repurpose first fermentation co2

[Craig_teesside]

Im just starting brewing again because I'm skint, last time was 20 years ago. I have a few questions. I'm doing a Geordie Lager which I gather is a pale ale. I'm using a diy airlock because I live close to pubs in town and there's vinegar flies all over. Should I pay more attention to bubbles rather than hydrometer readings and risk contamination. There's a constant flow of bubbles and a nice aroma, but I'm thinking should I pipe this Co2 into other sterile brew bucket or sterile bottles so there will be low risk of oxygenation prior to bottling. Do I ignore packet instructions and can /should I "lager“ it. BTW I paid abt £ 2 for tiny wilko Bruclens, it's exactly the same as Wizz fabric stain remover. sodium Percabonate.

 

[DavidDetroit]

I'm guessing I'm getting fruit flies and not vinegar flies but now and then I need to use a panty-hose legging slipped over the airlock. They can't get up the side that way.

I would leave the beer alone for two weeks once you know it's started fermenting. I agree with the idea of not risking contamination by taking too many readings. A couple readings to confirm the FG has been reached at the end is a good practice though.

I'm not sure how you would take advantage of the CO2 the way you're mentioning. Maybe someone here can help. I am aware of some brewers who will package their beer when it's almost done fermenting and allow this last bit of CO2 to carbonate their beer. This would require knowing exactly how much more fermentation there is going to be. To me, it's not worth the risk.
As far as oxygenation, using an auto siphon is fine and the beer pushes out the o2 anyway plus you need a titch for carbonating. Now, if you're really into obtaining zero oxygen by using closed systems and so forth, that's a different matter. I have no idea how much better a beer would be if I did this or if I'd even notice. There is much info on this subject. Google LODO.

I do like the idea of refrigerating a portion of the wort for bottle carbonation. This would be instead of adding priming sugar or the like when bottling. I don't imagine the calculation for figuring that out would be too difficult.

 

[Craig_teesside]

Cheers David, thanks for your response and advice, I am about to Google lodo. Re: refrigeration of the wort!
I must have misunderstood "lagering" I thought I do that after the primary fermentation. I'll read more.
Can anyone recommend a good book to look for. I'm striving to brew a stella lager (not keen on perfumy lagers like Red str***,San Mi##el, etc. Coo#s Light is not a bad tipple tho' I intend to start with a few more kits (3 or 4 identical ) then adding to or modifying them in parallel. Kind regards, Craig.

 

[DavidDetroit]

No problem, Craig.
Let me clarify refrigerating the wort. Say you make a five gallon ale. You would take a quart of that and put it away in the fridge until the five gallons is done fermenting. Then you take that quart of sugary wort (because it hasn't been fermented) and use it to prime the five gallon batch for carbonating. The quart of wort is just replacing priming sugar and doesn't relate to lagering. Just to make sure, "quart" is just a number I threw out and not a proper calculation of how much to use.

I know next to nothing about brewing lagers.

 

[Craig_teesside]

That's interesting a little like making sourdough but not really.

 

[foxy]

Im just starting brewing again because I'm skint, last time was 20 years ago. I have a few questions. I'm doing a Geordie Lager which I gather is a pale ale. I'm using a diy airlock because I live close to pubs in town and there's vinegar flies all over. Should I pay more attention to bubbles rather than hydrometer readings and risk contamination. There's a constant flow of bubbles and a nice aroma, but I'm thinking should I pipe this Co2 into other sterile brew bucket or sterile bottles so there will be low risk of oxygenation prior to bottling. Do I ignore packet instructions and can /should I "lager“ it. BTW I paid abt £ 2 for tiny wilko Bruclens, it's exactly the same as Wizz fabric stain remover. sodium Percabonate.

A 21 litre batch of wort will produce around 2 kg of co2 (gravity dependent) so you have more than enough to vent into other containers. I do this if I have a lower gravity beer around 4 to 4.5 % ABV I can carbonate with the discharged co2 (it does make beer taste better for some reason) and drink straight from the secondary vessel. You will be able to transfer oxygen free and have a good tasting ale as a result. No bottles just gravity pour from the secondary.
Transfer. First beer
Final beer.

 

[johncrobinson]

Re:>craigteeside. The secret is to start brewing long,long before your skint.!!
Still its not to late its just going to take longer !!!!
CARRY ON BREWING

 

[Clint]

Hydrometer over bubbles. To start with I wouldn't bother trying to pipe the co2 etc...just make sure your airlock works. Leave it for at least two weeks then check gravity...if it's near where it should be,check on a couple of consecutive days if stable you can bottle or keg. If you have the means...ie a fridge,you could cold crash it before bottling down to around 3 degrees. This will clear it. As for priming....bulk priming is easy by syphoning the beer into s bottling bucket with the required sugar solution or keg onto around 90g of sugar ..Tate and Lyle is fine....or silver spoon!
As for cleaning etc...the repackaged stuff tends to be a bit dearer but if you use Wizz or similar read the ingredients incase there's "other" stuff in there and if unsure give it a good rinse.

 

[simon12]

A 21 litre batch of wort will produce around 2 kg of co2 (gravity dependent) so you have more than enough to vent into other containers. I do this if I have a lower gravity beer around 4 to 4.5 % ABV I can carbonate with the discharged co2 (it does make beer taste better for some reason) and drink straight from the secondary vessel. You will be able to transfer oxygen free and have a good tasting ale as a result. No bottles just gravity pour from the secondary.
View attachment 20717 Transfer. View attachment 20714 First beer
View attachment 20716 Final beer.

Interesting setup. What psi can you and do you use?

 

[Craig_teesside]

Thx to everyone for their information and advice and thx foxy for the advice re repurposing the co2. It's hard to believe that 2kg co2 is produced but I suppose that's all the sugar. So why bother with hydrometers and risking contamination why don't we weigh the brew before and after. Next time I start I'm going to use my digital bathroom scales.BTW my brew is at 21c and stopped bubbling and the hydrometer hasn't moved. It's bang on 0 in tap water and changes when I salt the water. So has my brew stalled should I add yeast or sugar or is it too late, it smells right. Reading is 1.010 it started around 1.018 at day 3. I forgot to take a og reading

 

[SteveH]

Interested to know, how does carbonation with the discharged Co2 work when you don't have a way to convert it into a high-pressure e.g liquid form?

I'd assume the plastic container would get slightly pressurized with gas, but that pressure would drop very quickly if it's only gas in there when the brew stops creating gas?

 

[foxy]

Interesting setup. What psi can you and do you use?

I did pressure test the cubes to 26 PSI but try not to apply any pressure until the final stage of fermentation and then just enough to carbonate the beer.

 

[foxy]

Interested to know, how does carbonation with the discharged Co2 work when you don't have a way to convert it into a high-pressure e.g liquid form?

I'd assume the plastic container would get slightly pressurized with gas, but that pressure would drop very quickly if it's only gas in there when the brew stops creating gas?

The container of CO2 is just to counteract the vacuum created when pouring the beer, there is enough CO2 dissolved into the beer to get the carbonation right and if you prefer a nitro like pour just use a syringe.