1:Advice please 2:Tip for low-tech wort cooling

[bottlebomber]

Hi fellow brew fans.
1: I would appreciate some advice from more experienced brewers than myself regarding what seems like a seriously short fermentation period of my latest batch. This was based on a Coopers "Bitter" kit using the kit yeast and the addition of 1kg pack of Coopers Brew Enhancer No 2, another 300g dried light malt, Golding's hop pellets (22g) and Hallertauer cones (14g). The wort was boiled for about 10m before cooling to 25 deg C and adding yeast. Airlock was bubbling at a brisk rate for about a day and a half then slowed to a standstill towards evening of 2nd day of fermentation (when temp peaking at 27 deg.). It was my expectation that fermentation should take at least three days. My previous batches have taken from 5 to 7 days.
First thing I did was to check SG which turned out to be, surprisingly, 1010, OG having been 1041. The beer smells and tastes like beer so I guess that's a good sign, right? I can not view the contents of my black fermenter to give any visual description.
MY QUESTIONS ARE: Should I consider the beer ready to bottle (providing another SG check confirms no more action is taking place)? And...
How could fermentation be completed so rapidly?

2: My tip for quickly cooling boiling wort to yeast pitching temperature is: Purchase a pack of 25 x 200ml plastic cups from the supermarket, fill with water and freeze. When wort is ready, fill fermenter with about 10lit room temp water, add ice from cups (totalling 5lit) then pour wort. This quickly reduces the fermenter contents to about 25 deg. Obviously, ambient temp will vary the result to some extent. I have found this to be a much quicker and more effective procedure than attempting to cool boiler of hot wort in a tub of iced water.

Cheers.

[gregb]

The yeast that comes with the Coopers original series (white tins) in warm weather will go like Superboy on red cordial. It is quite possible that it has finished after 2 days. 1010 is a reasonable FG for the ingredients mentioned. If on Sunday the gravity is still 1010 then bottle.

Cheers
Greg

[Oliver]

I concur with greg about the rapidity of the fermentation. Given your brewing temperatures, I think it's quite reasonable that it was so quick.

Thanks for the tip about cooling the wort.

Cheers,

Oliver

[bottlebomber]

Thanks guys for the reassurance. The Coopers kit did have a white label so maybe the quick fermentation is, as you mutually suggest, a combination of that particular yeast and the heat.
It's predicted that tomorrow will reach 36deg. here in sunny Q'land -- "hot one day, bloody putrid the next". Think I'll have to move to Tassie.
--BB

[Dogger Dan]

According to Hoyle, you shouldn't add ice directly to the wort. And as the last I mentioned this I got torn apart I will not say anymore

Dogger

[r.magnay]

I was thinking as I read, I know what Dogger is going to say about this and I was pretty close, I must admit that I was one who used to add ice to the wort, and I also used to get a white scum on the brew from time to time, since I stopped adding the ice I have never had the scum, don't know if they are connected or not, but I don't intend to try again.

[ausdag]

I had a similar experience with my first stout (coopers) this last few days. OG was surprisingly low (1037) and fermentation started within 3 hours. By 15 hours it was bubbling out the airlock and I was refilling said airlock every 5 minutes. By 24 hours it had settled to one bubble every minute and that is where it seems to be sitting. SG as of yesterday (after only 24hrs) was already down to 1014. (stout kit + 1kg Light Dry Malt + kit yeast).

Cheeers,

DavidG

[bottlebomber]

Thanks DD, RM and Ausdag for your replies.
Now I'm thinking that I've been too hasty to give advice based on my limited experience. I don't like the sound of white scum forming on the brew, although I've added ice in smaller quantity before with no ill effect. Would the scum be an aesthetic problem only or would this negatively effect the quality of the beer? And what would be happening here to cause this result? From what I've read in beer making books, it seems important to cool the wort as quickly as possible to limit the chances of contamination. Placing the boiler in a tub of iced water to achieve this goal seems to take excessively long.
Ausdag, since you're a fellow Brisbaneite, I'd be interested to know how you deal with the heat problem at this time of year. The experience you mention of wort gushing from the airlock after a very rapid start to fermentation reflects to the letter, the way my first brew went. I was alarmed at the sight of foam pouring from the air lock and displacing the water in it. I'd assumed that heat was to blame. Like yours, it calmed down eventually to a much slower popping rate. The resulting beer, based on Morgan's Amber Ale kit plus more malt, after bottle conditioning was, if not all I'd hoped it to be, drinkable none the less.

