How Much Sugar?

[MAXOMiZE]

Hi,

I have just finished brewing my second coopers "real ale" kit and was wondering how much sugar to put in each bottle.
I have the sugar spoons so it's just a matter of knowing which spoon for what size bottle.

- it was a coopers real ale & i added 1kg of sugar to 23lt
& the spec grav is withing the reccomended

- And it has been brewing for a little over a week.

any tips would be excellent cheers.

 

[Steve]

I have the sugar spoons so it's just a matter of knowing which spoon for what size bottle.

big sized spoon for longnecks, little sized spoon for stubbies.

 

[Pete2501]

Hi,

I have just finished brewing my second coopers "real ale" kit and was wondering how much sugar to put in each bottle.
I have the sugar spoons so it's just a matter of knowing which spoon for what size bottle.

- it was a coopers real ale & i added 1kg of sugar to 23lt
& the spec grav is withing the reccomended

- And it has been brewing for a little over a week.

any tips would be excellent cheers.

Check the Final Gravity is steady of 2 - 3 days. Also with this you don't want it to be steady at 1.020 as this beer should finish lower than that. Once you know your beer has finished primary fermentation then you can start bottling.

You'll probably be using PET bottles or you're glass 330ml or 375ml bottles. You can get a sugar measure from your Local Home Brew Shop (LHBS) that will have pre defined measures for each bottle. Or you can get the coopers carbonation drops.

It's recommended if you can to bulk prime. It will give you more consistency in your carbonation across your batch. You can find information on bulk priming in the articles link just below the sponsors. Keep in mind you'll need a sanitised vessel for this and you'll then need to get your beer into the bottles some how so a buck isn't going to work that well.

:icon_cheers:

 

[booyablack]

+1 to the carbonation drops. I use them every time because they are so easy and are a standard amount.

1 for stubbies, 2 for long-necks. Simple!

And NO BOTTLE BOMBS! (at least I haven't had any yet.....)

 

[MAXOMiZE]

Check the Final Gravity is steady of 2 - 3 days. Also with this you don't want it to be steady at 1.020 as this beer should finish lower than that. Once you know your beer has finished primary fermentation then you can start bottling.

You'll probably be using PET bottles or you're glass 330ml or 375ml bottles. You can get a sugar measure from your Local Home Brew Shop (LHBS) that will have pre defined measures for each bottle. Or you can get the coopers carbonation drops.

It's recommended if you can to bulk prime. It will give you more consistency in your carbonation across your batch. You can find information on bulk priming in the articles link just below the sponsors. Keep in mind you'll need a sanitised vessel for this and you'll then need to get your beer into the bottles some how so a buck isn't going to work that well.

:icon_cheers:

Thx for tips, the SG is currently at about 1.025ish. Does this mean i should let it brew some more or does it get higher the longer i let it sit?

 

[Pete2501]

+1 to the carbonation drops. I use them every time because they are so easy and are a standard amount.

1 for stubbies, 2 for long-necks. Simple!

And NO BOTTLE BOMBS! (at least I haven't had any yet.....)

Something interesting. Carbonation drops are 73% sucrose and 36% glucose.

d-glucose is dextrose and sucrose is a combination of a glucose and fructose molecule.

Reference link

 

[petesbrew]

Thx for tips, the SG is currently at about 1.025ish. Does this mean i should let it brew some more or does it get higher the longer i let it sit?

Nope it starts high, (for what u used, around 1040), and gets lower as it ferments. It should end round 1010 give or take.
Just as Pete said before. make sure it's steady for a few days.
And as you're starting out, the carb drops are nice and easy. 1 for a stubby, 2 for a tallie.
Not sure what measuring spoons you're using.

 

[earle]

You definately need to leave it for longer. Gravity gets lower as the beer ferments. I would expect you brew to get quite a bit lower. Rather than just wait for it to be within the recommended, you need for it be be stable within the recommended, other wise you could get bottle bombs by bottling a brew which is not competely fermented.

How long has yours been fermenting for? Most times I leave ales for three weeks in fermenter (temp controlled). By that time fermentation is finished and beer is clearer as yeast, hops etc has settled.

 

[Pete2501]

Thx for tips, the SG is currently at about 1.025ish. Does this mean i should let it brew some more or does it get higher the longer i let it sit?

Exactly right. You should let it ferement for a while longer.

