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Hi this is my first brew with coopers lager, my brew has been fermenting over the last 6 days with an OG of 1050 and a FG of 1014 its been at 1014 the last few days and am thinking of bottling it, i tried some today as i was gonna bottle it today but it smells like champagne and is sickly sweet, should i leave it a few more days or what should i do?

N.B the airlock hasnt bubbled as there is a leak somewhere but apparently this isnt a problem, temps constant at 24C with a heat belt.

Thanks for the help in advance

Sean

Mate it sounds as though it was brewed a bit warm. I'd ditch the heat belt personally and try and keep it under 20 deg and above 16 as (correct me if i'm wrong) but the kit yeast in the lager cans is an ale yeast. What else went into the brew, ie. surgar? Brew booster??

What else went into the brew, ie. surgar? Brew booster??

I used what came with the coopers micro brew kit 1kg of dextrose and the kit yeast which from what i've read is ale yest.

I'd ditch the heat belt personally and try and keep it under 20 deg and above 16

Im in perth at the moment and its getting to 0C at night, a guy at my local HBS said leave it on constantly.
Do u rekon i should leave it another couple of days? and what temp should i keep it at for bottling for about 2months?

I'm in Perth too and my brews don't go under 18.. Do you have it inside or outside?

The ambient temp may be 0 - 4 like it has been lately (only early hours of the morning) but that doesn't mean your brew it that temp.

Mate... i keep my fermenter in a cupboard wrapped in a blanket, and that stays at 18C all the time...

Dont worry about a heat belt... but if you need to use it, i'd only connect it to a timer, so it is on 15-30 minutes at a time maybe 5 times a night, just to keep the temp up... 24C is a bit too hot for fermenting beer (even though the kits always tell you its ok).

check the gravity of the beer with your hydrometer to see whether it is done... anything around 1010 should be ok...

Bottling... once bottled, leave it in the house (at about 16C) for a few weeks, then you can chuck them in the shed (or lower temp area) until you are ready to drink them... you can drink your beer anytime after about 3 weeks.. the longer you leave them, the better they usually taste.

good luck... PM me if you have any other probs

You could just turn the heat on at night

alright ill change the heat belt settings and waht about the sickly sweet taste its been fermenting for 6 days and has been at 1014 the last few days, how much longer shall i leave it?

seannicholson2 wrote:Hi this is my first brew with coopers lager, my brew has been fermenting over the last 6 days with an OG of 1050 and a FG of 1014 its been at 1014 the last few days and am thinking of bottling it

Sounds like it's fully fermented, so you can bottle whenever you're ready.

seannicholson2 wrote:I used what came with the coopers micro brew kit 1kg of dextrose and the kit yeast which from what i've read is ale yest.
temps constant at 24C with a heat belt.

There are two problems I can see with this:

1. 24°C is a little too warm, but it's not the end of the world. Really, keeping the temperature constant is the most important thing. So putting it inside with a blanket around it is generally the way to go. Having it a bit warm can increase the esters in your brew, which will give it a "fruity" taste. So keeping it at a constant 18 will give you a much "cleaner" less fruity flavour profile.

2. 1kg of dextrose is too much simple sugar. Yeast don't like more than 20% of the available fermentables to be simple sugar. When you get over that 20% you start to get "cidery" flavours in your beer, which is what I suspect you're tasting when you say it's sickly sweet. I'd just go ahead and bottle this one, and try using either a Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 or 1kg of Light Dry Malt Extract plus some hops in your next brew.

A discussion of off-flavours here: http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

It occurrs to me that an fg of 1014 for a kit and a kg of dextrose is way too high to finish on. {if it was 22 or so litres}
I`d be a mite careful with priming amounts if bottling that at 1014.

alright cheers for the added help guys, ryan what kind of reading should i be looking at for a FG?

Thanks
sean

1008 would be an average for what you have, A couple of points either side wouldn`t be of concern.
But if it`s over, it`s over,

Hmmmm, methinks fermenting a lager at 24C = fusel alcohol...maybe next time we can leave the heatpad in the cupboard or use it for ales???

Cheers,
TL

but the question of the day is---- why did it finish at 1014 using only a kg of dextrose?
I reckon it`s a faulty reading or the hydrometer is out of whack

just getting back to you guys, tasted the beer and it tastes pretty horrible now its carbed up it does taste like champagne but im resistant to throw it out even though im not drinking it, anywayim gonna see how my second attempt went in a few weeks.

cheers
sean

Trough Lolly wrote:Hmmmm, methinks fermenting a lager at 24C = fusel alcohol...maybe next time we can leave the heatpad in the cupboard or use it for ales???

Cheers,
TL

Coopers Lager kit yeast is an ale yeast - but still, 24c is a bit high.

seannicholson2 wrote:just getting back to you guys, tasted the beer and it tastes pretty horrible now its carbed up it does taste like champagne but im resistant to throw it out even though im not drinking it, anywayim gonna see how my second attempt went in a few weeks.
cheers
sean

My first brew was like that, I purchased commerical beer and did a 50/50 mix when I poured a glass, it actually appeared to have improve the taste of the commercial beer.

just an idea so no need to ditch it.

I to have a heat pad and after using it on the first brew I lost it in the garage never to use it again,the reaction of the yeast will keep the fermenter warm, I've done a fair bit of brewing over a vicyorian winter with no need for it, I just let it ferment for 2 weeks before bottling.

The higher FG could be that the wort is still warm, the water had a higher than zero SG to start with.
Isn't the zero reading on a Hydrometer distilled water at 20c ??
Regards
Ron