23ltr Brew In 60 L Fermenter?

[Liam dee]

Hey guys,

I'm new to brewing, but have been around it plenty. I was recently given what everyone dreams of.

A 60L fermenter
Hydrometer
Airlock
bottle caps
bench top leaver down capper
La'avienorre de papa (bottle wrinser)
and about 120 king brown bottles.

All this for a pretty low price of $0

admittedly, the whole lot has sat in a shed for about 12 months but, all it needed was a scrub up. So... I got out the bleach and water, cleaned it all thoroghly, knowing that sterelization is the key. Now... before anyone chimes in, like the guy at the LHBS, my mate cleans all his stuff like this, and tasting his homebrew is what made me want to get into all of this.

Now to the problem.
my first brew, a international range coopers lager. I followed the instructions implicitly, as my mate had done. Using BE2 adding the yeast at the end, keeping the brew at about 20*C.

First off, It did get a nice healthy head on the wort, then the yeast scum formed, and sure enough after 2 days the room smelt like beer. The airlock never bubbled, a fact I have been assured is not a problem (probably just the old seals). So, we are at day 3 morning, and its looking pretty damn good. Then, that evening, I checked again to find the foam off the top, completely gone. Checking the S.G confirmed it was still fermenting.

I have since bottled that brew and started a fresh.

Same deal, grabbed the international range ceveza. Followed the instructions, this one did exsactly the same. Great head till the third day, then flat as a tack. Condesation on the lid, indicating its still brewing, temp of 24*C, no airlock action, S.G reading that its still brewing. Nice colour, smells lighter and slightly more fruity than the lager, taste is beery, and when poured into the cylindar for testing, forms a nice head.

I cant put it down to infection, because it shows no signs through the first 3 days, and after that the brew gets pretty stable from infection.
I am brewing in a 60L fermenter, and only brewing 23 ltrs, could this be the cause of my beer brewing like I have never seen before???

Thanks guys, sorry about the long post, but i've given all the information I have.

Hope you can help me solve for good beer.

- Liam

 

[Adam Howard]

What you're experiencing there is perfectly normal mate.

The 'krausen' is the foamy head on the beer in the fermenter, it persists for the first few days and then drops for the second half of fermentation. It's merely a sign of the yeast having a rad old time.

Keep up the good work mate, keep clean and you'll have some lovely brews online soon :beer:

 

[Hatchy]

Nice score. I recently swapped a laptop that didn't work for a 60L fermenter that a mate didn't want. The laptop still isn't working but I'm drinking an APA from his old fermenter while I'm typing this. Did you have a taste of the 1st batch when you bottled it? If it tasted ok then it should be fine. Why aren't you doing double batches in the 60L? Not that it's any of my business.

Oh, & welcome to the forum/obsession.

 

[Liam dee]

Nice score. I recently swapped a laptop that didn't work for a 60L fermenter that a mate didn't want. The laptop still isn't working but I'm drinking an APA from his old fermenter while I'm typing this. Did you have a taste of the 1st batch when you bottled it? If it tasted ok then it should be fine. Why aren't you doing double batches in the 60L? Not that it's any of my business.

Oh, & welcome to the forum/obsession.

Haha... Thanks very much... Yeah well, ive only just started, and havent even got a brew out yet. I completely messed up the first one... I added the 2L of boiling water to the syrup, and then added the water to the 20 ltr mark, then rememberd the BE2 and added that furiously stiring, and then added the yeast and stired it in. HAHA i think nerves got the better of me. But it still tasted fine at the bottling stage. Till I made the final irraversable error. Only adding one carb drop to the 750 ml bottles. So i will have very flat beer, but I can live with that. I shall not make the same mistake on the ceveza.

Cheers for the fast replys guys.. but now im 2 excited to let it brew haha

 

[Hatchy]

It shouldn't matter that you put the be2 in after the water, especially with a good stir. You could always sanitise 30 more bottletops & open the beers 1 by 1 to drop another carb drop in there. It'll probably cost you about 4c for the bottletops which I reckon is better than 30 bottles of undercarbed beer.

