brewing

[rtotem1]

hello Everyone i just made a canadian blonde beer with coopers mix.I used 750grams of dextrose and 500grm of dme. and cooper canadian blonde wort mix.  i used lallemand  high performance ale yeast given to me from brewing supply store.I put everything in fermenter  and took a hydrometer ready at 1045. then put the yeast in andlet it ferment. after 3days i  took another hydrometer reading and it was 1010. i thought wow  only  3days  in fermenter.  I ferment another 2days .. witch turned out to be 5day in fementer and i got hydrometer reading of 1000. I decdide to bulk prime and bottle the beer. I would like to know if this batch of beer is going to be ok with hydrometer reading at 1000?

[Shamus O'Sean]

20 minutes ago, rtotem1 said:

hello Everyone i just made a canadian blonde beer with coopers mix.I used 750grams of dextrose and 500grm of dme. and cooper canadian blonde wort mix.  i used lallemand  high performance ale yeast given to me from brewing supply store.I put everything in fermenter  and took a hydrometer ready at 1045. then put the yeast in andlet it ferment. after 3days i  took another hydrometer reading and it was 1010. i thought wow  only  3days  in fermenter.  I ferment another 2days .. witch turned out to be 5day in fementer and i got hydrometer reading of 1000. I decdide to bulk prime and bottle the beer. I would like to know if this batch of beer is going to be ok with hydrometer reading at 1000?

Hmmmm.  1.045 sounds in the correct ball-park.  But 1.000 sounds too low.  Maybe an incorrect reading.  Maybe your hydrometer is out.  Can you take a photo and post it?

Assuming the reading was correct, did you get 2 stable readings over 24 hours before bottling?  If not they may over ferment in the bottles and explode or burst.  

If your sanitisation practices were good, then you will still get beer.  However, it will be quite dry tasting.  An FG of 1.000 indicates a possible infection: Something else got in the beer to make it ferment lower than usual.  It also can be done by adding enzymes that free up more sugar molecules so that the yeast can consume it and convert it to sugar.

Also note that you will get a higher ABV than typical.  Around 5.9% instead of around 4.5%.

[rtotem1]

hello that was final reading on the 5th day 1000 i have beer in bottles now. having a reading of 1000 the hydrometer would not float the beer is very clear and i bulk prime with reading of 1000.

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

13 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Hmmmm.  1.045 sounds in the correct ball-park.  But 1.000 sounds too low.  Maybe an incorrect reading.  Maybe your hydrometer is out.  Can you take a photo and post it?

Assuming the reading was correct, did you get 2 stable readings over 24 hours before bottling?  If not they may over ferment in the bottles and explode or burst.  

If your sanitisation practices were good, then you will still get beer.  However, it will be quite dry tasting.  An FG of 1.000 indicates a possible infection: Something else got in the beer to make it ferment lower than usual.  It also can be done by adding enzymes that free up more sugar molecules so that the yeast can consume it and convert it to sugar.

Also note that you will get a higher ABV than typical.  Around 5.9% instead of around 4.5%.

Wow, I agree with Shamus, that is very early to bottle & those readings don't sound right, maybe you should calibrate your hydrometer or buy a new one.

https://www.diybeer.com/au/coopers-diy-beer-hydrometer.html

[Hoppy81]

I would be inclined to think you will have bottles exploding pretty soon, i would encourage you to watch Coopers how  How to Video.

[Oldbloke]

Limited info. 1000. I bet wrong reading, or the hydrometer is out a bit. I never get 1000, not that I test often.

So, yes ensure you reading it right and check it in water at 20c I think.

Don't worry be happy. It's too late, you've bottled.

Having said that, finished in 4 days I've seen heaps of time. Dad always bottled on day 6, occassionally day 7. But always had the fv at about 25c.

95% of the time I just bottle about day 9 or 10.  And she'el be right. Lol

So, just do the taste test in 3 or 4 weeks and don't store it on the bedroom carpet. Justincase.

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 hour ago, Hoppy81 said:

I would be inclined to think you will have bottles exploding pretty soon, i would encourage you to watch Coopers how  How to Video.

Yeah, I agree mate, anyone that is silly enough to bottle under 14 days in the FV is asking for trouble, you may get away with it if you are just making a basic brew without any additions other than a can & a box, besides, it doesn't get time to clear the yeast up & probably tastes like 

[Hoppy81]

4 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Yeah, I agree mate, anyone that is silly enough to bottle under 14 days in the FV is asking for trouble, you may get away with it if you are just making a basic brew without any additions other than a can & a box, besides, it doesn't get time to clear the yeast up & probably tastes like 

We all have to start green but yeah, watch lots of videos and read lots is my advice.

[Classic Brewing Co]

7 minutes ago, Hoppy81 said:

We all have to start green but yeah, watch lots of videos and read lots is my advice.

