Stuff that's bothering me about my first brew so far

[Buzzing]

It would be greatly appreciated if those with more experience could help me soothe my mind on some stuff that's bothering me about my first brew.


Brewing a Coopers Aussie Lager Kit a.t.m with the following adjustments :

[1] Added 750g of brewer's sugar instead of 1kg of normal sugar
[2] Wort was boiled until about 25 mins beyond Heat breakpoint (Not just adding boiling water like the instructions)
[3] Used NFP Lager Yeast. (Kit yeast put away for future experimenting) And also some Yeast nutrients.
[4] Used 66% bottled water and 33% filtered boiled tap water
[5] Added 100ml of boiled Mullein Flowers infused water

What's Bothering Me :

My OG was 1.043. I don't have a hydrometer yet. I syringed a double tot glass until full of botteled water. This was 50.080g. The same volume of wort weighed 52.240g. SG of 1.043 ? Is this good enough or did I screw this one up ?

I can not maintain the low temps meant for Lagers, even in winter. Initially it was about 18` C but now it's running at 14` C Is this OK ? How would this affect the taste ?

My coopers water-lock does not seem to bubble as vigerously as other's have described theirs after 3-4 days. The thing bubbles say 3/4 bubbles every 5 minutes or so, just seems very slow. I was thinking leave it until 7 days, take sample from tap of brewing bucket and check SG to see if there's movement, then repeat on day 8 and 9 ? Should I stir it lightly at this stage ?

I want to dry-hop, but dont have a secondary. So should I dry-hop when I open to stir after day 7 and after an SG check ?
Planning to put say 10g of loose dried hops and let it float ontop.

I'll be bottling into some cleaned and sanitised flip-top Grolsch bottles. Can I do this straight from my brewing bucket with a bottling valve attachment on a tube connected to the brewing bucket's tap, stopping before any of the hops gets in?

Priming, I was thinking along the lines of boiling say 125g of sugar in a cup of water and then syringing correct volume into each bottle ?

Then 1 week at ambient temp (16`C -20`C) and then 2 weeks at 4` C.

Please feel free to crit, advise and to get me on the path of beervana !

Many thanks for the excellent site.

 

[broadfordbrewer]

Hi, I can't answer all your questions, but re: maintaining temp for Lagers. This isn't an issue for you with this kit as it will most likely be an ale yeast i.e. a top fermenter, so you actually want to keep it nice and warm somewhere between 18-24C
If you don't it will be a very slow ferment or may just stop until heated. Don't let it get too cold as the yeast can die.

Don't stir it unless you are at the point where you have no choice e.g. if you get a stuck fermentation and you need to rouse the current yeast or introduce some more yeast.

Also, don't be tempted to be taking readings and removing the lid of the FV every day. Leave it be and take a reading after few days if you must. The more you check it or stir it, the higher the chance of it going wrong, i.e. introducing oxygen or unwanted bacteria. P.s. if not already doing so, keep everything santisied when checking temp/gravity.

Dry hop in the fermenter if you want, but put the hops in a meshed bag, so you can remove easily.

Yes, you can bottle direct from the primary FV with no trouble at all, it's fiddly but possible.

P.s. buy a hydrometer, they are cheap and will save you a lot of hassle. Try Wilkinson's, they sell loads of different Young's brewing kit for beginners. :thumb: You can buy bottling/racking tubes from Wilko's too £2.50. they have a little guard on the tube, and a tap to help things run smoothly.

Hope this helps.

 

[broadfordbrewer]

I'd check the FAQ's re: priming and make sure you adjust quantities depending on the size of bottle you are using - general rule is 1/2 to 1 tsp per 500ml bottle. My opinion would be not to bother boiling your sugar. I just use a funnel, a teaspoon and dry sugar. I've never had a problem. :thumb:

 

[Buzzing]

re: maintaining temp for Lagers. This isn't an issue for you with this kit as it will most likely be an ale yeast i.e. a top fermenter, so you actually want to keep it nice and warm somewhere between 18-24C
If you don't it will be a very slow ferment or may just stop until heated. Don't let it get too cold as the yeast can die.