[ausdag]

Ausdag, since you're a fellow Brisbaneite, I'd be interested to know how you deal with the heat problem at this time of year. The experience you mention of wort gushing from the airlock after a very rapid start to fermentation reflects to the letter, the way my first brew went. I was alarmed at the sight of foam pouring from the air lock and displacing the water in it. I'd assumed that heat was to blame. Like yours, it calmed down eventually to a much slower popping rate. The resulting beer, based on Morgan's Amber Ale kit plus more malt, after bottle conditioning was, if not all I'd hoped it to be, drinkable none the less.

Hi Bottlebomber,

I'm a newbie to brewing too, so I'm no expert. But I've been reading this forum quite a bit lately and from what I can gather, the foam pouring out the airlock is a common and normal experience with stout, so it could happen too I guess with other darker beers given the sort of climactic conditions we've had lately. As long as there is at least a bit of water in the bottom of the lock to provide a seal then it seems to be ok.

To cool the fermenter (I made the mistake of using too much hot water initially), I only filled to 18L and then added an ice-tray's worth of ice, a litre of cold water from the fridge, and sat the fermenter in the laundry tub half emersed in cold water and wrapped in wet towels. That brought it down from 34degC to 25deg fairly rapidly. I was thinking or buying two bags of party ice - one to sit in the laundy tub beside the fermenter and one to keep to replace the first one which I would then refreeze in the freezer, but since the brew seems to be plodding along okay I'll give it a miss this time round and see how my stout turns out. From the tastes I had of the hydro test specimens, it seems to be turning out fine.

Cheers from Wishart,

DavidG

[NickMoore]

hiya, the cups of ice would be fine as long as they are sealed. remember, they are sharing a space with beef, chicken, stock, the remainer of last night's curry etc so you run the risk of them picking up germs which are then added to the brew.

I fill about 8 of my sterilised tallies with water and then pop them in the fridge the night before brewing. they are then added to the wort.

In addition, I bought a fridge thermasat from grain and grape in melbourne. it'll be 35d C here in brisbane today, but my canadian blonde is sitting at a constant 20d C, and in the dark.

without the beer fridge and the thermastat, beer-making here in summer would be a real trial.

[NickMoore]

sorry, the *contents* of the 8 tallies is added to the wort. the bottles stay out!

[Shaun]

To stop the mess from blow outs use a runoff tube in place of your airlock. A tube is run from the airlock hole into a bucket of water. This acts like your airlock and the mess from the brew is collected in the bucket.

[bottlebomber]

Hi Ausdag,
Thanks for your update. Please excuse my delayed responce. Have been laid low with some bug for a few days.
With my last brew I tried immersing the boiler hot off the stove in a laundry tub of water and surrounded by seven or so 1.25 softdrink bottles filled with frozen water but I found this method a little slow. But then, how slow is too slow? Books I've read on home brewing state that to overcome the possibility of contamination from bacteria and wild yeasts, oxidisation, and the build up of sulphur compounds in the hot wort it should be cooled to yeast pitching temp in about 20m. This was why I came up with my idea to add 5l of ice to the fermenter. Quicker the better! I must say. however, that these books do suggest cooling in a tub of ice and cold water, although one does actually mention briefly that ice may be added directly to the fermenter.
Good luck with your stout.

Hi Nick,
Thanks for your tip about adding the refrigerated water. I have thought of trying this in the past but didn't have the spare fridge capacity for the quantity I thought I'd need. The chance of ice becoming contaminated, in the freezer was in the back of my mind but my reasoning (faulty perhaps) was that if everything is frozen in there before the water goes in there should not be a problem. There are no meat products in there.
You are fortunate to be able to devote a fridge to your beermaking. I don't have this option.
You're right about making beer in Qld at this time of year being a trial. Very frustrating when after all the initial preparation of sanitising, putting the ingredients together and then bottling the heat defeats your best efforts. I should have gotten my act into gear sooner during the cooler months.

Shaun,
Thanks for the tip regarding the blow off tube. I'd read about this in relation to the use of carboys but had not considered employing the device with my fermenter. I've only had one brew burst out of the airlock however.

[Tony]

Books I've read on home brewing state that to overcome the possibility of contamination from bacteria and wild yeasts, oxidisation, and the build up of sulphur compounds in the hot wort it should be cooled to yeast pitching temp in about 20m.

The other reason for the quick cool is to get the proteins that cause chill haze to precipitate out (ie the cold break). This only happes when you cool it rapidly.

Tony