Hi everyone,
I'm brand new to home brewing, and have just started my first batch. I bought my coopers home brew kit a couple of years ago but never got the chance to start brewing until now. I used the ingredients supplied with the kit originally but was unable to keep the fermenter at the right temp and had to tip my first batch out. I bought a can of coopers lager and a packet of saflager and put it down last Saturday. It has been bubbling away for 4 days now (and producing that sulpher smell!) but just today the bubbling from the air lock has really slowed. Do I have anything to worry about? Or should I just let it do it's thing? The temp hasn't fluctuated much, it's been between 14-12 degrees solid. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks, Paddy
Newbie help! Coopers lager with saflager yeast
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prestons_own
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Monday Aug 03, 2009 9:34 am
Re: Newbie help! Coopers lager with saflager yeast
You'll be fine.
The sulphur smell is a common by-product of some lager yeasts, and will clear in time.
Try to keep the temperature no higher than you have it now.
Fermentations, as a general rule, tend to take off rather quickly. After the easily digestible sugars have been munched, it will slow down as the yeast gets into the harder sugars. Lager fermentations are slower than ales, because of the lower temperatures required to give you that nice crisp lager profile.
When you get to about 75 to 80% of your expected Final Gravity, lots of brewers raise the temperature to about 18ºC or so for a couple of days, for a diacetyl rest, which allows your yeast to clear up after itself. Then cool it down again and allow it to finish fermentation. It will take at least a couple of weeks, but might take anything up to 3 or 4 weeks.
Have a read of this for some further info:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10.html
The sulphur smell is a common by-product of some lager yeasts, and will clear in time.
Try to keep the temperature no higher than you have it now.
Fermentations, as a general rule, tend to take off rather quickly. After the easily digestible sugars have been munched, it will slow down as the yeast gets into the harder sugars. Lager fermentations are slower than ales, because of the lower temperatures required to give you that nice crisp lager profile.
When you get to about 75 to 80% of your expected Final Gravity, lots of brewers raise the temperature to about 18ºC or so for a couple of days, for a diacetyl rest, which allows your yeast to clear up after itself. Then cool it down again and allow it to finish fermentation. It will take at least a couple of weeks, but might take anything up to 3 or 4 weeks.
Have a read of this for some further info:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10.html
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prestons_own
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Monday Aug 03, 2009 9:34 am
Re: Newbie help! Coopers lager with saflager yeast
Thanks for the advice warra! I will take a SG reading sometime next week and once I reach 3/4 of the FG I'll warm it up. Cheers!
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billybushcook
- Posts: 539
- Joined: Friday Nov 09, 2007 10:10 am
- Location: Hunter Valley
Re: Newbie help! Coopers lager with saflager yeast
I did a Coopers Lager with Dextrose & Saflager S-23 yeast.
It still smells like a fart after 2 months in the bottle but is easing off a bit.
That brew stalled after 7 days so I raised the temp to 16 & it kicked off again, I then dropped it back to 12.
I will never do another one that way.
Almost all my "All grain" beers have been with this yeast & have never had the Sulfur problem with them<
Could it be the difference from the simple sugars of the kit & Dextrose were more prone to produce Sulfur compounds & the more complex or fresher sugars of a mash do not??
Cheers, Mick.
It still smells like a fart after 2 months in the bottle but is easing off a bit.
That brew stalled after 7 days so I raised the temp to 16 & it kicked off again, I then dropped it back to 12.
I will never do another one that way.
Almost all my "All grain" beers have been with this yeast & have never had the Sulfur problem with them<
Could it be the difference from the simple sugars of the kit & Dextrose were more prone to produce Sulfur compounds & the more complex or fresher sugars of a mash do not??
Cheers, Mick.