Exactly, sometimes I struggle with some of the newbie's comments/questions regarding basic procedures, but it is all on this website, Coopers have covered everything to unpacking the brew kit to bottling, so I agree with you read, watch & learn.

[kmar92]

46 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

 anyone that is silly enough to bottle under 14 days in the FV is asking for trouble,

Well back in the days when I bottled I must have been silly enough . Quite often bottled less than 14 days and never had a problem, however I always relied on accurate SG readings. As conditions of fermentation have so many variables, including varying temperatures, ingredients and yeasts, it is impossible to have a fixed fermenting time that makes much sense. Also relying on airlocks for fermentation, etc are really just guides. Accurate specific gravity readings are really the best way to judge fermentation.

e.g I can ferment a brew using Voss Kviek and it may be done in 2 days, there really would be no point in leaving it in the FV for 14 days as it would not achieve anything.

My advice for you @rtotem1 is that you make sure that you have a hydrometer, that you have checked for the readings that it gives, and bottle when your hydrometer gives you stable SG readings over a day or 2.

[Pickles Jones]

14 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Hmmmm.  1.045 sounds in the correct ball-park.  But 1.000 sounds too low.  Maybe an incorrect reading.  Maybe your hydrometer is out.  Can you take a photo and post it?

Assuming the reading was correct, did you get 2 stable readings over 24 hours before bottling?  If not they may over ferment in the bottles and explode or burst.  

If your sanitisation practices were good, then you will still get beer.  However, it will be quite dry tasting.  An FG of 1.000 indicates a possible infection: Something else got in the beer to make it ferment lower than usual.  It also can be done by adding enzymes that free up more sugar molecules so that the yeast can consume it and convert it to sugar.

Also note that you will get a higher ABV than typical.  Around 5.9% instead of around 4.5%.

Yes, I agree something may have got into the FV and is breaking down the sugars that yeast can't readily do.  

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

there really is nothing wrong with bottling in 7 days or beyond if sure of fg. Each to their own really @Classic Brewing Co it is strange to me that you keg brews 14 days at ambient temp with no cold crash. 

That is you're routine but to me the last 4 or 5 cold crashing does it wonders before kegging. 

But yes bottling on day 5 shivers down my spine.

[Classic Brewing Co]

6 hours ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

there really is nothing wrong with bottling in 7 days or beyond if sure of fg. Each to their own really @Classic Brewing Co it is strange to me that you keg brews 14 days at ambient temp with no cold crash. 

That is you're routine but to me the last 4 or 5 cold crashing does it wonders before kegging. 

But yes bottling on day 5 shivers down my spine.

Most of by my beers are brewed with temperature control, I brew a few at ambient but I am lucky to have an old-style house with double brick walls & high ceilings.

The ambient temperature in the rooms that I brew in have tiled floors & there is a room behind the laundry like a closest which can house two fermenters, an ideal place for it.

I do cold crash sometimes but given the extra time in the FV the beers clear up nicely & I am not fussed about clear beer.

For a beginner it would be wise to follow the basic instructions until you feel confident that your beer has finished fermenting before bottling it.

I have bottled & kegged sometimes slightly earlier as with years of experience & accurate readings, it is not hard to tell if a brew is ready, I also left the brews for longer at times.

Everyone can so what they like but my system has been working for years so I ain't going to start short cutting my methods anytime soon.

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

4 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Most of by my beers are brewed with temperature control, I brew a few at ambient but I am lucky to have an old-style house with double brick walls & high ceilings.

The ambient temperature in the rooms that I brew in have tiled floors & there is a room behind the laundry like a closest which can house two fermenters, an ideal place for it.

I do cold crash sometimes but given the extra time in the FV the beers clear up nicely & I am not fussed about clear beer.

For a beginner it would be wise to follow the basic instructions until you feel confident that your beer has finished fermenting before bottling it.

I have bottled & kegged sometimes slightly earlier as with years of experience & accurate readings, it is not hard to tell if a brew is ready, I also left the brews for longer at times.

Everyone can so what they like but my system has been working for years so I ain't going to start short cutting my methods anytime soon.

From memory was the cold crashed beers much different than the normal 14 days with no cold crash? You must be one of the lucky people that does not get bad wind from extra yeast in beer. I also am not concerned over clarity but a cold crash removes that little bit of extra yeast that can make me gassy. Yes if it works for you its good to keep doing it the same way.

[Classic Brewing Co]

4 hours ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

From memory was the cold crashed beers much different than the normal 14 days with no cold crash? You must be one of the lucky people that does not get bad wind from extra yeast in beer. I also am not concerned over clarity but a cold crash removes that little bit of extra yeast that can make me gassy. Yes if it works for you its good to keep doing it the same way.

