First Brew

[Gwenie]

Hi all this is my first post and first go at home brewing.

I got a coopers home brew kit for fathers day and i have been reading on here to try and find the best way of fermenting the brew. The home brew kit comes with a larger.

I was talking to a bloke and as i have an old fridge that doesn't work he said to by a digital termostat and wire it up to a light blub inside the fridge and this will keep it at a constant temp.

What other ways are best for fermenting beer?? I live in horsham victoria where the temp at the moment ranges from 14 - 20 at day and 2-10 at night.

 

[Bribie G]

Your temperature range at the moment sounds about what we had in South East Queensland about a month ago and in my brick garage the brew would get down to about 12 / 14 at night in spite of some 4 degree mornings outside, and up to 16 during the day and everything fermented like a train. Best plan is to find the best insulated area of your house.

A good investment is one of those stick-on strip thermometers. If the brew gets too cold at nights Just wrap it in a spare blanket and slip a couple of softdrink bottles full of hot water next to the brew, worked for me.

Don't worry too much about the temps at the moment, best to really strongly concentrate on your sterilizing skills and the brew should ferment out fine.

 

[wyatt_girth]

Hi Gwenie,
You are obviously keen to get it right early on and not just follow the instructions on the can, so you've come to the right place. As you may have already noticed there is a lot of info on here that at first may seem a little confusing or daunting. Mate all I can say is head over to the articles section and get started. A good opener would be THIS one re fermenting temperatures. Next stop - sanitisers . Once you get these two covered you are off to a good start.
Also use the search function and you will find that a lot of your questions will have been asked and answered before and there is a lot of people on here with a lot of experience and knowledge that are happy to fill in the gaps for you.
Good luck and happy brewing.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Clean everything with bleach and water.
Sanitise everything with your sanitising product that came in the kit.
Follow the directions in the kit.
Dont change anything.
The kits are well designed to be very forgiving for first time brewers.
My first coopers kit is still one of my favorite brewing experiences... "I made my own beer!"

Check back here once you are drinking it, and tell us what yuo think and what you want to do next.
Good luck! ^_^

 

[bouncingcastle]

Clean everything with bleach and water.
Sanitise everything with your sanitising product that came in the kit.
Follow the directions in the kit.
Dont change anything.
The kits are well designed to be very forgiving for first time brewers.
My first coopers kit is still one of my favorite brewing experiences... "I made my own beer!"

Check back here once you are drinking it, and tell us what yuo think and what you want to do next.
Good luck! ^_^

Don't ferment at 26* though....

Althugh this kit comes with an ale yeast, a good bet is to keep it as close to 19-20*C as possible.

Cheers,

Chris.

 

[Crunched]

Hi Gwenie - great father's day present!

I'm also new to the brewing scene and began with the same kit as you. As bouncingcastle mentioned, even though the instructions say to keep the temp between 21-27*C for that lager, you should be aiming for more like 18-20 (it's an ale yeast that comes with their lager can - lager yeasts require 10-12*C). Someone else on this forum explained that Coopers specify 21-27*C (as an ideal but a range of 18-32*C) to ensure that fermentation is complete at the bottling stage to prevent 'bottle bombs'. Bottle bombs occur if fermentation hasn't quite finished in the fermenter and continues after bottling - the resulting build up of CO2 causing the bottles to burst (and if using glass, explode). But so long as you use that hydrometer that came with the kit and check that the specific gravity (SG) remains constant over 2-3 days, then you can be sure fermentation has finished.

But don't be worried - I actually did one of these Coopers kits years ago (when I didn't care much for homebrew and I actually didn't do another until just recently) and didn't pay much attention at all to the finer details and the beer still turned out OK.

I am still learning myself, but with the help of this forum, everything is coming thick and fast. Good luck!

 

[KGB]

Welcome Gwenie. All good advice so far but one thing I will add/clarify is that just because its new and its clean doesn't mean you don't need to sanitise it!
Oh, and the hydrometer is your friend, don't rely on bubbles through the airlock as a gauge - many people don't have a perfect seal on their fermenter and freak out when there is no bubbles.

Putting your brew in the fridge is a good way to go, although temps at the moment are pretty friendly for brewing so there's no rush just yet.
Personally, I think one of the best investments you'll make is to buy a "fridgemate" which basically controls your fridge temp as if you were standing there monitoring it and turning on and off the power as needed.

 

[Gwenie]

well i have been checking the temp of my fridge and it has ranging for 12 at night to 16 during the day i think the old fridge will be fine fro fermenting??

 

[Katherine]

Clean everything with bleach and water.
Sanitise everything with your sanitising product that came in the kit.
Follow the directions in the kit.
Dont change anything.
The kits are well designed to be very forgiving for first time brewers.
My first coopers kit is still one of my favorite brewing experiences... "I made my own beer!"

Check back here once you are drinking it, and tell us what yuo think and what you want to do next.
Good luck! ^_^

I agree with swinningbeef......

The instuctions on the can are there for a reason (Cooper's did not make them up).... the yeast provided in the can works at the high temps... "Yes i know it may not give your a desirable beer, but it gets you started. You then move on from there. If the person enjoys the experience of brewing they can move on from there.