 

[Adam Howard]

It shouldn't matter that you put the be2 in after the water, especially with a good stir. You could always sanitise 30 more bottletops & open the beers 1 by 1 to drop another carb drop in there. It'll probably cost you about 4c for the bottletops which I reckon is better than 30 bottles of undercarbed beer.

+1. Get them all lined up and go one by one.

 

[Liam dee]

It shouldn't matter that you put the be2 in after the water, especially with a good stir. You could always sanitise 30 more bottletops & open the beers 1 by 1 to drop another carb drop in there. It'll probably cost you about 4c for the bottletops which I reckon is better than 30 bottles of undercarbed beer.

You know... Thats exsactly what I needed to hear... Hatchy, Your a champ!

 

[Hatchy]

Yr absulutely sure you only put 1 in each bottle right?

 

[MarkMc]

I would open say 10 bottles and dump another drop in and reseal. then you will see the difference.

dont worry about the order you added things, I did something similar with my first brew.

 

[Liam dee]

Well... the deed is done.

All bottles now have 2 drops in them. And it was worth it! when i opened each bottle and smelt how good it smelt.

Perfect.

- Liam

 

[manticle]

I would say leave it and let them carbonate a bit longer unless you like really fizzy beer. You still should get a nice head and a nice sherberty mouthfeel (I don't like fizzy beer)

The rest of the 'mistakes' sound like no big thing and the worry you have sounds like noob's worry.

This sentence is very confusing: 'I cant put it down to infection, because it shows no signs through the first 3 days, and after that the brew gets pretty stable from infection'.

Can you explain what you meant?

By the way the 20 degrees that you had the first brew at is optimal for a kit ale and will make cleaner tasting beer.

 

[zoidbergmerc]

Welcome to the forum and the world of brewing!

60L fermenters rock and I've got a couple and mine don't seal air tight either but I have no problem only brewing 23L brews in them but I'm extra happy when there is a 46L brew in there, just double all your ingredients, it's that simple! Then you'll never be without homebrew!

 

[Liam dee]

I would say leave it and let them carbonate a bit longer unless you like really fizzy beer. You still should get a nice head and a nice sherberty mouthfeel (I don't like fizzy beer)

The rest of the 'mistakes' sound like no big thing and the worry you have sounds like noob's worry.

This sentence is very confusing: 'I cant put it down to infection, because it shows no signs through the first 3 days, and after that the brew gets pretty stable from infection'.

Can you explain what you meant?

By the way the 20 degrees that you had the first brew at is optimal for a kit ale and will make cleaner tasting beer.

Yeah cheers... I mean... Brew is most suseptable to infection in the first 3 days. Yet its acting perfectly within that timeframe. After that, the brew becomes pretty resistant to infection, yet that was where (i thought) the problem was.

 

[manticle]

Brew is most susceptible to infection during the time the yeast you provide is inactive. Usually this should be around 12-24 hours.

Once whatever microbe that does the fermenting kicks in, the fermenting wort should be resistant to most other microbes. Once fermented, the low pH and presence of alcohol make the beer partially resistant to some microbes but leave a half glass of beer out on a summer's day to see that isn't an absolute truth. Pretty much every infection I've personally encountered, bar one, occurred in secondary ferment during warm weather when kept in ambient temps.

 

[sinkas]

rolls eyes

 

[Siborg]

rolls eyes

That's not very nice. You remember your first brew?

 

[abe max]

Hi all,
I'm a new brewer, kit's and bits at this stage (5th kit bubbling away atm)

I'm bumping this thread to ask a question of those who may know, will I have any issues brewing 23 ltr batches in a 60 ltr? I've just been given one and before I progress I want to know what, if anything needs to be done differently?

I would like to do a double but it's not feesable as I wont be able to easily lift the 60 into a bottling position.

Cheers

 

[Grott]

oxygen is the potential "killer" of a good brew and the 30 litre head space is quite large. However during fermentation co2 is
given off which protects the brew, I would not use the lid and air lock (allowing co2 to escape) but cover the fermenter with
gladwrap using the rubber lid ring to secure and seal. That's my 2 bobs worth, cheers.

 

[abe max]

Cheers grott, will do