Bottom fermenting yeast - how should it look?

[lovelldr]

Yesterday,I decided to take advantage of the cold weather... Taken a temp reading in garage, and its been s fairly consistent 13'c. So, with fermenting temp, maybe a little higher.

I have a Coopers Euro lager to do, and thought would be great to get going whilst still cool.

Made up as per instructions, but brewed a little short to 21l. Pitched yeast whilst was still approx 22'c. This was yesterday afternoon. Last night,I checked temp, and it was around 16'c still. This morning, it's approx 14'c, so looking good temp wise. Have wrapped it in a little occur of carpet so didn't get too cold.

Had to have a quick sneaky look, and to my surprise, it looks like it's going already. I'd heard these take up to 3 days to get going. But, the ones thing that did concern me, is the clump type look it has:

Hopefully this is all normal looking for a lager ferment, but just wanted to check with your good selves, and treasure myself, as this is a fist ferment for me. Was just surprised it started going so quick... Did smell quite nice, no egg smell yet, lol...

Thanks again all

 

[pittsy]

looks fine to me , lager yeasts do tend to give off eggs etc ,

 

[jonnymorris]

Looks good.

 

[lovelldr]

That's what I was saying, no egg smell, so another worry, lol.

But, hopefully all ok, just wanted the reassurance. Altho I guess I'll find out in a few weeks, hehe.

 

[alanywiseman.]

My understnading was that most lager kits used clean fermenting ale yeast. That is why the suggested temperature is 18C not 12-13C. THe more expensive kit use lager yeasts. THis might explain why the fermentation you are seeing is not too different from your ale fermentations.

Just a thought

 

[lovelldr]

My understnading was that most lager kits used clean fermenting ale yeast. That is why the suggested temperature is 18C not 12-13C. THe more expensive kit use lager yeasts. THis might explain why the fermentation you are seeing is not too different from your ale fermentations.

Just a thought

coopers euro ale uses lager yeast... But thanks for the suggestion

 

[alanywiseman.]

coopers euro ale uses lager yeast... But thanks for the suggestion

That is good to know, I never thought the Coopers kits had lager yeast.

Every day is a school day

 

[RobWalker]

did you use dme/beer enhancer?

solid clumps could be clumped malt which you can bash out with a brew spoon. you won't get it with liquid, just dry.

if you're just talking about the yeast though, tis fine as people have said :

 

[Aleman]

coopers euro ale uses lager yeast... But thanks for the suggestion

I never thought the Coopers kits had lager yeast.

Not all the Coopers Lager Kits use Lager yeast, In fact only the Euro from what I recall when I last made a Coopers Kit . . . Things may have changed since then.

 

[anthonyUK]

Looks as though it is only Euro Lager and Pilsener.

Original Series:- Ac (26807)

International Series:-
Australian Pale Ale - Ac+L (26807 Int)
Mexican Cerveza - Ac+L (26807 Int)
European Lager - L (26807 P)
Canadian Blonde - Ac (26807)
English Bitter - Ac (26807)

Thomas Coopers Selection:-
Wheat - A (26807 W)
IPA - Ac (26807 IPA)
Irish Stout - A (26807 IS)
Pilsener - L (26807 P)
Australian Bitter - Ac+L (26807 PS)
Heritage Lager - Ac+L (26807 PS)
Sparkling Ale - Ac+L (26807 PS)
Traditional Draught - Ac+L (26807 PS)

Note:
Ac = Coopers ale yeast (our own strain, not the same as the yeast in our commercial ales, developed in-house and propagated under contract).

A = ale yeast
L = lager yeast (these strains are commercially available dry yeast and their details are held in confidence).

 

[lovelldr]

did you use dme/beer enhancer?

solid clumps could be clumped malt which you can bash out with a brew spoon. you won't get it with liquid, just dry.

if you're just talking about the yeast though, tis fine as people have said :

Yes, I used brew enhancer 2. I did bash it up quite a lot when mixing and couldn't see any left in fv after mixing, so I think I managed to get it all mixed up.

Looking today though, it did look as though there was a prolly 0.5cm krausen on the top?! couldn't tell fully though, as didn't want to open it up again, so just from looking through the fv, which isn't really the easiest to see through :p

Just gonna leave it be for about 3 weeks, and then bottle...

Other question now, is do I add some Saaz hops, as others I've read say the beer isn't very hoppy, but others say its just perfect as is, lol

 

[Eric_S]

I'd leave it as it is - I thought the beer was very nice without any modding. When I made mine up the general consensus was to use plain sugar rather than any enhancer as it didn't need any extra.

 

[lovelldr]

I'd leave it as it is - I thought the beer was very nice without any modding. When I made mine up the general consensus was to use plain sugar rather than any enhancer as it didn't need any extra.

Ok, will try as plain, then at least know for next time...

As for enhancer,I just followed instructions on kit, that said to use the enhancer. Also read somewhere that lagers can also go too thin if just use simple sugars, and with the euro lager, it's best to have that bit of body....

Anyway, will let you all know in a few months. Still going strong with the little bit of a krausen in has (definitely much bigger than I expected, and outs only 14'c there)!