Chimps Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Hi all! This is my 1st brew for 15 years, bought a new home brew kit (Coopers of course!) and after following all instructions the yeast was pitched 4pm Monday 8/11/10. The brew is the standard lager, sugar and yeast found in the kit. Initial wort temp was 28 deg - a bit high (but pitched the yeast anyway) - the temperature from the 2nd day onwards never strayed outside 22 to 26 deg though. Although the brew was in obvious femenation (Foam, silt condensation inside the lid etc) I was never able to get the airlock to bubble... Never mind I guessed, the O-ring isnt seated properly or something... I didnt want to open it up and allow bacteria in. My real question is that its the 9th day now and the SG is only at 1012 - and has been since sunday night. The brew smells fine, I'm worried it will go off if I leave it there too long before bottling? PS in the instructions it mentions you can use a food safe lubricant for the O-ring (not petroleum based) - what products are suitable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I wouldn't stress a great deal about the airlock. I have only got the airlock to finally work with my last brew and some people use gladwrap and miss the airlock all together. 1012 isnt too far off what I thought may have been ready so it might be ready to bottle. If I was using the PET Bottles (Supplied with the coopers home brew kit), I would just bottle away and let it go. If your worried about it I am sure you could swirl the fermenter around to get the yeast back into suspension or pitch a new sachet of yeast although personally I think it would be ready. I am only relatively new too brewing but it seems fairly close to the 1008 - 1010 that I would be aiming for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slurtis Staggersalot Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 If you decided to swirl the fermenter let it settle out again for a few days at least. The brew will be fine if you keep it sealed up in the fermenter for as long as a month (maybe more) I've let sveral brews sit in the fermenter for 20 days or more and there have been no adverse effects. There has however been the benefit of clearer beer going into bottles[cool] If you are bottling into PET and your SG readings have been stable over a few days then go ahead and bottle. The great thing about PET is that you can get an idea of how much carbonation is going on simply by squeezing the bottles. If the bottles getr rock hard reall fast then it's a good idea to degass them by cracking them open (to let off excessive pressure) and then tightening up the lid again. In short if you have in fact bottled too early you can avoid any bottle bombs and still get decent beer out of your hard work. You might want to test your hydrometer in water and see what it reads, it should be 1.000 at 15 degrees C (that's the temp mine is calibrated to, yours may be different so read the paperwork that came with it) Temperature will affect the hydrometer reading, the information supplied with it should explain how to adjust for high or low temps. I just helped a buddy bottle off a batch of lager that finished at 1012 and so far he hasn't phoned me to tell me he has a mess on his hands, and that was over a week ago [happy] As Muddy would say "Ignore the airlock, trust your hydrometer" and the cling wrap method seems to work really well for everyone here using it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianc6 Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 second that slurtis must thank you's for that tip would never of thought of cling wrap but works a treat mate [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slurtis Staggersalot Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 Don't thank me for the cling wrap trick, I don't even have a cooper's fermenter [bandit] It's just something I read along the way. It sounds like a pretty darn good idea to me though PB2 must have come up with it [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimps Posted November 17, 2010 Author Share Posted November 17, 2010 [happy] Thanks fellas - Checked the SG and its still 1012 so I bottled it. It smells and looks great... checked my hydrometer with water as suggested by Slurtis - whaddayaknow? It seems to be 2 off! Thanks for all the help guys, fingers crossed! [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 the main thing is that it will taste awesome when it is ready. I currently am drinking a lagar (its only 2 weeks old) and for some reason it tastes like a sweet strongbow. I have the feeling it may need to sit in the bottle for a fair while longer.[annoyed] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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