Coopers Irish Red Ale 4th brew

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jhay

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I put down 20 litres of the Ale on Friday morning as per Coopers recipe.The only change was to boil the DME for 30min and adding 20g of Kent Goodings pellets at the start of the boil.I also used Brewcraft English ale yeast..
Yesterday the air lock was showing short bubbling as the yeast went to work.Temperature is set on the STC1000 at 18.5' with .07' margin.
Today there is only weak signs of the yeast working.I'm wondering wether this normal as I didn't have this happening with first 3 brews.
Any advise would be appreciated
 
I'm guessing this is your first time using this yeast? Every yeast you use will likely have a different way of fermenting your wort. If you did everything right putting the brew together, it's extremely likely there's no issue here. Give it 3 days then take a gravity reading, that'll tell you how well your yeast is performing.
 
If this is the first brew that you have boiled as opposed to just dissolving the DME then I would say that your wort has now been depleted of oxygen and this will cause poor yeast performance.
Dissolving DME in hot water usually requires a bit of stirring to disolve the malt and this action may help with some oxygenation where as boiling for 30 mins will do the opposite.
There is not a lot you can do about it now but let it ferment out.
If you boil wort you may need to "thrash" it with a brewers paddle to foam it up after cooling and before pitching the yeast.
Do a search on here if you want to know different methods on oxygenation.

Cheers
 
I think I have a problem.Just checked specific gavity>It shows at 1.014 and when tapping the fermentor a lot of crud is in the test tube.Should I ditch and start again amd take myloss?Vey little yeast action even after shaking.
 
You're down to 1014 in only 2 days? And to think you were worried about the yeast doing their job....

Doesn't sound like the crud in your test tube is having any effect on the reading, too much crud will make it higher, not lower. But if you're worried, draw another sample, it's only 100ml or so you're 'losing'. Did you taste it? If not, you should.
 
Don"t ditch it, let it ferment out for at least 7 to 10 days under your controlled temp then rouse the yeast by gently shaking the fermenter just enough to move the yeast cake and raise the temp to 22 deg c (no higher) for a couple of days...you might get a couple of extra points out of it.
I am not familiar with a Brewcraft English Ale yeast but some English Ale yeast flocc out very quickly and quite often need rousing to do their job.

BTW did you take any measurements at al of the first three brews eg OG FG etc?

Cheers
 
I did OG and FG on every brew.The first three brews were ;
1.042,10.45.& 1.042
FGS ere
1.008,1.010,& 1.010
The first & second brew were controlled by towels & ice at average 22'
Third brew contolled in refrigerator by STC 1000 at 198.5' with a tolerance of .7'
 
I put this recipe down on Friday afternoon but stuck to the Coopers recipe.

Mine is in the fridge @ 18 deg. There is a small krausen, smaller than the US05 yeast I have been using recently. There is also condensation on the inside of the FV lid so it is "steady as she goes" for the moment for me.

I haven't taken a SG reading yet, I usually do one after 10 days.

In the meantime its time to enjoy what is already bottled - this brew will look after itself for a while yet.
 
Checked specific gravity today reading 1.012 but no sign of yeast operation.Gave it a shake and no susceptible movement of yeast.
 
Sounds like everything's going ok, 1012 is a good result. Don't worry about what you can see, put your trust in the hydrometer....
 
jhay said:
The first & second brew were controlled by towels & ice at average 22'
Third brew contolled in refrigerator by STC 1000 at 198.5' with a tolerance of .7'
that 3rd brew would have had quite a tang?
 

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