23l Coopers Kit Into 18.9l Carboy

[[email protected]]

Hey guys,
I used to do a bit of kit brewing but stopped yers ago. Now I have the old 18.9L carboy out I want to do another kit batch but all the kits are for 23L batches. What are my options?
Brew the entire batch down to 18.9 L or divide up all the ingredients and partition into flagons?
Cheers guys

 

[jimmy86]

Hi Driftweez,

If it were me I would cut back on your added sugars to give you a similar SG reading.

Or just make it as normal and ferment it in the carboy which will increase the alcohol content. I make a coopers vintage clone which calls for two cans and a kg of dextrose which brings the alcohol to approx 7%... Bloody good drop tho.

Cheers Jimmy

 

[[email protected]]

Hey Jimmy,
Ok its a Coopers Mexican Cerveza. So do you think I should add the whole can and yeast and just cut down a bit on the sugars? Do you know what effect this would have on taste?
Cheers

 

[mrkitewhitey]

Hey Jimmy,
Ok its a Coopers Mexican Cerveza. So do you think I should add the whole can and yeast and just cut down a bit on the sugars? Do you know what effect this would have on taste?
Cheers

Hey mate,

All in all you're gonna end up with a good beer. Those Cerveza kits are pretty tame so if it were me, I'd ferment as normal with 1kg of sugars (I'd use a box of BE2 for extra body) and it'll just turn out a little stronger than usual (guessing around 5.6%). I did a K&K to 20 litres earlier in the year ( I think it was a blonde kit w BE2) and it turned out great. Slightly less yield, but it makes up for it in packing a bit more of a punch. Upon reading this back I realise I use brackets quite a bit (but not too much)...lol

I hope this helps.... bottom line: GO FOR IT!!

Cheers

Tony

 

[[email protected]]

Hey mate,

All in all you're gonna end up with a good beer. Those Cerveza kits are pretty tame so if it were me, I'd ferment as normal with 1kg of sugars (I'd use a box of BE2 for extra body) and it'll just turn out a little stronger than usual (guessing around 5.6%). I did a K&K to 20 litres earlier in the year ( I think it was a blonde kit w BE2) and it turned out great. Slightly less yield, but it makes up for it in packing a bit more of a punch. Upon reading this back I realise I use brackets quite a bit (but not too much)...lol

I hope this helps.... bottom line: GO FOR IT!!

Cheers

Tony

Hey,
Thanks for the advice! So ok I will use the entire can and maybe 900g of the BE2 so its not too potent. Ive been doing reading up from other posts and there are so many varieties for this kit when it comes to hops etc. As a novic is there a hop I can add that would improve this kit or should I leave it as is?
Cheers

 

[ekul]

Hi mate,
Get yourself a copy of brewmate, its free and it will really help with recipe design, even if your only doing kits. Its easy to use and i've found it invaluable.

I wacked the recipe into brewmate and if you use 800g of sugar and top up to 18L you'll get a 5% beer.

good luck with it

Hey,
Thanks for the advice! So ok I will use the entire can and maybe 900g of the BE2 so its not too potent. Ive been doing reading up from other posts and there are so many varieties for this kit when it comes to hops etc. As a novic is there a hop I can add that would improve this kit or should I leave it as is?
Cheers

 

[yum beer]

Hey,
Thanks for the advice! So ok I will use the entire can and maybe 900g of the BE2 so its not too potent. Ive been doing reading up from other posts and there are so many varieties for this kit when it comes to hops etc. As a novic is there a hop I can add that would improve this kit or should I leave it as is?
Cheers

Mate I wouldnt add any hops to the cerveza, especially with it being less volume. agree on BE2 to about 800gm.

I have made the coopers cerveza to 21litres with 500gm light malt only and was a great cooler on a hot day.

Made to 18litres or maybe even 17 to fit your fermenter should up your malt profile and give good body.

 

[going down a hill]

Made to 18litres or maybe even 17 to fit your fermenter should up your malt profile and give good body.

It will also bump up the bitterness a touch as well.

 

[[email protected]]

It will also bump up the bitterness a touch as well.

