Coopers Aussie Pale ale

[Jackamundi]

Hey fellas , super new to this brewing thing .. I’ve hit day 7 of the Aussie Pale ale  and I’m wondering when I can bottle this .... the plastic hydrometer I got with the kit is doing some extremely weird stuff , I watched the video on the reading part and twisted in the testing tube to get out any bubbles , however my hydrometer just sinks to the bottom and stays there , I’ve read into this and people have recommended getting a glass one ... would it be ok to bottle today and start the second stage of its fermenting in the pet bottles 

 

cheers 

[MitchellScott]

Sounds like your hydrometer has a leak.

I would leave the brew 9-12 days before bottling just to be sure. I would also certainly get a glass hydrometer.

The yeast will continue to clean up the brew even after fermentation has finished so a couple of extra days in the FV after final gravity has been reached will not hurt.

The last thing you want to do is to bottle a beer before it hits Final Gravity and have bottle bombs.

Mitch.

[Jackamundi]

Thanks Mitch , ok I’ll leave for a few more days 

 

cheers , 

jack 

[PB2]

Have you made sure there's enough beer in the tube before dropping the hydrometer in?  

[Pezzza]

3 hours ago, Jackamundi said:

Hey fellas , super new to this brewing thing .. I’ve hit day 7 of the Aussie Pale ale  and I’m wondering when I can bottle this .... the plastic hydrometer I got with the kit is doing some extremely weird stuff , I watched the video on the reading part and twisted in the testing tube to get out any bubbles , however my hydrometer just sinks to the bottom and stays there 

that baby needs to float yer boat...  just pour water in and the hydro should float up nicely... like PB2 says... make sure you got enough juice in there... I usually fill to the brim of the tube/cylinder the hydro sits in... with the hydro in... and then the hydro will float up - try with just water.. something like the below...  My Coopers Plazzi Hydro works just fine...  if it ain't floating in water - maybe ask Coops to send you a new one... should float up like the below... 

if it is sitting on the bottom... maybe not enough juice... or you have some crazy non-gravitational warp in the time-space continuum that we need to send the Ghost Busters team around right now to investigate your kitch/brewery?

Good luck with it Jackamundi - it will all work out and Plazzis don't blow up (well I don't think they do) so reckon you will be jusssst fine!  BB

[YeastyBoy]

Plastic Fantastic? Not familiar with this variety.

Always used a glass one and tend to toss it in the FV, read before adding yeast (OG) then have a captain cook around day 10 to 14 (FG).

The Oz Pale Ale is a good brew to get into home brewing. Have a go at dry hopping next brew.

Cheers

[Jackamundi]

Thanks BB and PB2 yeah actually over filled the cylinder ... dropped it in and it sank faster than the titanic to the bottom .... so I poured that sample out and did another one and the same thing happened .... I think I’ll just bottle it in 2 days so I don’t get any bombs like Mitch said ... fermentation has definately slowed up , next to no bubbles creating now ... and no surface foam ... 

 

cheers , 

Jack

[PB2]

Give our Brewing Helpline a yell.

1300 654 455
customerservice@coopers.com.au

[Otto Von Blotto]

While I'm guessing it's not what caused this particular issue, hydrometers shouldn't be literally dropped into whatever liquid they're testing, they should be lowered in gently. 

I used to drop mine into the fermenter at the start to test the OG, where it would sink right under before floating back up again. Then dad advised against it, and being a former chemist with extensive experience using them, I figured it was advice worth heeding. 

In any case it would be pretty difficult getting an accurate reading looking at it from above in a fermenter. It needs to be viewed at eye level; from looking at samples at eye level and looking down on it from above, they do look quite different.

[ozlizard]

Sorely tempted to do this one for my next brew as I have always liked the Copers Pale Ale, but will need to cut it down to about half volume. What would be the procedure for dry hopping this and what hops? (sorry to hijack your thread but though you might find this info interesting as well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Edited May 17, 2019 by ozlizard

[Aussiekraut]

17 hours ago, YeastyBoy said:

Always used a glass one and tend to toss it in the FV, read before adding yeast (OG) then have a captain cook around day 10 to 14 (FG).

 

I just take a sample after yeast is pitched and stirred through, put it on the kitchen bench and watch the SG drop a bit every day, as it ferments away. Then after about 10 days, I take another sample to compare the two. The bench sample is usually pretty accurate, despite the very different conditions between open air test tube and closed FV.

 

[YeastyBoy]

4 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

I just take a sample after yeast is pitched and stirred through, put it on the kitchen bench and watch the SG drop a bit every day, as it ferments away. Then after about 10 days, I take another sample to compare the two. The bench sample is usually pretty accurate, despite the very different conditions between open air test tube and closed FV.

 

Like your style & no infection in the beer thief to date?

Maybe we are a tad over sensitive regarding opening the lid on the FV?

[YeastyBoy]

48 minutes ago, ozlizard said:

Sorely tempted to do this one for my next brew as I have always liked the Copers Pale Ale, but will need to cut it down to about half volume. What would be the procedure for dry hopping this and what hops? (sorry to hijack your thread but though you might find this info interesting as well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

My preference is the Centennial Dry Hopped day 4 in the Oz Pale Ale. I use 50g in 23 litres. You could use Cascade, Citra any of those citrus type hops. Have a look at the hop chart for the range of choices. 

So if you are going to brew a half batch use 25g of hops.

