Any Advice Please!

[paullys brew]

I have in my fermenter a Coopers Cervesa (K&K) it has now been in for 7 days & I was looking to bottle 2morro ( wed). I just used the standard kit & Coopers Brew enhancer2

Temp has been at a constant 22c using frozen Pet Bottles in a big storage Crate. I have had a reading of 1010 for the last 2 days, Ill check it again in the morn,if the same reading, does this mean Im right to go???

Any advice on sterilising PEt bottles????

Also does anyone have any advice on avoiding bottle bombs using plastic PET bottles, I'll be storing them in a big white polystyrene box in the laundry cupboard as it's a bit cooler & darker & the garage temp fluctuates & can get quite warm. Ive heard that if a bottle bomb occurs,u can just break the seal until a slight hiss is heard & then reseal is this correct.

Any advice would be great for this 1st Timer!!!

 

[brettprevans]

where to start?

firstly - good on you for getting into HBing. its rewarding and addictive.
2 - read as much s you can on the subject, the more you read the better you can brew. have a read through the K&K/Extract section. There are a lot of the same sorts of questions being asked and answered. search for 'brew books' and theres a couple of threads with all the brew books you could need.

3 - 22C is way way too hot for this type of brew (actually for most types of brews). 18C is generally the hottest temp you want. for a cerveza style beer you want to use a lager yeast and ferment at about 10C. Dont worry your beer wont taste horrible, it just wont taste as good as it could. Its your first brew so you can only improve. thats the bright side.
if you lie cervesa style, then search for 'cerveza'. theres an entire thread of almost 50pages of info and recipes on cervezas.

4 - time is your friend. dont be in a rush to bottle quickly. beer that ferments slower is a good thing. beer that ferments out in a couple of days tends to develop bad flavours (I wont go into technical terms). I tend to ferment my ales for 2-3 weeks and lagers about 4weeks. that being said if your fermenting at 22C you wouldnt want o leave if for that long as it will taste bad.

5. sterilize PET the same way you sterilize anything else. theres plenty of choices. just search under sterilizer. there's no rinse such as starsan, iphodor or need to rinse stuff like metabolsuphate, bleech solutions etc.

6. its rare to get a bottlebomb from PET. thats one of its advantages. so long as your brew is fermented out (stable gravity reading over 3 days) then its done. you wont get bottle bombs unless you really over-prime the bottles. even then its hard with PET. dont worry about it.

minor temp fluctuations are ok. so long its not getting too much light then your ok.

good luck with the brewing and read read read.

 

[Screwtop]

where to start?

firstly - good on you for getting into HBing. its rewarding and addictive.
2 - read as much s you can on the subject, the more you read the better you can brew. have a read through the K&K/Extract section. There are a lot of the same sorts of questions being asked and answered. search for 'brew books' and theres a couple of threads with all the brew books you could need.

3 - 22C is way way too hot for this type of brew (actually for most types of brews). 18C is generally the hottest temp you want. for a cerveza style beer you want to use a lager yeast and ferment at about 10C. Dont worry your beer wont taste horrible, it just wont taste as good as it could. Its your first brew so you can only improve. thats the bright side.
if you lie cervesa style, then search for 'cerveza'. theres an entire thread of almost 50pages of info and recipes on cervezas.

4 - time is your friend. dont be in a rush to bottle quickly. beer that ferments slower is a good thing. beer that ferments out in a couple of days tends to develop bad flavours (I wont go into technical terms). I tend to ferment my ales for 2-3 weeks and lagers about 4weeks. that being said if your fermenting at 22C you wouldnt want o leave if for that long as it will taste bad.

5. sterilize PET the same way you sterilize anything else. theres plenty of choices. just search under sterilizer. there's no rinse such as starsan, iphodor or need to rinse stuff like metabolsuphate, bleech solutions etc.

6. its rare to get a bottlebomb from PET. thats one of its advantages. so long as your brew is fermented out (stable gravity reading over 3 days) then its done. you wont get bottle bombs unless you really over-prime the bottles. even then its hard with PET. dont worry about it.

minor temp fluctuations are ok. so long its not getting too much light then your ok.

good luck with the brewing and read read read.

Pretty much what has been said above is good info, especially - read and use the search function. Don't know about fermenting ales for 2 - 3 weeks, must be very sleepy yeast. Cool temps are safe so it's ok to leave the beer on the yeast to clean up after itself for a while, unless you can maintain a good covering of CO2 on your beer after fermentation has ceased it can be a bit risky having it sit around at warmer temps (infection). For ale fermentation 18C is a good temp to aim for, ditch the kit yeast and pitch a good amount of a good yeast, US-05 would have been a good yeast (neutral flavour) for your current brew. A tip to make things easy: Before you bottle get yourself some no rinse sanitiser and search and read about Bulk Priming. Good luck with your brewing, welcome to the obsession.

Screwy

 

[brettprevans]

I did say that you wouldnt leave beer for long at high temps. high temps for a long time are bad.

my temp is usually 16-18C for ales and it a nice steady fermentation with good outcomes. usually 2 weeks but Ive been known to leave them for 3 if im busy. actually my RIS was down for 4 weeks while the yeast chewed through it. leaving it for that long isnt a necessity. its more of a making sure its done. i dont always get much of a gravity drop but occatiosnaly i do with some, so i do it for all of them.

yeah I forgot about saying to ditch kit yeast (muntons gold yeats is ok to brew with) and buy good yeast. alternatively use the kit yeast to make bread with .

 

[paullys brew]

Thanx mate for all of your help, I'm already learning so much & yet still so much 2 take in! !!.

I plan on getting a fridgemate very shortly, as I have a bar in the garage ,with an old fridge that I picked up off a mate for a carton of beer, that works a treat & has never skipped a beat.I work in hospitality in the local club doing bar & gaming . The bloke who does all of our refrigeration air cond etc. is going 2 come & install it 4 me & put new seals on the fridge freezer for nothing, so I guess I cant go wrong.

Sure will beat frozen bottles everyday & rushing home 2 check temps. Id like 2 be able 2 do it the right way & not have 2 worry!!!.

With those fridgemates, do u wire them inline with thermostat or bypass it, or if I want 2 get the fridge back 2 normal operating temp, do I just switch off the fridge mate or set it 2 correct temp???

 

[turto77]

Thanx mate for all of your help, I'm already learning so much & yet still so much 2 take in! !!.

I plan on getting a fridgemate very shortly, as I have a bar in the garage ,with an old fridge that I picked up off a mate for a carton of beer, that works a treat & has never skipped a beat.I work in hospitality in the local club doing bar & gaming . The bloke who does all of our refrigeration air cond etc. is going 2 come & install it 4 me & put new seals on the fridge freezer for nothing, so I guess I cant go wrong.

Sure will beat frozen bottles everyday & rushing home 2 check temps. Id like 2 be able 2 do it the right way & not have 2 worry!!!.

With those fridgemates, do u wire them inline with thermostat or bypass it, or if I want 2 get the fridge back 2 normal operating temp, do I just switch off the fridge mate or set it 2 correct temp???

Paully,
The fridgemate plugs into the power supply for the fridge, so all you need to do is set the fridge to its coldest setting and let the fridgemate turn on\off the power. So all you have to do when you want to use as a fridge again is unplug the fridgemate and set the fridge thermostat.

 

[brettprevans]

checkout the fridgemate threads. I cant help as I havent used one yet (although i will be soon). theres a current thread on the recent topics list.. have a read and that should see you through. or if in doubt get a sparky to do it for you.