First brew first beer from it

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I am using the copper tun kit which comes with the 750ml plastic bottles. I also have some used 330ml bottles I am cleaning and sanitising.

Off now to read what bulk priming means. :)

Ken
 
One thing I noticed with my second brew I have down . The coopers lager this time with us-05 yeast . My bubbler ( air lock ) hasn't bubbled that I have seen . But it's clearly fermenting there is white foam on top . A little , not as much as yeast that normally comes with it .
And this is only my second brew with this brew bucket so I can't see the lid can be stuffed .
I assume it's the yeast that doesn't cause the bubbler to bubble much
 
Forget about the airlock. It means nothing.

Beer is fermenting, leave it there till it is finished (your first sounds like any glass bottles might explode in time), leave it a bit longer after that, then prime and bottle.
 
Troy294 said:
One thing I noticed with my second brew I have down . The coopers lager this time with us-05 yeast . My bubbler ( air lock ) hasn't bubbled that I have seen . But it's clearly fermenting there is white foam on top . A little , not as much as yeast that normally comes with it .
And this is only my second brew with this brew bucket so I can't see the lid can be stuffed .
I assume it's the yeast that doesn't cause the bubbler to bubble much
Ignore the airlock
trust your hydrometer...
 
Regarding the carb drop debate, I use them and and have never had overcarbed beers. Two drops per 750ml bottle.

I guess that it also depends a lot on personal taste, it like a bit of fizz. Been meaning to try bulk priming, but as I don't use different bottle sizes just sounds like too much work. Priming with carb drops takes 10 minutes, and no extra clean up.

Horses for courses...
 
I'm trying to work out how to read my hydrometer the correct way ,are they all the same or different .
Someone help me out
Up the top of it , it has two marks and it between those two marks it has "beer finish " with "high sg" written and " low sg" on either side
High sg says -20
Low sg says - 1000 in between them is 10 so it goes

Low sg - 1000 ( beer finish )
-
-
-
-
-10
-
-
-
-
High sg - 20 ( beer finish )

That's a mid map on basically how my hydrometer is set out . And the lines I have are exactly the same amount in between each one .

Which one should it be on ideally for the brew to be ready .... ?
 
Forget about the "beer finish", "high sg" and "low sg", just look at the numbers. You will probably have 1.000, 1.010, 1.020 and increments of two in between? May show as 1000, 1010, and 1020.

Generally most kit beers will finish on around 1.008 (1008) or thereabouts.
 
Once you get the process down pat you will find less carbination is the way to go. I bulk prime with 120g dex for 23 litres and find that just right. Always found 2 carb drops to much, with a fair bit of nack from the co2. With clean glass wear lower carbination lets the beer shine. Kit beers are hard to get great and can benifit from the nack of co2.

A tallie is 750ml. Have heard people call stubbies with long necks long necks. But thats just wrong.

Bubblers or air locks.. Pfft. If you watch the fermenter through the fermentation process you will see the yeast fall out of suspenion (drop bright) at this point the beer is done. Take readings to confirm this.

Cheers
 
The beer finish stuff is a range and is best forgotten.

Where it will finish depends on a lot of factors - in the case of kits, ingredients is mostly it.

Straight kit + 1 kg white sugar or dextrose should finish around between1.010 and 1.008. A couple of points higher isn't a big deal if you've given it time and love but 3-4 points or more suggests that the beer is not ready. Yeast can stall and bottling early can mean bottles explode.

If you start adding maltodextrin or malt extract to your brews you can expect them to finish higher. Higher gravity beers also will often finish higher. If you add a dry enzyme, expect it to go a fair bit lower.

There are ways to kick off a stalled yeast and ways to find out where beer should finish but right now, for basic kits, no extras - look at 1010 (actually 1.010) as a rough guide. 1008 - 1012 and stable for a few days at the right temperature. Some kits suggest 1006 but I never had one drop that low.

As the gravity drops, the hydrometer sinks and thus gives a lower reading.

Be aware that gravity reading is affected by temperature so hot/warm reads lower. There are calculators you can use to correct this but for now, try and stick to 18-20 degrees for fermentation and for readings.

1.000 is what pure water will measure at room temperature (and measuring water at close to 1000 is a good way of making sure your hydrometer is accurate) so higher than 1.000 shows there is some sugar in solution. Some of this won't get fermented by beer yeast which results in body and some flavour in your beer.
 
I get ya now . It's 1010, 1020 .
And goes up in twos. That clears it up 100 % now . So basically if I can get two consistent reads on 1010 - 1008 it's ready to bottle .
 
Two consistent reads at the number you reasonably expect given the ingredients yes BUT

your beer will improve if you give it two or so more days after you have hit terminal gravity.

Yeast make all sorts of farty, stinky things while they eat sugar and make alcohol and carbon dioxide. If you give them time, they will clean up some of their mess. If you don't, the mess is stuck in your beer. Patience (and a second fermenter so you can make more while being patient with the first) are key factors in a good, clean tasting beer.
 
So there is no way it will over ferment ! It's been down 4 days now . I'm gonna buy another fermenter this week so I can always have one down
 
Over ferment? No.

Under ferment is what you want to look out for.

Beer left too long with oxygen access can spoil and left too long on dead yeast can taste bad but we are talking many weeks/months. Your main concern is making sure it has finished properly so you don't get glass shards in anyone's eye (and so your beer tastes good and clean).
 
Sweet as . So leaving a brew ferment two weeks is completely fine . Oh that good then . Thanks soooo much for the advise .
 
Why isn't my beer holding it's head. I'm new at this and used a coopers draught kit with dextrose and 2 carbonation drops in 750ml bottles. I'm not liking it the way I liked the guy's who gave me the bottles. He used his own grain though and had a keg set up so the tap was in his fridge door. It was awesome but I don't know how he did it. His was as nice as any pub beer I ever tasted.I feel like Ive got so much to learn.
 
Troy294 said:
Sweet as . So leaving a brew ferment two weeks is completely fine . Oh that good then . Thanks soooo much for the advise .
+1 About twelve months ago I stopped worrying about OG, SG & FG. ie. no hydrometers anymore. Why? Because my detailed brewing notes revealed consistency of OGs and FGs due to to my standard processes and grain bills. eg my total base malts always falls within 200g from one recipe to another.

In other words, my brewing diary has shown me that two weeks fermenting (ales 18-20c; lagers 10-12), followed by one week cold conditioning, then one week carbonating at ambient temps (longnecks) works for me. eg no bottle bombs. As I gladwrap my fermenters, I simply have a daily visual to check temps (Fridgemate) and what stage the krausen is at. No sampling, no stirring, no interferring, no impatience, etc.

And no reference at all to some beer focused ferrier or the like. ;-)

Cheers
 
I pity for you if you ever have a stuck ferment and don't notice it...
 
So it's been 12 days and its slowly getting better and it's holding its head better . Coopers lager - tastes real bitter . Just bottled the same beer today but was fermented at a way way way cooler temp and with us-05 yeast . Still can't fully drink the coopers lager one yet that's been sitting 12 days but ill try it again on weekend
 

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