The SG or specficic gravity is the density of the liquid. If you test water it should read 1.000. The more sugar you add the higher the density. The sugars are converted into alcohol and Co2 by the yeast and specific gravity drops. You'll find at 1.020 the beer is still quite sweet and in some case can by quite cloying (sweet and doesn't clear off your tongue quickly).

You'll need to wait for that to drop a bit more before you're ready to bottle your beer. If you post you're recipe ingredients we can extrapolate where abouts your beers FG (final gravity) should finish.

:icon_cheers:

Edit: typo

 

[MAXOMiZE]

Its been brewing for about 1 week and 3 days so far. The last brew i made needed only 500gm of sugar so this brew obviously should brew for a bit longer shouldnt it.

 

[earle]

Among other things how long it takes to ferment depends on temperature and yeast. A kit with kilo of sugar and coopers yeast could ferment in less than 2 days if temp was low 30s. Would taste like ***** though. What yeast and temp have you had?

 

[petesbrew]

What temperature is the fermenter at? if it's lower than, say 18c, it'll take longer to brew than 22c.
Maybe a bit of undissolved kit extract was in the tap, giving you a high reading,
but you may need to leave it for another week. I usually give mine an extra week.

and welcome to the forum

 

[Pete2501]

Its been brewing for about 1 week and 3 days so far. The last brew i made needed only 500gm of sugar so this brew obviously should brew for a bit longer shouldnt it.

Yes and no. It depends on factors like how much yeast was pitched and what temprature the beer if fermenting at.

http://www.brewcraft.com.au/wa.asp?idWebPa...p;idDetails=172

As a rough guide you can use this calculator.

Amusing this is a kit beer with 1kg of sugar and the tin is a 1.5kg prehopped can combined with 21litres of water.

You're OG would have been about 1.043 and your FG will stabalise at around 1.006. Making it a 5.5% by volume.

 

[MAXOMiZE]

Thank you for your friendly welcome and advice.

I think i will let it sit and try to achieve around 1.018ish. btw i have not been recording or monitoring the temperature at all and the weather climate has been pretty variant over the week but my last brew worked out pretty good so il just cross my fingers and next time i will start to get more pro with climate/monitoring.


I am still a brewnoob lol

cheers to- steve
-pete2501
-booya
-petesbrew
& earle

 

[Pete2501]

<snip>
I am still a brewnoob lol

You've gotta start learning at some point.

Brew strong :beer:

 

[BOG]

Maxomize,

Welcome to the forum.

Leave your brew for a week to ferment out. If it's stopped at 1.015 or higher after a week. pick up the fermenter and swirl the beer (gently) to get the yeast cake back into suspension. Measure the gravity each day for the next 3 days. If it dosn't go any lower you can bottle it.



BOG

 

[petesbrew]

the countrybrewer site has some decent little recipe pages you can download, so you can keep a record of your brews.
Nice and handy to remember what works and what doesnt.

We're all noobs in some way!

 

[Pete2501]

Maxomize,

Welcome to the forum.

Leave your brew for a week to ferment out. If it's stopped at 1.015 or higher after a week. pick up the fermenter and swirl the beer (gently) to get the yeast cake back into suspension. Measure the gravity each day for the next 3 days. If it dosn't go any lower you can bottle it.



BOG

I assume you mean after 3 days once the gravity has dropped pass 1.020?

It's pretty important not to bottle beer if fermentation is stuck. If you're using glass bottles this can lead to injury.

 

[MAXOMiZE]

Hey all, after leaving it to ferment for a few more days it is now down to a consistant 1.010sg and smells fine and clean.

PLEASE LOOK AT THIS http://www.mrbeer.com/images/products/69-LRG.jpg ... So do i use the Big one for any longneck/s and small for stubbies??, because im using a variety of longnecks which i have used over a few months.



Cheers and thanks for the quick replies.

 

[Pete2501]

Hey all, after leaving it to ferment for a few more days it is now down to a consistant 1.010sg and smells fine and clean.

PLEASE LOOK AT THIS http://www.mrbeer.com/images/products/69-LRG.jpg ... So do i use the Big one for any longneck/s and small for stubbies??, because im using a variety of longnecks which i have used over a few months.



Cheers and thanks for the quick replies.

Yep.

Small = 330 - 375
Big = 750

Edit: Or if you have a sanitised secondary fermenter you could just bulk prime it and forget about that little doovalacky. This will give you a more consistent level of carbonation.

A mountain of sugar is too much for one man. It's clear now why God portions it out in those tiny packets, and why he lives on a plantation in Hawaii.