My First Brew

[Goldcoast Crow]

Cool, I should do one to gauge on, I’m at day 3

[Malter White]

4 minutes ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

Cool, I should do one to gauge on, I’m at day 3

It's up to you if you take a reading at day 3 but it's highly unlikely it'll be anywhere near done yet. I completely understand your keenness but the more readings you take the less of the beautiful fluid you'll be able to drink when it's done. Besides a few extra days in the FV after reaching FG is deemed beneficial to the brew. The more experienced brewers on here talk about the yeast cleaning up in that period.

But as I said, it's up to you. It's your beer.

[Goldcoast Crow]

All gd, was thinking that, is it just 6 days is a time frame that is general or can you actually visually see changes?

[UncleStavvy]

12 minutes ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

All gd, was thinking that, is it just 6 days is a time frame that is general or can you actually visually see changes?

You should be able to clearly see the top of the brew. A few clumps of froth is fine. Take a sample in your hydro tube. Try it, cool it if you want.

I'm only on my third brew so this time I've put some day 3 brew in a sanitised hydrometer tube with the hydrometer and put the cap on. Cap has a vent hole and in theory should keep fermenting alongside the FV in the fridge. Around day 6 I'll take off the cap and see where the SG is at.

[Lab Cat]

4 minutes ago, UncleStavvy said:

You should be able to clearly see the top of the brew. A few clumps of froth is fine. Take a sample in your hydro tube. Try it, cool it if you want

You can't go on how it looks. Yeasts can work differently, especially if you start buying non-Coopers yeasts. Some will have a foam hang around until you bottle. I think the Abbey Blonde recipe was one - used 2 Belgian yeasts in that one and they don't ferment as high as others. Hydrometer is the best check. 

[Goldcoast Crow]

All gd advice, being my first brew I’ll follow the steps and as I brew more and get more info I can start to build my knowledge 

[UncleStavvy]

2 minutes ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

All gd advice, being my first brew I’ll follow the steps and as I brew more and get more info I can start to build my knowledge 

Been at it for a month now. Learnt so much from this forum. It's an invaluable resource for sure and everyone has been really helpful

[Instigator]

On 4/6/2020 at 9:24 PM, Goldcoast Crow said:

Believe it or not I am already thinking of my second batch 40Hrs into my first but I seem to be struggling to find any walk up stockists of me beer concentrates, was wondering if I could use a coopers kit and just use a bit of maths to work out the amount to use for my craft sized vessel? Or does anyone know if there are stockist in Queensland?

Hey mate, try a "toucan". Basically, grab the regular can of Mexican Cerveza, Euro Lager, or Aussie Pale Ale and just chuck the whole can in. Top up to 10 or 11 litres, depending on how much bitterness you can handle (more water = less bitter = less %ABV). Use the kit yeast. You can get those cans from Dan Murphys if one is near you.

This is what the APA made to 10L looks like.

[Goldcoast Crow]

Day 4/5 did a quick hydrometer test and it was sitting around 1.5.... tasting ok.... will give it another couple of days and try again.... just looking back at this thread and you guys are really accurate with the basic hydrometer readiness to get and exact 1.011....?

[Goldcoast Crow]

21 hours ago, Instigator said:

Hey mate, try a "toucan". Basically, grab the regular can of Mexican Cerveza, Euro Lager, or Aussie Pale Ale and just chuck the whole can in. Top up to 10 or 11 litres, depending on how much bitterness you can handle (more water = less bitter = less %ABV). Use the kit yeast. You can get those cans from Dan Murphys if one is near you.

This is what the APA made to 10L looks like.

That looks amazing, I love a thick pale ale and also love butters so this could be a perfect mix..... that’s brew #2 right there

[Instigator]

I did that one in the craft FV at the same time as I did a 20L red IPA in the big one. Gave a couple of mates a mixed sixer of each. They both liked both, but one preferred one and the other preferred the other (if that makes any sense). It makes a good drop, and fall off a log easy to do.

[Goldcoast Crow]

26 minutes ago, Instigator said:

I did that one in the craft FV at the same time as I did a 20L red IPA in the big one. Gave a couple of mates a mixed sixer of each. They both liked both, but one preferred one and the other preferred the other (if that makes any sense). It makes a good drop, and fall off a log easy to do.

Did you add the brew enhancer with this method or due to the fv differential the enhancer is not needed? 

[Instigator]

Nothing extra needed. The big can in the little FV is effectively adding the extra fermentables. If you threw two cans of hopped extract into the big FV (known as a "toucan"), you'd get the same effect, just more beer.

Anyway, doing this lets you get a little more use out of your craft FV. Don't forget Coopers offer free shipping on the Mr Beer cans if you buy 4. There's also a heap of recipes if you click the link at the top of the page and filter by Volume.

