A few q's from a newbie..:)

[HenrikF]

Hi all

 

1. I'v made the lager that came with the DIY beer kit, it was bottled in 50 cl bottles (came with the kit) with one carb. drop pr. bottle, but its got just a bit to little carbonation for my taste, so with the next beer the Unreal Ale can i add a carb. drop + a 2 gram sugarcube (regular castersugar)?

 

2. How long should i leave the Unreal Ale in the FV? It's been in there since feb. 25. And there's not really any foam/bubbles anymore.. It's been kept at 20-21*C.

 

Thank you in advance for your answers[biggrin]

[AndyG4]

welcome to the forum - as i've discovered, it's a great resource for a beginning brewer.

 

1. your instructions would've said that the PET bottles that come with the kit need 2 drops per bottle. i haven't made the unreal ale, but i'd suggest 2 carb drops will give you what you're after. (when you're fully addicted to the hobby, you'll look at bulk priming - but you can worry about that later)

 

2. good move keeping at those temps - the closer to 18 degrees, the better. after about 8-9 days, take a hydrometer reading. take another one 24 hours later, if its the same, it's good to bottle. one of the things i've learned here is that beer can benefit from additional time in the fermenter at very low temperatures (1 degree celsius) to clean up the beer, but that will depend on your temperature control.

 

happy brewing mate - i've only been doing it for a bit over 2 months, but after amazing results on my second beer, wholly achieved as a result of advice on this forum, i'm completely hooked now.

[HenrikF]

Thanks for your answer mate, only one thing.. Originally the bottles supplyed with the kit was 740ml (30 pcs) But i got 45 bottles holding 500ml with a piece of paper saying to use only one drop per bottle.. Could i use 2 without risk?

Have been looking a little at bulk priming, but i don't have a second fermentervessel Is that needed?

[Guest]

If you are looking toward smaller or odd size bottles, bulk priming is the go, ditch the drops and get that second FV, such a good way to get control over your carbonation levels.

 

you need to also understand volumes of co2, residual and desired.

 

each style of beer has it's own levels of carbonation as in like the following

 

(residual being the amount left in solution following fermentation which is temperature dependent)

 

Carbonation Rates By Style

-------------------------------------------

Beer style / Volumes CO2

-------------------------------------------

British-style ales: 1.5 - 2.0

Porter, Stout: 1.7 - 2.3

Belgian ales: 1.9 - 2.4

European lagers: 2.2 - 2.7

American ales & lagers: 2.2 - 2.7

Lambic: 2.4 - 2.8

Fruit lambic: 3.0 - 4.5

German wheat beer: 3.3 - 4.5

 

There is no way you can get near this accuracy with those drops, generally speaking.

 

 

yob

[Guest]

**Cough Cough** - Australian Ales/Lagers usually about 2.5 volumes C02 [bandit]

 

If you are looking to bulk prime then you will need another vessle, even if it is only a water/jerry can from the hardware store will do as long as you can keep it sanitary of course. Some people even do it from a big bucket.

 

You are not bound to have to use the carb drops and can just use plain old sugar if you wanted.

 

To answer your question regarding 1 carb drop + sugar then yes you can. 1 carb drop is equivilent to about 3g sugar. You can use THIS calculator to help.

If you have 500ml bottles then use it in metric and divide the amount of priming sugar by how many litres divided by 2. ie. 147g sugar will do 23L. .147/23/2= 3g sugar per 500ml for 2.5 volumes of C02.

 

It sounds like you like your beer a little more carbed than this. Therefore, I would only add 1g of sugar + carb drop for a 500ml bottle. This should give you around 1/3 as much carbonation as your last brew.