.

If you don't understand any of that Lord Eoin's guides explain the process of how to do all that better than i could

[LordEoin]

Hi there Huck!

If you're focussing on Coopers kits and want something drinkable and suitable for the lager swillers, then I'd probably go with the Australian Pale Ale kit with 1kg of light dry malt extract. If you're feeling adventurous then you could steep about 250g  carapils  or crystal and a light dryhop of saaz (maybe 30g).
If it's your first brew I'd advise you to keep it simple and just stick with kit+DME.

Regarding the lager kit: it depends which one. some come with lager yeast, some with ale yeast, some with a blend. Check THIS POST for descriptions of the supplied coopers yeasts.
The pilsner kit makes a nice beer but the true lager yeast means you NEED temperature control. You'll muddle through with out temperature control with their lager yeasts as they have a pretty high tolerance to higher temperatures (but they're not as 'clean').

Personally, I'd go with one of the Homebrew shops' starter kits though, mainly because I like the idea of a sealed FV with an airlock but also because there is often a better selection of kits available. And they're usually cheaper.