Coopers Dark Ale Refuses To Stop

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Uncle Fester

Old, Grumpy and PROUD of it!
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Hi, I have been fermenting a Coopers Dark Ale with 1Kg of Morgans dark crystal malt. It has been fermenting at 22 degress for 2 weeks now, and refuses to cease bubbling. granted, the bubbling has slowed to one every several minutes, but just as I make the decision to commence cleaning and steralising the gear for bottling, out pops another bubble :angry: The SG has been stable at 1012 for about 4 days, but it keeps bubbling away.

What should I do? I am bottling into PET, which I thought was fairly safe (going to split instead of explode), but after reading some of the experiences some of t ebrewers here have had with PET, I am loathe to risk bottling too early.

Should I turn the heat pad off, and let it settle to about 17 degrees wjich is the ambient temp of the brewery?

Should I bottle with half carbonation sugar?

Just do it, and review household insurance policy?

Are Cooopers Dark kits prone to slow fermentation? I used 2 packets of supplied yeast (Had one in the fridge from a previous kit)

Any advice from my learned colleagues would be appreciated.


Thanks in advance,

John.
 
John.

Bottle it. It will be fine. Going by the airlock tells you nothing. FG has been achieved (or near enough to it). If you've been getting the same readings for 4 days it's finished.

Warren -
 
Done deal. I will bottle tonight - hang the expense. After all, the blast path has to make it out of a cupboard, and through an ensuite wall, before it gets near to anything valuable!

Thanks for the info.

John.
 
John.

Trust me. There'll be no explosions. :lol: 1.014 sounds fairly normal for the beer in question.

Warren -
 
as an alternative - you could rack it into a secondary/cube and then dry hop with 25gms of either EKG, Hallertau or Cascade. Just mix the hops up in a cup full of boiling water first for 3mins then pour into the bottom of the cube and rack on top of it.
Ensure teh hose goes all the way to the bottom.

Leave for 2 weeks in the fridge - then bottle.

Will work well...

Hope this helps.
 
Yep - Id be racking it to secondary for a few days and dry hopping as GMK suggested and then bottle. Thats if you have another fermenter. If not bottle away. Just get it off the bloody heat pad.
Cheers
Steve
 
mandraker as the other guys have been saying it is well and truly ready,you could leave it there for another 2 weeks and you would still probably get a bubble per minute, BOTTLE,BOTTLE BOTTLE BOTTLE
cheers
fergi
 
Alright Alright! You have convinced me. Consider the brew to be dry hopped and sitting in a 20 litre jerry in the fridge.

Now, if I have added floaties (or sinkies) to my brew, do I need to filter the brew in transit into the bottle, or is the sediment reducer that came with the kit sufficient?

John
 
What you need my friend is GMK's patented inline filter, at a total cost of about $6.

All it contains is a pope brand irrigation filter (plastic mesh type), with a bit of hose at each end, and a couple of hose clamps to stop it leaking. Works a charm, and is cheap as chips.

If you do a search there's a whole thread devoted to it.
 
John
You could put your hops in a sterilised hop bag (available at Cols HBS in Kambah)? I just chuck them in loose and only end up with a few floaties in the last bottle filled. Your choice - either way is good.
Cheers
Steve
 
My 2 cents worth is to rack to a cube for a couple of weeks, dry hopping as suggested, then bottle as normal.

Cheers
BradT
 
I just throw my hop pellets in loose in the fermenter (make up a hop tea and then put them in - but no bag)

When I bulk prime I don't notice any floating at the top.
Any (if any) that do end up in bottles would settle to the bottom by the time you drink it anyway and as long as you don't stir up the sediment when pouring shouldn't end up in your glass...

Rich
 
Yep just chuck em in and don't even bother with the hop tea. I did this once and it just came out as green goo and didn't make any difference - just a mess.
 
i use the boiling water to get rid of any green grassiness/musty aroma from the hops.
Hence the 3mins - you do some green goo - but if u smell the hops straight after u add the boiling water - can get a green grass/musty smell.
Then 3 mins later - the wonderfull hop aroma comes thru.

Each to there own - but i prefer the Hop tea method.
 
If you are concerned about "floaties" and dont have a hop bag, try one of those tea bag thingy's(cost between $2.50and $4.00) from your HBS. Put it in a cup add boiling water and when cool toss it in, simple as that. As GMK says the hot water helps get rid of " grassiness".

Cheers
Brad T

Mandraker,
I have just noticed that you live in the land of the pollies like myself,
here is a little hint, as much as I support Colin and his HBS you can also get quite a few things from Georges Liquor at Phillip ( no affiliation etc.) Some of the things at Georges are a little cheaper i.e. The Hoppy Tea Bags.
 
Thanks Brad.... I have frequented both establishments. I think there is a bit of as trade off between the two. Phillip is cheaper (sometimes quite a bit), but BYOAH takes much more care with ingredients (Hops and yeast etc are always stored in the fridge). I alternate between the two. Phillip offer 2 maltshovel kits for $30, BYOAH has a larger and (probably) fresher range.

Most of the time I go to BYOAH, cause I get 10 bucks worth of free advice, and it's good to have a chat.

Actually going there at lunch today, to get some Goldings hops as recommended by Ken for my (now out of the fermenter and in the fridge) Coopers Dark Ale.

Thanks for the advice,

John.
 
Yeah John,
I do buy most of my stuff from Colin, like you say you get the advice as well which IMHO is worth a lot more than $10, as mastercard would put it "priceless"

Cheers
Brad T
 
John....have you racked it to secondary and put in the fridge already? Without putting the Goldings in?
 
Rang BYOAH yesterday, and he reckoned that it would be ok to throw the hops in a day after placing in the fridge.
 
wise words from Col - shel'll be right then.
 
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