Cooper's Australian kit

[zed0]

Hi all. My first brewing attempt is currently under way using the above kit. Been in the fv for 2 weeks but my first gravity check has come in at 1016. I'm brewing at a consistent 18 degrees which is at the low end of the operating temperature for the supplied ale yeast.

Should I up the temperature a bit to try and move fermentation on or just leave it longer to do its stuff? Also I presume at this temperature I won't need a diacetyl rest once it completes? Or should you still do that for ale yeasts?

I had a taste of the sample I drew off for measuring and it had a strong chlorine taste. I used tap water untreated. Will this flavour disappear over time during conditioning?

Thanks in advance
Zed

 

[Slid]

Hi all. My first brewing attempt is currently under way using the above kit. Been in the fv for 2 weeks but my first gravity check has come in at 1016. I'm brewing at a consistent 18 degrees which is at the low end of the operating temperature for the supplied ale yeast.

Should I up the temperature a bit to try and move fermentation on or just leave it longer to do its stuff? Also I presume at this temperature I won't need a diacetyl rest once it completes? Or should you still do that for ale yeasts?

I had a taste of the sample I drew off for measuring and it had a strong chlorine taste. I used tap water untreated. Will this flavour disappear over time during conditioning?

Thanks in advance
Zed

Hi Zed

It may be possible that there was some sanitising fluid still in the fermenter at the start of fermentation?

You are doing pretty well fermenting at 18C in this weather, maybe a few days at 20-24C will sort the problem.

I would NOT bottle at 1016 for this kit, no way. But since I don't believe it is really 1016, I suggest the following.

Test the hydrometer with some tap water, left to get to around 20C. Get a feel for the calibration - it should say 1000 for water at 20C.
Then remeasure the brew, remembering to give the sample a bit of a shake to remove CO2 and giving the hydrometer a twirl to remove any CO2 bubbles. If it is more than 1010, move the FV somewhere warmer. If you added 500g DME, it should get to 1008 or so. If not, then 1008 is the max you should bottle at.

Hope this helps, mate. Let us know how you get on.

 

[zed0]

As an update on this. I initially raised the temperature to 20c for 2 days which didn't seem to make much difference. I finally raised it to 22c and managed to get the hydrometer down to 1008. After calibrating my hydrometer at 1002 that gave me a fg of 1006.

Still has such a chemical taste as to be undrinkable at the moment. I think the tap water here must be strongly chlorinated. I'm hoping that with conditioning that will dissipate. If not I've learned a valuable lesson and will use bottled water for my next brew.

Bottled it this weekend batch primed with caster sugar. Will let them sit at room temperature for a week or two before chilling them to a few degrees c for as long as it takes. Hopefully will get something decent out of my first brew but already thinking about my next batch. Maybe a st Peters ruby red or a bulldog chocolate stout.

Cheers Zed