New Diy Coopers Kit

[philw]

Cheers, have you tested accuracy of the hydrometer?

they were a little off I am going to test with tap water soon, after talking about it on the coopers forum

 

[bignath]

The reason you use a hydrometer is, as you suggest, to take the original gravity and the final gravity. Bubbles are irrelevant and should not be relied upon to tell when fermentation is complete.

This is true for any type of brewing - why you singled out kits is a mystery.

A KK brew that uses dextrose will have a different OG and FG to one that uses all malt or a proprietary brewing sugar.

Any yeast can stall or even not begin in the first place. How do you tell if a brew has started fermenting? Krausen, condensation and above all - dropping gravity are the best signs.

Many people buy a fermenter, get a can from the supermarket and brew away so the kits coming with plastic bottles doesn't save people from exploding glass if they don't know what they are doing and if they are using glass. I inherited my dad's old gear and started with glass bttles (still use them). I'm not alone.

Finally - regardless of what vessel you use for your finished beer - plastic bottles, glass bottles or kegs, why wouldn't you want your beer to have finished fermentation before you have put it in there? There are all sorts of reasons besides kaboom that mean allowing ferment to finish is a good idea. Kaboom is a particularly good one though - especially for new brewers.

A hydrometer costs around 15 dollars and can save anything from headaches to eye injuries if you learn to use it properly.

You don't bottle because the hydrometer says so. You bottle because the hydrometer gives you consistent readings within a range that you would reasonably expect represents finished beer. It's an instrument that gives you a measurement. How you interpret that measurement is up to you but without it, there is no interpretation. Just because you misused a hydrometer in your early brewing days, doesn't make the hydrometer a useless instrument.

top post Manticle! (as usual)

 

[phoenixdigital]

So I have seen alot of comments here about the hydrometer but what about the actual fermenter?

We have recently purchased one of these and there is no airlock which I was surprised at. I have not brewed for many years and thought this may be the new way to brew.

However the first batch we made tastes very very yeasty. We put this down to high fermenting temps.

The second batch I have been informed tonight (as I am out of town) contains FRUIT FLIES!!!!

Is this kit just total crap due to the fact that the lid just rests on the top and doesn't make a perfect seal and there is no airlock?

We have since purchased another fermenter from a brew shop which is the same as I am used to with an airlock etc.. and we are brewing this in a fridge at a constant 18 degress. I hope to god our third attempt works.

I think our first batch was a dud cause we got a bit lazy and only bottled 6 bottles the first week. Then bottled the rest the following week. The second bottling stuff tastes horrid. The first just yeasty and acceptable. My guess is due to no airlock the action of bottling sucked in bad air which tainted the wort which sat for a week before bottling.

The second batch with the fruit flies in it... I have no idea how that happened????

Thinking of ditching this fermenter and just getting another old school one.

What is everyones thoughts on the cooper kit fermenter?

 

[bignath]

I think our first batch was a dud cause we got a bit lazy and only bottled 6 bottles the first week. Then bottled the rest the following week. The second bottling stuff tastes horrid. The first just yeasty and acceptable. My guess is due to no airlock the action of bottling sucked in bad air which tainted the wort which sat for a week before bottling.

A BIT lazy??

FFS, that's really, really lazy.....

Not wanting to sound like a total prick, but why the hell wouldn't you bottle the whole batch in one go.

It takes me around 30-40mins to bottle a batch. How lazy does someone need to be to find this too much work after putting in all the effort to make the beer in the first batch.

I am honestly perplexed by this. Doesn't matter if you're a K&K or a mash brewer, if you put in the work to make the beer, it's beyond my comprehension to **** it all up at the last hurdle by being too lazy to do it properly.

 

[phoenixdigital]

A BIT lazy??

FFS, that's really, really lazy.....

Agreed and no offense taken... and I apologise to the brewing community here for such a poor attitude to our first brew .... our horrid beer was a lesson learnt.

However some would give up after such a crap tasting beer but we have persisted.

I am still at a loss of the fruit flies though?

and the question still stands is this fermenter a piece of crap?

 

[stux]

Agreed and no offense taken... and I apologise to the brewing community here for such a poor attitude to our first brew .... our horrid beer was a lesson learnt.

However some would give up after such a crap tasting beer but we have persisted.

I am still at a loss of the fruit flies though?

and the question still stands is this fermenter a piece of crap?

I don't know, it looks awesome to me, love the tap

I'm considering getting one... but will probably just get another 25L pail as that will stack with my other buckets.

Bucket fermenters are easier to clean, easier to use and easier to get a good seal.

A lot of folk round these parts use cling wrap on the top of their fermenters instead of a lid+airlock

Re the fruitflies.... did you have the lid on properly? maybe you got one in during preparation?

 

[felten]

Fruit flys are attracted to the smell of fermentation, if your lid doesn't sit flush on the fermenter or some other mechanism to stop them, they could get in (I haven't seen the new FVs, so I have no idea).

 

[Hammo7]

and the question still stands is this fermenter a piece of crap?

I have got the guy across the road from me into brewing.
He went and got one of the DIY beer kits with the new FV. That thing works fine.
Sampled his first batch and it tasted like coopers home brew.
His wife did the second brew, it also tastes like home brew. I don't know what you're doing wrong (other than the sheer laziness)
These things are piss easy to clean, lid sits on perfect you don't by chance have any kids that might take the lid off?

 

[yum beer]

recently added a new coopers fv to my kit, was impressed when I got it home, i was expecting the old style FV,
That said, it works fine, is easy to see whats going on and as said a peace of piss to clean, persist with it.

 

[bum]

A BIT lazy??

FFS, that's really, really lazy.....

Not wanting to sound like a total prick, but why the hell wouldn't you bottle the whole batch in one go.

It takes me around 30-40mins to bottle a batch. How lazy does someone need to be to find this too much work after putting in all the effort to make the beer in the first batch.

I am honestly perplexed by this. Doesn't matter if you're a K&K or a mash brewer, if you put in the work to make the beer, it's beyond my comprehension to **** it all up at the last hurdle by being too lazy to do it properly.

So you're going someone for (albeit accidentally) conditioning his brew?

God damn, this place is awful lately.

 

[seamad]

I purchased one of the new fermenters when they first came out, have put quite a few brews through,all fine. Prefer it to my old fermenter as easier to clean. Krausen collar was very useful for imperial stout and some hefe brews as well.
Hydro was a bit out, I cut a bit of the red part off to calibrate, works fine.

sean


My fig crop was wiped out by fruit fly this year but never had them in my

 

[bignath]

So you're going someone for (albeit accidentally) conditioning his brew?

So you're going someone for (quite honestly) pointing out a very obvious error in judgement?

C'mon bum, if you'd read it before me, i'm sure you'd have said much the same thing fella...

No offence was taken by him (as none was really intended). I made my point, he took it on the chin and i'm sure his next batch of beer will be trouble free.

Nath

 

[adz1179]

Agreed and no offense taken... and I apologise to the brewing community here for such a poor attitude to our first brew .... our horrid beer was a lesson learnt.

However some would give up after such a crap tasting beer but we have persisted.

I am still at a loss of the fruit flies though?

and the question still stands is this fermenter a piece of crap?

ive got one and have had no issues with it although its the only fermenter i have ever had so cant really compare... and am no expert... made 5 brews so far.. .stuffed up the first one by brewing the included lager kit way too hot.... but that was my fault :blink: all others have been fine...

the only problems i have had with the kit are the plastic hydrometer and tube... the hydrometer reads about 1.006 in tap water... and careful taking wort measurements in the tube... last brew i made the test wort was still a little hot and the tube didnt like it too much... it melted and fell over :unsure:

Also... the kit comes with two plastic white clips that securely fasten the lid to the collar thing.... i just leave the collar on the whole time with the lid clipped on to ensure a tight lid...

 

[WarmBeer]

I like the look of that tap, and the way it comes apart to allow full strip-down cleaning/sanitising.

Wonder if there is any way to retrofit it into a standard screw-in for the old style Coopers FV's?

here are a few picks I took last night

 

[Amber Fluid]

I have one and have had no problems with it whatsoever. I also prefer it other than the old FV style with the airlocks.

There is less to clean and it is more "user friendly" imo.

As for fruit flies.... you have indicated you have a fridge so why wouldn't you put the Coopers FV in the fridge?... surely there are no fruit flies in there?

I honestly reckon this is a user issue and not the fermenter.

 

[earle]

I don't know how but fruit flys get into my fermenting fridge, little buggers will crawl through the tiniest gap. As I use cling wrap its not a problem. Sometimes I make a trap as described elsewhere on the forum by cutting a 1.25L softdrink bottle and adding some cider vinegar or wort but found that it didn't seem to attract them nearly as much as the fermenting wort anyway.

 

[Hatchy]

This may be a stupid thing to say but I've never had fruit flies in my beer so I don't know.

Would it be worth using wort instead of the cider vinegar for the trap? It would waste a bit of yr beer but may save the rest of the batch.

If I had insects showing an interest in my fermenters I'd definitely be using a lid & airlock rather than glad wrap. I'll happily use glad wrap to keep bacteria out but for insects I wouldn't trust it.

 

[TmC]

I had fruit flies "try" to get into my beer, was scared to spray them so i double bagged so to speak, used the glad wrap and then the lid. I have a new coopers kit btw and i havn't had any problems, i have the old one too.

 

[sjcampbell]

Love the fermenter! Easy to clean and I like the way it pulls apart and it doesn't spin in the thread when you try and turn it on and off. I'd really like to buy another one but I don't want the whole kit.

We don't get fruit flies up here in the highlands.

Cheers
Steve

 

[ploto]

ive got one and have had no issues with it although its the only fermenter i have ever had so cant really compare... and am no expert... made 5 brews so far.. .

the only problems i have had with the kit are the plastic hydrometer and tube... the hydrometer reads about 1.006 in tap water..

ditto on everything up there, except my plastic hydrometer reads 0.993 in tap water.

as others have said it's easy to clean, especially the tap, and it's clear enough you can see the yeastie bits charging around for the first few days, which is kinda cool h34r: .