I did not use the yeast that came with the kit. I used proper lager yeast, so they should be bottom fermenters ?

If I give lager yeasts that much heat, would I not have problems with all the funny tastes and odours ?

 

[golder247]

Wow, that is a lot of work you are throwing in there.

I am a bit of a philistine I am sure as I am not an AG man. No time, small child, preggers missus, business to run and extension and conservatory to build.. (sleeping in there somewhere)

Forgive then if I am being a little simplistic here. For the Coopers kits and most of the others you really don't have to make things so complicated. 1 KG of sugar, add your can of goodness, stir well with your 6-8 pints of boiling water. Add your cold water to get to a full FV at about 24 degrees and dry pitch your yeast. I am sure that your beer will taste different and possibly a fair bit better than the standard but for your first brew... Heck it just seems so much.

I only use tap water too.

Are you a chemist? No sarcasm there at all but heck some hefty work going in.

Bishops Finger is spot on though, you really shouldn't have to worry about temp, if it isn't bubbling so much just let it be for a little longer. I don't bother sometimes even with using the hydrometer (sorry everybody) I just leave the kit in a week and check it isn't bubbling anymore before priming my bottles and filling the buggers.

 

[nuggitmv]

yes looks like you made hard work of a kit beer,i started out on coopers and had some grate beer doing a two can brew.If you have used larger yeast you find it hard to keep temp down at this time of year in a warm summer.bottled water is fine just its all on the cost :thumb:

 

[Hollow Legs]

As said by other members Coopers kits just work with the yeast supplied, and you being in a warm country will be great as Coopers kits are made in Aus and it's pretty warm out there.

I admire you trying something different but my advise is to get a few brews under your belt, read past posts and then experiment and make the beer yours.

Good luck buddy

Colin.

 

[Buzzing]

Thanks to all for the excellent advice sofar.

Checked SG at 14 days and was only sitting at about 1.016 (top of bucket) and 1.019 (bottom of bucket)

Seems the Lager yeast I used is not a truely bottom fermenting yeast, as there's more unfermented sugars at the bottom ?

Anyway, tasted the beer and I am very impressed. The colour is beautiful amber-gold and the taste is smooth with a very slightly fruity hint with a nice well rounded hops flavour. Theres still tiny bubbles in the brew though and does not taste like flat beer yet (infact it tasted so good, I had a whole glass-full), so I decided not to bottle as of yet.

With the 16-18 degrees the supposed lager yeast (damn supplier, will give him a piece of my mind I pop in for the next brew's stock) was kept at, I gathered that some additional fermentation time needs to be given. The bubbler from day 10 onwards started to become very slow though, but not dormant.

I therefore re-suspended some of the yeast. This was not done by stirring, so ABSOLUTELY NO aeration occurred. A very gentle twist-and-up motion of a sterilised paddle was used at a depth of +/- 3/4 of the bucket depth.

25 minutes after covering up, the bubbler started to go again. This continued for 2 days and now on the 3rd day it's slowing down again. SG is down to 1.011.

I'm thinking to leave it for 3 days more to make sure all's fermented and then bottling can start.

I am fully aware I am "working" this one more than what might be needed, but I'm loving every minute of it.

No, I'm not a chemist, but always over-analyse the theory and take the long routes with practice. Most of the times this pays off . . .

Even if the brew stays as it was taste-wise, I'd be quite contempt with my 1st homebrew, and I know nothing of the 23l will go to waste :), but I am planning a 7 day carbonation period and a 2 week lagering period, and this can surely only do the beer good and it would most probably be even better ! Can't wait.

What do you guys think ?

 

[Hollow Legs]

Glad things are going alright mate, the advise i've been given in the past and try to adhere to is wait until the airlock has finished bubbling, take a reading anything below 1.009 would be good, take a reading 2 days later and if they match then fermentation has finished.
Don't forget that if you are not temp controlling the wort then different readings will given at different temps(use the calc in the upper left marked Calculators) heat does make a difference to the reading.
Bottle and prime then put it into a warm place above constant 20deg C for at least 10 days and then put it into a cold room for a further 4 or 5 days. I'm drinking Coopers lager and all is good no need for lagering but it's your brew and up to you.