Nah, I don't get gas from the yeast & for the record all of the beers I have cold crashed haven't tasted any different, so I don't seem to bother.

 

[JoesBrewingMissionNZ]

Hey guys, I'm struggling to make a new topic on these forums, I just started my first brew and I'm having a somewhat similar issue, I've been brewing a Mexican Cerveza, using a 1kg brewing sugar on top of that, it's day 5 and I've got little to no bubbles coming up through the airlock and i checked and haven't gotten any krousen left on top either, it's been bubbling hard the last few days and i expected it to bubble for long because it's a little chilly this week in Auckland and she's been floating around 19-20C. i chucked an electric blanket around it on low and brought it upto 22-24C last night, i checked the gravity which is sitting at 1011 (OG was 1039) the beer tastes quite fruity/winelike and tastes like it has alcohol in it but I am just concerned an unsure if something may have gone wrong, I'll check and report the gravity over the next few days, I guess I just want to know if this has been experienced before?

[kmar92]

21 minutes ago, JoesBrewingMissionNZ said:

Hey guys, I'm struggling to make a new topic on these forums, I just started my first brew and I'm having a somewhat similar issue, I've been brewing a Mexican Cerveza, using a 1kg brewing sugar on top of that, it's day 5 and I've got little to no bubbles coming up through the airlock and i checked and haven't gotten any krousen left on top either, it's been bubbling hard the last few days and i expected it to bubble for long because it's a little chilly this week in Auckland and she's been floating around 19-20C. i chucked an electric blanket around it on low and brought it upto 22-24C last night, i checked the gravity which is sitting at 1011 (OG was 1039) the beer tastes quite fruity/winelike and tastes like it has alcohol in it but I am just concerned an unsure if something may have gone wrong, I'll check and report the gravity over the next few days, I guess I just want to know if this has been experienced before?

G'day Joe and welcome to our Forum.

19 - 20° should be fine for that brew that you are doing, probably a tad colder would also be good so 18° would be fine for that brew. Don't take too much notice of the airlock as an indicator of how the fermentation is going, airlocks are very poor indicators of activity in a ferment. I would think that your brew is possibly finished at an SG of 1.011, but just leave it to do its thing for a few more days and the yeast will continue to clean up the brew.

I would give it another 4-5 days and then bottle it. Well actually make sure that you have stable gravity readings for at least 2 days.

Edited April 27, 2023 by kmar92

[JoesBrewingMissionNZ]

8 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

G'day Joe and welcome to our Forum.

19 - 20° should be fine for that brew that you are doing, probably a tad colder would also be good so 18° would be fine for that brew. Don't take too much notice of the airlock as an indicator of how the fermentation is going, airlocks are very poor indicators of activity in a ferment. I would think that your brew is possibly finished at an SG of 1.011, but just leave it to do its thing for a few more days and the yeast will continue to clean up the brew.

I would give it another 4-5 days and then bottle it. Well actually make sure that you have stable gravity readings for at least 2 days.

Cheers mate, okay I'm glad, I was planning on bottling on the Sunday afternoon, all going well that is, if the SG stays stable all the way until Sunday would you think i could bottle then?

Also I do have some Clarification Solution from Brewers Coop, It states to apply to the FV and then refrigerate, in your opinion is this worth using?

And given the size of my fridge and the FV it would not be possible to put the FV in my fridge, is there another method that is popular and or works well? as the beer is quite cloudy currently.

Thank you for your time and advice

 

[kmar92]

12 minutes ago, JoesBrewingMissionNZ said:

Cheers mate, okay I'm glad, I was planning on bottling on the Sunday afternoon, all going well that is, if the SG stays stable all the way until Sunday would you think i could bottle then?

Also I do have some Clarification Solution from Brewers Coop, It states to apply to the FV and then refrigerate, in your opinion is this worth using?

And given the size of my fridge and the FV it would not be possible to put the FV in my fridge, is there another method that is popular and or works well? as the beer is quite cloudy currently.

Thank you for your time and advice

 

The wort being cloudy at this stage of the fermentation is usual, don't worry too much about that. Really Joe for your 1st brew I wouldn't worry about clarifiers, etc, just let the brew run its course and it will clear itself if it is given enough time. Just keep an eye on it and when it looks clear, and has a stable gravity for at least 2 days it will be good to bottle.

[ChairmanDrew]

I just checked the gravity of my current brew. Started at 1040, and after about a week is now at 1002. That's the lowest I've seen it go, which I'm a bit surprised by because I was under the impression that the yeast that comes with the Coopers can is pretty generic across the board (this current one is a draught). The difference this time is that instead of using a combo of LME and table sugar I have instead simply used a bag of (Mangrove Jacks) enhancer.

 

I'll check it again tomorrow and see if it's ready for the bottle. But as I'm still new; does this sound pretty normal?

[Spursman]

On 2/9/2023 at 10:36 AM, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

From memory was the cold crashed beers much different than the normal 14 days with no cold crash? You must be one of the lucky people that does not get bad wind from extra yeast in beer. I also am not concerned over clarity but a cold crash removes that little bit of extra yeast that can make me gassy. Yes if it works for you its good to keep doing it the same way.

Just on cold crashing - I typically do this after around 9 days (last 2 days at D resting temp), for about 72 hours. Really clear beers with good long lasting head. I think you are correct about cold crashing removing more yeast as I found that I needed to up the bottling sugar a bit to compensate for the lower carb levels.

[Shamus O'Sean]

6 hours ago, ChairmanDrew said:

I just checked the gravity of my current brew. Started at 1040, and after about a week is now at 1002. That's the lowest I've seen it go, which I'm a bit surprised by because I was under the impression that the yeast that comes with the Coopers can is pretty generic across the board (this current one is a draught). The difference this time is that instead of using a combo of LME and table sugar I have instead simply used a bag of (Mangrove Jacks) enhancer.

 

I'll check it again tomorrow and see if it's ready for the bottle. But as I'm still new; does this sound pretty normal?

1002 does sound a little bit lower than usual, although not unheard of.  As long as it tastes okay and stabilises over a few days then all should be fine.

Also check your hydrometer in 20°C water.  It should read close to 1.000.  If it has a crack in it and moisture gets in, it becomes heavier and will sink a little further in your sample tube and so read a lower SG.

[Aussiekraut]

On 4/27/2023 at 9:52 PM, JoesBrewingMissionNZ said:

Cheers mate, okay I'm glad, I was planning on bottling on the Sunday afternoon, all going well that is, if the SG stays stable all the way until Sunday would you think i could bottle then?

Also I do have some Clarification Solution from Brewers Coop, It states to apply to the FV and then refrigerate, in your opinion is this worth using?

And given the size of my fridge and the FV it would not be possible to put the FV in my fridge, is there another method that is popular and or works well? as the beer is quite cloudy currently.

Thank you for your time and advice

 

Adding finings and then refrigerating helps drop out any debris still present in the beer. The less debris is floating around in the FV, the less you get in the bottle and your beer will be clearer.

If you do not have a fermenting fridge, then just find the coldest spot in the house and leave it there for a few days. It'll work ok.

Most people here have a dedicated fridge with a temperature controller. That will allow us to ferment at a steady temperature and at the end of fermentation, do a cold crash, when the temp gets dropped to something like 0-2C, aiding the dropping out of matter suspended in the beer. This will also lead to a more compact trub in the FV (that's the layer of yeast and debris at the bottom of the FV), so less of it gets into the bottle. The result is a clearer beer with less sediment in the bottle and by extension, fewer farts  

[JoesBrewingMissionNZ]

On 4/29/2023 at 10:33 AM, Aussiekraut said:

Adding finings and then refrigerating helps drop out any debris still present in the beer. The less debris is floating around in the FV, the less you get in the bottle and your beer will be clearer.

If you do not have a fermenting fridge, then just find the coldest spot in the house and leave it there for a few days. It'll work ok.

Most people here have a dedicated fridge with a temperature controller. That will allow us to ferment at a steady temperature and at the end of fermentation, do a cold crash, when the temp gets dropped to something like 0-2C, aiding the dropping out of matter suspended in the beer. This will also lead to a more compact trub in the FV (that's the layer of yeast and debris at the bottom of the FV), so less of it gets into the bottle. The result is a clearer beer with less sediment in the bottle and by extension, fewer farts  

Hey guys 4 days same SG of 1011, I've decided to make some room in the fridge to fit the FV for a couple days added the clarification solution bc even though it's my first brew I feel like it's not a complicated step to improve the quality of the beer by a good margin so yeah. I'll just have to deal with the flatmates Mrs later on so far so good, tastes alright, a little bit fruity like kind of like a white wine flavour to it, I'm curious is that fairly normal at thing stage and will it go away with further fermenting in the bottles next week? I would like it to taste more like a lager then a chardonnay

[Kegory]

58 minutes ago, JoesBrewingMissionNZ said:

Hey guys 4 days same SG of 1011, I've decided to make some room in the fridge to fit the FV for a couple days added the clarification solution bc even though it's my first brew I feel like it's not a complicated step to improve the quality of the beer by a good margin so yeah. I'll just have to deal with the flatmates Mrs later on so far so good, tastes alright, a little bit fruity like kind of like a white wine flavour to it, I'm curious is that fairly normal at thing stage and will it go away with further fermenting in the bottles next week? I would like it to taste more like a lager then a chardonnay

Are you going to lager it?