I am a Chux convert (not commando) and give the bag a good squeeze/wring out & remove before bottling.

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by YeastyBoy

[YeastyBoy]

15 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I used to drop mine into the fermenter at the start to test the OG, where it would sink right under before floating back up again. Then dad advised against it, and being a former chemist with extensive experience using them, I figured it was advice worth heeding. 

OVB,

Did you ask your old man why?

Cheers

[Otto Von Blotto]

I just called him on an unrelated matter but thought I'd ask about that as well. It's because when it completely sinks it gets wet on the scale above where the liquid line is and can give a false reading, and if it's in a sample tube there's obviously a risk of breakage if it hits the bottom too hard. He would have told me at the time too but it was so long ago I'd forgotten

I also do the "bench test" thing described above although the samples are taken after a few days rather than at the beginning. They do get infected if they're left long enough but usually not before the SG settles. This doesn't normally happen though because I clean them out to take the proper FG samples anyway. 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Otto Von Blotto

[YeastyBoy]

Whacko, my guess was damage or breakage. Have to be some drop into a 23 litre FV to do that?

Get the Meniscus thingy however fairly arbitrary really. So long as you make the same mistake reading your hydrometer you get the right ABV give or take a tad.

BTW, FV is the way to go for me. The Beer Thief is just that in my books.

Just put a brew down tonight so for your viewing pleasure. Not difficult to read at all in the FV.

Reckon 1044? Reckon FG will be 1014 gives 4.5% ABV = perfect.

Cheers

[Otto Von Blotto]

Well, it's not difficult to see it but with the angle and all the bubbles around it, it is pretty difficult to read accurately. I take my OG on brew day though so it's not coming from the fermenter itself, just kettle dregs that get thrown out anyway. 

The bench sample is only 100mL, nothing really. I usually leave behind a litre or so after kegging anyway to avoid trub getting in the kegs. 

Either way, the advice is there for those interested

Edited May 17, 2019 by Otto Von Blotto

[worry wort]

Jackamundi, i know when you first start you're keen to get it down and bottled quickly to see what its like, but as frustrating as waiting is, it's better in the long run. I usually leave mine for 14 days, that way its well over fermenting, and nice and clear when bottling. 

In regard to hydrometers, I like the idea of taking a sample on brewing day and just using that for a week or so, but I take a sample for SG on brew day, ditch it, then start again 2 days after the brew stops working, and after taking the reading, I get to sample the brew to see how its developing. As advised on a million post here, 2 days of the same reading tells me its ready, 3 days confirms it.

Happy brewing, welcome to the turning point of drinking.

[Pezzza]

28 minutes ago, worry wort said:

Happy brewing, welcome to the turning point of drinking.

Agreed with all the above... and if you are doing plazzi bottles... not a lot of worry.  I reckon in general 10 days will see things through.

And as for Hydrometers... brewed for 20 years without any... but had a bubbler... ah well... progress... 

[Pezzza]

20 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

While I'm guessing it's not what caused this particular issue, hydrometers shouldn't be literally dropped into whatever liquid they're testing, they should be lowered in gently. 

Not a lot of glass in this baby...  under-reads but really works just fine

And if it sinks to the bottom in water  - like PB2 says... ask the helpdesk - they'll send you a new one that works like mine does!

You can get a GLASS one when you start doing ALL GRAIN 

 

[Aussiekraut]

5 hours ago, YeastyBoy said:

Like your style & no infection in the beer thief to date?

Maybe we are a tad over sensitive regarding opening the lid on the FV?

Nothing visible. It does what it does in the FV, with yeast building up at the bottom and over the first 3 or 4 days there is a nice krausen on top, before it dries up just like in the FV. Haven't had anything grow on it yet. Just the odd fly has drowned itself in it 

[Pezzza]

23 hours ago, Jackamundi said:

Thanks BB and PB2 yeah actually over filled the cylinder ... dropped it in and it sank faster than the titanic to the bottom .... 

Do the PB2 suggestion - givem a call...seriously something is wrong with the Coopers Plazzi Hydro... or you are luckily in a beer-brewing-anti-gravitational_vortex?!

[Otto Von Blotto]

2 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Not a lot of glass in this baby...  under-reads but really works just fine

And if it sinks to the bottom in water  - like PB2 says... ask the helpdesk - they'll send you a new one that works like mine does!

You can get a GLASS one when you start doing ALL GRAIN 

 

Mine under reads as well but being glass it's unable to be calibrated. At least it's consistent though. 

I've also got borosilicate glass sample tubes which I much prefer over the plastic ones. A 100mL and a 250mL one. I can put hot wort in them if needed (brew days), but they're just easier to see through than the somewhat opaque plastic ones that the brew shops here sell. 

[Pezzza]

20 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Mine under reads as well but being glass it's unable to be calibrated. At least it's consistent though. 

I've also got borosilicate glass sample tubes which I much prefer over the plastic ones. A 100mL and a 250mL one. I can put hot wort in them if needed (brew days), but they're just easier to see through than the somewhat opaque plastic ones that the brew shops here sell. 

Glass is good... Borosilicate Glass... Schott... Pyrex... is even better ; )

[Otto Von Blotto]

1 hour ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Glass is good... Borosilicate Glass... Schott... Pyrex... is even better ; )

Those tubes are Bomax i think, but one of the Erlenmeyer flasks I have is Schott. Got a Pyrex jug I use for brew day stuff as well. They're all borosilicate though.