Coopers Fermenter as a Secondary Fermenter

[chromesphere]

Hey guys,

Picked up a bargain today at kmart, the coopers diy beer kit for $44 on clearance. (kmart eastland Ringwood vic for those playing at home. Only had 3 left so maybe sold out by now).

Anyway, I was wondering if its possible to use the FV as a secondary? I've heard you have to keep headspace to a minimum so maybe not? Add some sugar to allow CO2 to form in the headspace? My bar fridge will only fit 1 FV so have 2 brews going probably isn't going to work.

Still a bargain, Obviously comes with a lot of gear besides just the FV and wouldn't hurt to have a back up? ;-)

Oh, heres a pic of my first brew that I was...hah...testing, another coopers diy beer kit with 1kg malt and CC'ed, strained the hops out for the photo, which I will obviously do when I bottle as well. I think its going to be a good one when its carbed! Hell, its not bad uncarbed lol


CS

 

[Bribie G]

Echoing another recent thread, why would you want to "secondary"?

First brew looks like it's going well. Those sneaky tastes can be interesting B)

edit: in the cooler months in Melb you should be able to brew ales outside the fridge no worries, so a second FV would be handy.

 

[chromesphere]

Fair point, I was thinking mainly for clarity, but then my first beer has dry hops and malt and its pretty clear! Clear enough for me anyway...

 

[Yob]

Didn't think kmart stocked hb gear anymore? I know bigW does at Eastland but kmart is news to me

 

[chromesphere]

Yeah, I went to big w as well, they have the coopers and tooheys stuff as well as some 'beer machine' contraption.

When i saw the beer kit for $44 I immediately thought of the wonders that could await for bargains on fermentables. I asked one of the spotty employees where the brew cans were and he said "we used to stock them but not anymore". So I just grabbed the kit.

A friend of mine told me apparently kmart stocks coopers stuff for a while then clears it off the shelf, then restocks again. Maybe a seasonal thing? No idea why or if that's true.

 

[Bribie G]

Good value, you'd pay more than that just for a FV and airlock etc from a LHBS. Clarity isn't usually a problem with kit brews, particularly if you let them ferment right out and let them sit in the bottles for a few weeks.
Big W seem pretty committed to keeping a range of home brew stuff.

I'm not sorry that Kmart (and Coles and Bilo) got out of kits.. given the limited size of the market it's best to have a smaller range of outlets (Big W, IGA and LHBS) to avoid stock sitting too long and kits going out of date.

 

[chromesphere]

Yeah I was thinking that. A extra set of PET bottles will definitely be usable as well. Carb drops for the newb I am. Lager can and BE1 which is probably pretty useless, but could add a little with malt. Yeah, there's plenty of usable stuff in there!!

 

[Mattrox]

Yeah I was thinking that. A extra set of PET bottles will definitely be usable as well. Carb drops for the newb I am. Lager can and BE1 which is probably pretty useless, but could add a little with malt. Yeah, there's plenty of usable stuff in there!!

Use the lager can in Coopers MIdnight Mosaic Amber Ale recipe. I am almost at FG on my brew and the aromas are amazing out of the brew fridge!

I have some unused BE1, before I knew what it really was I stocked up. I have 2kg left and I think it will go unused, unless the Mrs buys kits from the LHBS. Some of their recipes are lacking in ABV so I throw some in........ I guess I could use it to reculture the cooper's yeast hehehehe.

 

[chromesphere]

Yeah that's what I was thinking with the BE1, or what about using it for priming sugar? I know its easy enough to get raw / white sugar, but might as well use up the sh1t hah?

 

[Bomber Watson]

**** secondary, just cold crash then rak it to the second fermenter with some bulk priming sugar in it then bottle away

 

[chromesphere]

Thanks Bomber, that's a good idea for a use for the 2nd FV!

 

[Bomber Watson]

Tis just what i do, have three FV's, only two fit in my ferment freezer, one is uses purely as a bulk priming/bottling bucket.

This calculator: http://www.brewblogger.net/?page=tools&section=sugar&action=entry

Boil some water, weigh out the sugar, tip it in a 250ml pyrex measuring jug, fill to 250ml with boiling water, stir it till its clear, let it cool, dump it in the bucket, then run some hose from the tap of the fermenter into the bottom of the bucket, make sure it kinda spirals around the bottom so the beer swirls in as opposed to splashing in, open the tap, done.

Cheers.

 

[chromesphere]

Thanks for the instructions Bomber! Hey, one question on the calculator, whats the fermenting temperature? This brewers friend calculator kind of confused me with the explanation under "temperature of beer used for computing dissolved CO2":

http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

* Temperature of Beer used for computing dissolved CO2:
The beer you are about to package already contains some CO2 since it is a naturally occurring byproduct of fermentation. The amount is temperature dependent. The temperature to enter is usually the fermentation temperature of the beer, but might also be the current temperature of the beer. If the fermentation temperature and the current beer temperature are the same life is simple.

However, if the beer was cold crashed, or put through a diacetyl rest, or the temperature changed for some other reason... you will need to use your judgment to decide which temperature is most representative. During cold crashing, some of the CO2 in the head space will go back into the beer. If you cold crashed for a very long time this may represent a significant increase in dissolved CO2. There is a lot of online debate about this and the internet is thin on concrete answers backed by research. We are open to improving the calculator so please let us know of any sources that clarify this point.

The equation this calculator uses to compute the amount of dissolved CO2:
CO2 In Beer = 3.0378 - (0.050062 * temp) + (0.00026555 * temp^2)

 

[Bomber Watson]

That quote is interesting, never really saw it that way...

Basically, the way i have done it, if you cold crash, set it to roughly what you cold crashed it to. If you dont, set it to whatever rough temperature the beer should be.

EG i cold crash at around 2 degrees but set it to the 4.5 degree setting because by the time i rack and piss and moan and have a few beers and get around to it its usually 15-20 minutes, in CQ on an average nice cool 30 degree day thats plenty of time to gain that little bit...But i dont think its that finniky.

If you dont cold crash and bottle straight from the ferment chamber at fermentation temperature then set it to the closest to that temp, etc.

Dont understand the exact science behind it personally, but from what i gather the colder it is the more dissolved CO2 in the mix, so the less priming sugar you need.....

This all said, unlike back when i was using carb drops, i havnt had a bottle bomb yet following the above loosely, and the beers are always carbonated give or take a touch as to where i think they should be for the style and where i set them. Bulk carbonating is great for that, you can carb the **** out of weizens and the like, and go real low on stouts, tune your favorite IPA to exactly where you want it, etc, fantastic.

A few goes and you will work out roughly what vols of CO2 for what temp you prefer for what styles you brew, im all over the shop style wise so its been harder to pin down haha.

Cheers.

 

[chromesphere]

That makes sense bomber, I have read the exact opposite though. You carb to the maximum ferment temp not the CC. I guess if you have done it this way (cc temp) and it works...then it works!