Brewing Time for Coppers Lager

[Guest]

Hi, I'm new here; I got my brew going last Saturday, it was warm here in Sydney, and the brew started out at 26c, it's been around there for the first few days, then has dropped to 24c today.

SG is around 1012. I know I have to wait until the SG is steady for 2 days, but it looks like that could mean it's ready to bottle tomorrow. Does the higher temp mean the fermenting slightly accelerated, or should I give it a bit longer? It looks, smells and tastes okay (pretty good actually), but trying to balance my patience against the need to bottle before it sits too long is a bit of a test. Is 6 - 7 days for a standard Coopers Lager long enough at average 25c? Should I go by the book with the SG readings, or is there something I'm missing?

Cheers.

 

Ben.

[AdamH1525226084]

Hi Ben, welcome

Yes a higher temp would mean a faster ferment.

 

But, your beer won't go bad if it's sitting in the FV, as long as you don't keep opening the lid. I was in the same boat as you 12 months ago, very impatient [happy]

I try to leave mine in for a few days after it's reached FG to let the yeast clean up the flavour (the advice I got 12 months ago) and generally don't take a measurement until 2 weeks has passed.

 

Enjoy

[Hairy]

Although we always preach to give your beer extra time in the FV, I reckon your first beer should be exempted from that.

 

If you have the patience then leave it, but if not then bottle when it's ready. Save your patience for your next batch.

 

I bottled my first batch after a week and I don't think an extra week would have made much difference to the Coopers Lager and brewing sugar [biggrin]

 

Adam is right about the faster ferment with warm temps. But your beer will benefit from brewing at a lower temp (18-20 degrees) even though it will take a bit longer to ferment.

 

And welcome to the forum!

[Guest]

Thanks guys, I'll give it a couple of days just to be sure, then make sure the SG is stable before bottling; that way the flavour should improve and I can be sure it's ready to go.

As far as the temp, I'm more or less at the mercy of the weather, we don't have air con, and although the insulation we have keeps the temps pretty steady, it's hard to cool the place down (I do keep a couple of towels around my beloved brew overnight to keep it warm in case - I'm sure the stability of temp is one of the keys to not mucking it up). The last time I was brewing (about 10 years ago) there wasn't any resource like this; great to have a forum to share tips on this stuff.

I'll just have to make do with some bought beer for a few weeks until my brew is ready, that should help with the patience issue; fingers crossed I won't have to buy beer again after this..