Bottling day.

[Budgie]

Morning ladies and gents,

So my first brew, a Coopers Australian Lager has been in the FV for 8 days at about 21 degrees C. The gravity has been at 1010 for a couple of days so I'm thinking of bottling tomorrow.

I have the FV in a cupboard (where the temp is pretty constant) so I'll need to move it for bottling. When I move it, is this going to churn up any sediment, or have any other ill effects? I was taking of putting it on the kitchen bench tonight and leaving it overnight for anything to settle again.

Any advice would be great. It's my first brew and everything has gone pretty much to plan so far so I don't want to fall at the final hurdle! Cheers.

 

[568ml]

If you can leave it for a few more days, 10-14 at least, it will be so much better for it. I was too keen to get my Coopers Lager in bottles, only seven days, and it didn't taste that good.

I move my FV to the kitchen table about 1-2 hours before priming and bottling. Unless you really beat the FV up I can't see much sediment that needs longer than that.

 

[markm1878]

agreed, I wouldn't bottle before 14 days... most of the time I wait 3 weeks.

If you could set the FV in it's bottling position the night before that would be ideal. Remember to keep it out of sunlight, and don't worry about it going too cold now. I chill mine to almost freezing for a few days before bottling. This clears it up and drops the yeast to the bottom of the fv so very little ends up in the bottles, but enough for it to carbonate.

 

[Budgie]

Thanks guys. As impatient as I am I'll leave it.

I've read a few posts from people saying they cool it down for the last few days. Could I just drop the FV into a bigger bucket of cold water/ice?

It looks like I'm drinking shop bought stuff for another week!

 

[markm1878]

You could do. To be honest, if it's your first one, just get it bottled at room temps, it's not too much of a benefit to have less yeast in the bottle. I wouldn't bother unless I had a brew fridge.

I'd expect to wait a while for it to reach it's best, but it's probably worth trying after 3 weeks in the bottles.

I'm not a fan of lager kits personally, i'd recommend going for a decent ale one next if you can. They can make a much better representation of the style.

 

[Budgie]

In that case, I think I'll just leave it alone for another week then bottle it. I'm thinking about doing the Youngs IPA or a Northumberland brown ale next. Or maybe both :wink: