Gday all
I am relatively new to brewing, so have a lot to learn.
First batch I did, was the coopers lager that came with my brewing kit. Did everything as per instructions using the included 1KG brew enhancer 1. Temp at pitch of yeast was 24 C, which then dropped off and stayed stable at 22C (couldn't get it any lower with the weather at the time, and thought that it might be ok anyway, as the kit says not to go any lower than 21C, am assuming this is because it is an ale yeast and will go to sleep at temps below this).
Anyway, all went well, fermented down to a FG of 1010, OG was 1038, which is probably to be expected with only adding the 1kG brew enhancer. I bottled it after 8 days, which was the point at which I got 2 stable readings with the hydrometer. I took great care to ensure that all the bottles were clean, and I sanitised using a bottle sanitiser I got from Big W, I think it was brigalow the brand, then rinsed each one thoroughly (I am using PET bottles, as these are much safer, dont like the idea of glass bombs potentially going off at random).
I primed the bottles when bottling using the coopers carbonation drops that come with the kit as per the recommended 2 per 740ML bottle. I stored the batch away in the shed in my good icebox, temp in the shed at the time would have been around 26-28. Being in the icebox, I would have thought that the temp would have stayed above the recommended minimum of 18C. When I got a couple of bottles out 2 weeks later to sample, they all seemed to have carbed up nicely, bottles were very firm.
However, after chilling and cracking them, I got a nice head to start with, which disappeared very quickly, and the beer was quite flat, not very gassy at all. What have I done wrong? It can't be the glass that is the problem, because I have sampled it straight from the bottle and its the same. I can only think that either the temp has gotten lower than I thought it would being stored in the icebox in the shed outside and the yeast has gone to sleep before consuming all the sugar, or that the drops dont work as well as claimed.
I am relatively new to brewing, so have a lot to learn.
First batch I did, was the coopers lager that came with my brewing kit. Did everything as per instructions using the included 1KG brew enhancer 1. Temp at pitch of yeast was 24 C, which then dropped off and stayed stable at 22C (couldn't get it any lower with the weather at the time, and thought that it might be ok anyway, as the kit says not to go any lower than 21C, am assuming this is because it is an ale yeast and will go to sleep at temps below this).
Anyway, all went well, fermented down to a FG of 1010, OG was 1038, which is probably to be expected with only adding the 1kG brew enhancer. I bottled it after 8 days, which was the point at which I got 2 stable readings with the hydrometer. I took great care to ensure that all the bottles were clean, and I sanitised using a bottle sanitiser I got from Big W, I think it was brigalow the brand, then rinsed each one thoroughly (I am using PET bottles, as these are much safer, dont like the idea of glass bombs potentially going off at random).
I primed the bottles when bottling using the coopers carbonation drops that come with the kit as per the recommended 2 per 740ML bottle. I stored the batch away in the shed in my good icebox, temp in the shed at the time would have been around 26-28. Being in the icebox, I would have thought that the temp would have stayed above the recommended minimum of 18C. When I got a couple of bottles out 2 weeks later to sample, they all seemed to have carbed up nicely, bottles were very firm.
However, after chilling and cracking them, I got a nice head to start with, which disappeared very quickly, and the beer was quite flat, not very gassy at all. What have I done wrong? It can't be the glass that is the problem, because I have sampled it straight from the bottle and its the same. I can only think that either the temp has gotten lower than I thought it would being stored in the icebox in the shed outside and the yeast has gone to sleep before consuming all the sugar, or that the drops dont work as well as claimed.