Good luck bud :

 

[Aleman]

Brewing a Coopers Aussie Lager Kit a.t.m with the following adjustments :

[1] Added 750g of brewer's sugar instead of 1kg of normal sugar.

Ok so under strength compared to normal . . . brewers sugar = Glucose = Dextrose = Expensive way of adding sugar

[2] Wort was boiled until about 25 mins beyond Heat breakpoint (Not just adding boiling water like the instructions)

Why? any volatile components (like hop oils) have now been boiled off

[3] Used NFP Lager Yeast. (Kit yeast put away for future experimenting) And also some Yeast nutrients.

NFP Lager Yeast?? :wha: Never heard of it . . . more details please

My OG was 1.043. I don't have a hydrometer yet.

So you don't really know what your gravity was then

I syringed a double tot glass until full of botteled water. This was 50.080g. The same volume of wort weighed 52.240g. SG of 1.043 ? Is this good enough or did I screw this one up ?

Well that is one way of doing it . . . assuming your measurements are accurate at that precision

I can not maintain the low temps meant for Lagers, even in winter. Initially it was about 18` C but now it's running at 14` C Is this OK ? How would this affect the taste ?

Then don't use a lager yeast . . . an ale yeast fermented at the cooler end of its temperature range will produce a cleaner beer than a lager yeast fermented at ale temps . . . and it's mote important at the start of fermentation than toward the end . . . you will not have a clean a lager profile, it will be fruity and 'ale like' . . . if not quite 'funky'

My coopers water-lock does not seem to bubble as vigerously as other's have described theirs after 3-4 days. The thing bubbles say 3/4 bubbles every 5 minutes or so, just seems very slow

My airlock doesn't bubble at all . . . Oh yeah that's right I don't use one . . . I ferment for 7-10 days and it's generally complete

Checked SG at 14 days and was only sitting at about 1.016 (top of bucket) and 1.019 (bottom of bucket)

That is down to your inaccurate method of measuring the gravity! And even bottom fermenting yeasts form a healthy yeast cap

The action of fermentation will mix the wort so the SG gradient you describe will only occur if you don't mix all your sugar into solution in the first place.

 

[Buzzing]

OK, so I primed and bottled this brew at 1.013.

Priming was done with 2.65g of fine brown sugar per 450ml Grolsch flip top bottle.

I then realised that I did not account for fluid losses during the boiling activity and only had 20 litres in the batch. This sorts out most of the understrength problem as pointed out by Aleman.

The brew was dry-hopped about 5 days prior to bottling, adding back some of those aromatic oils.

After 7 days of carbonation at room temp, and 24h in the fridge at 4` C, the first one was tested. . .

A bit of dissappointment at first, a less-than-normal "pssshht!" when the flip top was flipped. When poured into the beer glass, it looked at bit better and by the time the glass was full, it had a great bif bubbly foamy creamy HEAD ! The colour is a bit darker than what I would have liked it, but is dark golden-amber, 2 or so hints darker than conventional lager, but still good.

The taste is not bad at all and is actually very very drinkable. The Mullein flower extract definately has affected the taste, as it' has a ever-so-slight honey taste to it, but duefully hopsy with a good bitter undertone.

The carbonation levels is still a bit low, and I've decided to leave them out until about 12-14 days before lagering them at 4` C for a further 2 weeks.

To fuel the impatient virgin-homebrew-drinker in me, I have settled on leaving 10 or so in the fridge at 10 days of carbonation age, to keep me from finishing the rest off before giving them a proper lagering.

All in all, I'm happy with my virgin berw, as I can't wait to finish them off, empty out my grolsh bottles and get the next brew in . . .

Some valuable lessons were learnt and will be taken into account with the next brew's planning.

Thanks guys, no doubt, I will need plenty of help in the future, but for now : :drunk:

 

[evanvine]

Don't let it get too cold as the yeast can die.

Bunkum!
Yeast is kept in the fridge, and indeed I freeze mine!