Hey thanks for the advice! So leave as is and just use 800gms of DE2?
cheers

 

[[email protected]]

Hey just after a little bit of advice..Its been in primary fermentation for 7 days now at 23C.. SG is now at 1012 and has been steady for the last two days but its still bubbling out the airlock every few minutes..Do I wait till bubbling stops?
Also what is cold conditioning and should I be doing this instead of what coopers recommend in a warm area for another week?
cheers guys

 

[FuzzyDropbear]

I've only just started, so this may be incorrect, but cold conditioning is where you place the beer in the fridge at a low temp for a week or two. This helps drop the sediment out of the beer prior to bottling.

I'm assuming that you would bring the beer back to room temperature before you bottle, otherwise you may end up with bottle bombs?

I plan to do this with my next brew as I've now got a freezer dedicated to brewing. I haven't done this with my first 2 brews and have just had to wait a little longer for them to become really clear (so no issues doing it that way). Saying that, they were also in the fermenter for just over 2 weeks, so a fair bit of sediment fell out then.

Cheers

 

[Yob]

I'm assuming that you would bring the beer back to room temperature before you bottle, otherwise you may end up with bottle bombs?

No.. I frequently bottle at sub 10'c temps, never had a bomb.

 

[FuzzyDropbear]

Cool, no worries, I'd read a thread suggesting you alter how much priming sugar you use with cooler beer. But, this is the problem with the internet, if you search hard enough, you can find someone who recommends every possible action.

I'll just bottle the next batch like normal then. Many thanks mate.

 

[Yob]

I use this Priming Calculator to guage my priming amounts, the trick to it is realy knowing what the highest temp the beer got to [edit]

Cheers

 

[pk.sax]

I use this Priming Calculator to guage my priming amounts, the trick to it is realy knowing what the highest temp the beer got to during the ferment.

Cheers

Slight correction: Its the highest temp it got to after active fermentation was over. The CO2 dissolved in the beer at that temp will not increase.

eg: I ferment at 17C for 4 days, then let it rise free up to 22C. Then let it rise to 25C for a couple of days (this is after the active ferment is over). When raised to 25C in the end, it will expel the extra gas from when it was still @22C. And it won't reabsorb it really. So, the correct temp to calculate for would be 25C. If your brew had sit at 30C - for argument sake - first day, then you dropped the temperature, it won't be counted since the active ferment at a lower temp after that re-carbonated the brew. raise temp - lose natural carb from fermentation.

 

[Yob]

eg: I ferment at 17C for 4 days, then let it rise free up to 22C. Then let it rise to 25C for a couple of days (this is after the active ferment is over). When raised to 25C in the end, it will expel the extra gas from when it was still @22C. And it won't reabsorb it really. So, the correct temp to calculate for would be 25C. If your brew had sit at 30C - for argument sake - first day, then you dropped the temperature, it won't be counted since the active ferment at a lower temp after that re-carbonated the brew. raise temp - lose natural carb from fermentation.

Noted.. but for me I've generally ramped it slightly right toward the end of the ferment, so say I have about 3-4 points to go and its at 17-18, I will ramp it up .5'c a day over the next 4-5 days till stable, few more days for good luck and then crash it, so for me 'generally' 20'c is the temp I work to.

Cheers for clarifying.

 

[FuzzyDropbear]

So what's the reason behind increasing the temperature post-fermentation? Is it just to drive off excess CO² to prevent over carbing when bottled?

Cheers.

 

[Yob]

Higher temps help the yeast stay active and clean up by product of fermentation (hopefully) resulting in a cleaner beer.

This is standard practice now when I know the FG has almost been reached... raise temps, allow time to clean up, cold condition for 4-5 days then bottle.

 

[stux]

Hey guys,
I used to do a bit of kit brewing but stopped yers ago. Now I have the old 18.9L carboy out I want to do another kit batch but all the kits are for 23L batches. What are my options?
Brew the entire batch down to 18.9 L or divide up all the ingredients and partition into flagons?
Cheers guys

If it were me I'd get a 40L pot and learn to BIAB

easy to make a 19L batch with a 40L pot

Alternatively, use a 19L pot on your stove and a plastic bucket to brew 19L
Using Maxi-BIAB to Brew a 'Single Batch' Mini-BIAB

 

[[email protected]]

Hey well the first batch of this turned out fantastic and is very drinkable early on. Just about to brew another batch of this and want to add a few hops to improve aroma, and flavour. Ive brought green bullet pellets.
What are the suggestions on when and how much to add to my batch and how?
Cheers guys