Is 20deg Too Cold For Coopers Kit Packet Yeast?

[Barley Belly]

After brewing my first ever two brew in my father in laws fermenter and 25deg cupboard, I finally built my own cupboard and after doin some reading decided to do my first brew in my cupboard at 22deg.

I put down a Coopers Draught using 1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer No1 and rehydrated the yeast in 200ml of pre boiled water at 22deg for 20 minutes, pitched it and put in 22deg cupboard. Original gravity was around 1036 and within 12 hours or so the airlock showed some signs of CO2 and the brew had a krausen.

The next night I decided to do a Coopers Ginger Beer in my second fermenter using 1kg CSR Raw Sugar and rehydrated yeast as before. OG was 1026.

I had been mulling over what temp I should ferment at and how long to leave, so I posted on here as well as reading up in the Frequently Asked Questions For The New Brewer section and after reading decided to turn the cupboard down to 20deg eventhough 18deg was suggested as a temp and ferment both the beer and ginger beer for 2 weeks at this temperature.

After 12 hours the Ginger Beer had no airlock activity at all, no Krausen. So after 24 hours I pitched new rehydrated yeast.

After another 24 hours there was no activity in either the beed or the ginger beer, so I checked gravity. The beer had gone from 1036 to 1014 and the ginger beer from 1026 to 1020, so some activity had happened but had seemed to all but stopped or stalled.

I figured I'd wait 12 hours or so the take another gravity reading. Well after around 16 hours from the last test I checked gravity and both were exactly the same???

In a last ditch effort I've pitched half a packet of dry yeast in each fermenter after whisking to top of the wort hoping to kick start the fermentation off again. That was around 9 hours ago and will check in a further 12 for any activity.


So

My questions are:-

Is 20deg too low for the Coopers Packet Yeast?

Could I have killed the yeast rehydrating it? (Although the water was pre-boiled and at 22deg)

Could the bleach I used to clean the fermenters be killing the yeast? (Although it was used sparingly and flushed afterwards with boiling water)



Will give both brews another week then if gravity hasn't lowered, might chuck them and try again with slightly higher temp and dry pitched yeast as the tins suggests, as I think I might be trying to change too many things at once to improve my brew.

Thanks
finners

Home Brew Virgin

 

[mika]

18degs should be fine for the coopers yeast.
Rehydrating the yeast is fine. It's a good way to proof dodgy yeast, you should see it bubbling and carrying on (if you rehydrate with some DME or something like that)
Bleach as long as rinsed properly won't cause any issues with the yeast. If it was to have, due to poor rinsing, I'd doubt the yeast would have done anything.

Towards the end of a ferment it's not uncommon to actually step the temp up a few degrees to help finish the ferment.
I think patience is the big key here.

... after whisking to top of the wort.....

You Whisked the wort ? Adding oxygen to a fermenting beer is not a good idea.

 

[Barley Belly]

I think patience is the big key here.
You Whisked the wort ? Adding oxygen to a fermenting beer is not a good idea.

I am a little impatient and that is why I whisked. I knew is was bad but I wasn't sure how else to wake up the yeast.
I only whisked the very top lightly.
Damn patience.

 

[white.grant]

No, 20 degrees is not a problem for the Coopers packet yeasts, they work just fine down to 16 deg in my experience. They slow down, but keep going.

1014 is getting close, if you let it go another week you might find that things have dropped further if they don't You could still bottle at that reading. Just cut back on the priming sugar a little.

I haven't made ginger beer in years so I won't make any comment. You might want to think about your use of bleach and how thoroughly you flush though. No rinse sanitisers are available and can be awhole lot more convenient.

 

[Barley Belly]

Thanks guys

Was going to check gravity this morning but decided to test my patience and give it another day before I check again

Will keep you posted with the results

finners
Home Brew Virgin

 

[Interloper]

a bit fat 'win' for anyone with patience... wish I had more of that myself

A friend who I have recently introduced to home brewing rings me every few minutes when pitching, and then every few hours if he doesn't see bubbles in the airlock and I keep telling him: "patience grasshoper, patience"

Of course I don't have much myself, so it's easier to say than it is for me to stay out of my shed where I will pace around my fermenters, staring at them and willing the brews to hurry up and bloody finish already!

 

[quachy]

My Coopers Pale Ale has been going fine for a few days at 23 deg then the airlock just stopped (I took the sleeping bag off the fermenter and forgot to put it back on when number two started crying and father duties were calling) Temp got to 19-20ish and no airlock activity. OG was 1036 (seemed pretty low - coopers pale ale kit with be2) and now is sitting on 1009-1008 for 2 days. I have heard that if there are little bubbles on the hydrometer when testing then fermentation is still happening. Can anyone confirm this or is that bogus? Also what should be my fg reading given the ingredients? I was thinking around the 1006 mark? Anyway as with all the above, patience is king and I will wait and see if there is any movement by the weekend.

Quachy

 

[white.grant]

My Coopers Pale Ale has been going fine for a few days at 23 deg then the airlock just stopped (I took the sleeping bag off the fermenter and forgot to put it back on when number two started crying and father duties were calling) Temp got to 19-20ish and no airlock activity. OG was 1036 (seemed pretty low - coopers pale ale kit with be2) and now is sitting on 1009-1008 for 2 days. I have heard that if there are little bubbles on the hydrometer when testing then fermentation is still happening. Can anyone confirm this or is that bogus? Also what should be my fg reading given the ingredients? I was thinking around the 1006 mark? Anyway as with all the above, patience is king and I will wait and see if there is any movement by the weekend.

Quachy

It sounds like everything has gone just fine Quachy. You want 3 readings at the same gravity before you bottle, so you're nearly there.

Bubbles on the hydrometer, while pleasant, are not a relevant measure of fermentation.

cheers
Grant

 

[Barley Belly]

Took some more AG readings today.

Coopers Draught was still at 1014

And

Coopers Ginger Beer had dropped from 1020 to 1014, which seems promising.

Have turned temp up to 24 in an effort to try and wake up the beer, as this was the wort and the cupboard were when I first put it down.
Fingers crossed.