[Otto Von Blotto]

12 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

Day 4/5 did a quick hydrometer test and it was sitting around 1.5.... tasting ok.... will give it another couple of days and try again.... just looking back at this thread and you guys are really accurate with the basic hydrometer readiness to get and exact 1.011....?

You may be reading it wrong. 1.5 is not correct and no brewing hydrometer even goes that high. They usually max out at about 1.120. If you look down the scale it probably has a 1.000 line then 10, 20, 30 etc. going down the hydrometer with graduations between each 10. These numbers are translated as 1.010, 1.020 etc. so you can get the exact reading pretty easily.

 

[Geoff S]

Only problem I have with the Craft Fermenter is 'This tastes Great!, Slurp, Guzzle, Slurp, AWWW It's all gone!'

See if you can spring for the larger fermenter, it's a bit more handier, the Craft is great for specialty type beers like an Abbey Dubble 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Geoff S
Can't spell

[Goldcoast Crow]

Just went and got a can of coopers lager for my second brew, woolies only had lager and draught in stock so I went with lager, hopefully it’s got a nice taste.... was hoping for the Apa....

[Red devil 44]

23 minutes ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

Just went and got a can of coopers lager for my second brew, woolies only had lager and draught in stock so I went with lager, hopefully it’s got a nice taste.... was hoping for the Apa....

I have a can of Lager too, was going to hop the crap out of it with Galaxy or something else I have in the freezer, otherwise it’s too bland on its own

[Marty_G]

On 4/8/2020 at 12:18 AM, Instigator said:

This is what the APA made to 10L looks like.

Now if anyone asked me: How does a perfect beer look I would show them that pic.   To me it is a perfect colour and the head looks luxurious. 

[iBooz2]

20 minutes ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

Now if anyone asked me: How does a perfect beer look I would show them that pic.   To me it is a perfect colour and the head looks luxurious. 

Have to agree with @MartyG1525230263 love the pic of that beer instigator. 

In fact @Instigator I reckon its now your shout for the whole forum so get brewing and start shipping some bottles our way. 

Also you have got me re-thinking my upcoming "to do" K&K recipes.

Cheers - AL

[Goldcoast Crow]

So after trial and error with the hydrometer, I worked it out and at day 6 I have around 1.025 og, I think I read that I was aiming for about 1.011?

[Red devil 44]

On 4/8/2020 at 12:18 AM, Instigator said:

Hey mate, try a "toucan". Basically, grab the regular can of Mexican Cerveza, Euro Lager, or Aussie Pale Ale and just chuck the whole can in. Top up to 10 or 11 litres, depending on how much bitterness you can handle (more water = less bitter = less %ABV). Use the kit yeast. You can get those cans from Dan Murphys if one is near you.

This is what the APA made to 10L looks like.

That’s a cracking looking beer Instigator, well done

[Journeyman]

30 minutes ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

So after trial and error with the hydrometer, I worked it out and at day 6 I have around 1.025 og, I think I read that I was aiming for about 1.011?

I think it's day 5, unless you waited a day to post about it?

I haven't tried that kit but 1.025 seems high for 5 days at ambient. I've got an XPA clone that started at 1.068 and is down to 1.020 at day 4. I realise different brew, different yeast etc. and maybe others can advise better, but to me that seems a slow ferment.

Can you show us a pic of the hydro reading?

[Malter White]

42 minutes ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

So after trial and error with the hydrometer, I worked it out and at day 6 I have around 1.025 og, I think I read that I was aiming for about 1.011?

+1 to Journeyman's comment. Also, are you using the Coopers red & white hydrometer? They can sometimes read wrongly. It's not a problem though. Test your hydrometer in water that's 20C. It should read 1.000 or close to it. If it's not, let's say hypothetically it reads 1.010 then just deduct 0.010 from your future readings. Your 1.025 would actually be 1.015 if the hydrometer is out by 0.010

[Red devil 44]

1 hour ago, MUZZY said:

+1 to Journeyman's comment. Also, are you using the Coopers red & white hydrometer? They can sometimes read wrongly. It's not a problem though. Test your hydrometer in water that's 20C. It should read 1.000 or close to it. If it's not, let's say hypothetically it reads 1.010 then just deduct 0.010 from your future readings. Your 1.025 would actually be 1.015 if the hydrometer is out by 0.010

On the money Muzzmeister

PS - Check out my mullet thread in Everything else, you must of had a mullet in your day Muzz ? 

[Titan]

On 4/8/2020 at 12:18 AM, Instigator said:

Hey mate, try a "toucan". Basically, grab the regular can of Mexican Cerveza, Euro Lager, or Aussie Pale Ale and just chuck the whole can in.

Is this strictly a toucan? Considering your only using 1 can.