First time brew, Coopers Australian Lager

[gredawarha]

Hello all

Finally took the plunge and purchased a Coopers kit. Started off following the instructions provided with the pack. Today is 7 days after starting so I thought I would use the hydrometer to get a specific gravity reading.

The reading was 1020 which seems to my newbie eye to be some way off the 1008-1010 reading that is suggested in the book that came with the pack. I have been reading various threads in this forum so I am not panicking (yet!).

I am thinking of leaving it a few more days, maybe check it again on Friday with hopefully a view to bottling at the weekend.

Is there anything to worry about? Just to also add the brew smelt fine.

 

[queues likely]

I like the coopers kits, Cerveza is a nice chuggable drink, ice cold on summer evenings ideally.
I leave mine 10 days in FV to finish ferment, and "tidy up the yeasties" to quote a few chaps on the board.
Gonna be slower in the cold weather too!

let it condition well to, tastes so much bettter. :thumb: :

 

[gredawarha]

Hi

If all goes well I may try the Cerveza kit. I was eyeing up the European lager kit next but have read that it needs to be conditioned for a long time (12 weeks?).

 

[queues likely]

Hi

If all goes well I may try the Cerveza kit. I was eyeing up the European lager kit next but have read that it needs to be conditioned for a long time (12 weeks?).

Just keep your fermenter busy, and the 12 weeks will fly by. do a couple of IPA's or bitters they seem to be bang on about week 6 on wards.

enjoy the brewing :drink:

 

[abeyptfc]

Hi, I've done quite a few coopers kits, I would check the hydrometer reading again tomorrow(sanitise it first!) if its still the same reading maybe sanitise your plastic spoon/stirrer and give it a light stir and make sure its between 18-24 degrees, just to get the yeast active again to get your reading down to under 1.010, i would leave it another 3 or 4 days then check the hydrometer reading for 2 days on the bounce and if its the same then bottle.
can you advise what your first hydro reading was before adding your yeast to start with and what temp its been sitting at?
yeah the cerveza kit is nice, I had a few of my european lagers the other night there, they've been bottle for about 4 or 5 months, its cleared well but still after the recommended 3 months bottling mine still had an eggy/sulphur smell that was there when first bottling, it was still nice to drink but you had to sorta hold your breath before putting the glass to your gub! thankfully the eggy smell has disappeared now and its rather pleasant. any other help or advice you want on the coopers kit then give me a pm, I've done the lagerx2, draught x2, canadian blonde, euro lager, cerveza x1 (and 1 fermenting just now). ive got a coopers real ale being delivered shortly and a John Bull IPA kit aswell.I've also done a Tom Caxton Real Ale and Lager, so I'm fairly experienced in the kit making department and yet to have an infection, touch wood!
all the best

 

[gredawarha]

Thanks for all the help again! :

I will take on board everyone advice, the beer has been sat at a fairly steady temperature of 20c. Abeyptfc, how did you find the canadian blonde? If you had to compare it to a commercial beer what would you say it is like?

 

[abeyptfc]

i made an **** of the canadian to be honest, i tried batch priming but messed it up and it ended up pretty flat but its nice in a shandy! it doesnt have any off flavours but its quite sweet imo. wouldnt compare my batch to anything commercial lol!

 

[Cussword]

When I need a quick lager I always use the Canadian Blonde, it's always finished very well & comes out at about 6%
My brothers likened it to a Stella.

 

[gredawarha]

Abeyptfc I am glad your Canadian did not go to waste, Cussword I think I will give the Canadian a try, what sort of time are you conditioning yours for?

 

[Cussword]

minimum a week or two, just try it. It's good stuff :thumb: ( for a kit)

 

[gredawarha]

Okay my brew has been in the FV for 13 days now, the reading has been at 1015 for the past 3 days. Should I go ahead and bottle? The kit is supposed to get down to 1008-1010 so I have not quite achieved that.

 

[abeyptfc]

Okay my brew has been in the FV for 13 days now, the reading has been at 1015 for the past 3 days. Should I go ahead and bottle? The kit is supposed to get down to 1008-1010 so I have not quite achieved that.

what was your first hydrometer reading before adding the yeast? if you have that then you can calculate the percemtage using the 'calculators' link above.
i bottled mine at 1014 so I would say go for it.

 

[gredawarha]

I did not take a reading before pitching, I now no for next time. Guess I will go ahead and bottle then. Thanks

 

[abeyptfc]

I did not take a reading before pitching, I now no for next time. Guess I will go ahead and bottle then. Thanks

cool, get some photos if you can

 

[gredawarha]

Okay, bottles are in the bath with water and VWP will leave them there for an hour or two then will rinse and bottle. I have taken some photos and will take some more, then post on here when I am done later today.

 

[gredawarha]

Okay beer is now bottled, it has taken me most of the evening and I think the missus and the baby are not impressed with my attention on the beer rather than them but never mind.

I took my bottles out of the bath, they had been in their for several hours.

Brought them down stairs to where my beer has been brewing

I then rinsed them in cold tap water to get rid of the chemical smell. Now I know a number of people will frown upon this as I have been reading up on sanitation on the forums but at this point this was the only way I could think of to work. Once bottled I put them in some crates and tomorrow they will go in my cupboard for two weeks

The bottling took quite some time to do but got there in the end, I have a feeling that two or three bottles may be missing a carbonation drop but hey ho. Some of the last few bottle are more cloudy and bright than the others but I guess that is to be expected.

So now to clean up the kit and wait two weeks, will post back when I try the first bottle, thanks for all your help

 

[gredawarha]

Hi all

Just a little update, my bottles have been in the cupboard at room temperature since the 6th February, Sunday will be two weeks since bottling. I am wondering whether I should leave them in the cupboard at room temperature or put them in my shed which is unheated. I live in Hampshire to give people an idea of temperature the range is listed as 5-12 degrees c for Sunday.

So keep them indoors or move them out? Any opinions would be appreciated.

 

[aneray]

Hi there

Nine days at room temperature should be enough. Stick them out in the shed for a month or so and then you should have a great drink.

I have made loads of Coopers kits, thinking about it, all my kits have been them. The Canadian Blonde is a good lager kit. I'm drinking one at the moment which I brewed last April. I ditched the yeast supplied and used a Saflager yeast which resulted with a brew tasting very much like Grolsh.

Once you are more confident with the process the kits are great for tinkering around with. I have be known to make a Coopers Stout at 9.9% with help from the guys on the forum and it was so nice.

Now that this brew is done get another one on and build your stocks right up.

Cheers Neil :

 

[gredawarha]

Thanks for the reply.

I intend to buy another kit, Canadian blonde and some more bottles and start that in the next few days. Next month (pay day) I will do the same with the Mexican .

 

[gredawarha]

Should have posted earlier but been busy with the new born baby.

The home brew is surprisingly good, it's not just my pride either as the wife likes it and I tool some round to my brother and he drunk it all.

Very pleased. Since then I have purchased a Canadian Blonde which is due to be bottled, and my lovely work colleagues got me most of a Mexican kit, so will brew that when done.

Really enjoying it!