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MtirKiesh

MtirKiesh

Active Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2014
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Location
farnborough
Hi all, just wanted to get some advice, tip and tricks, do's and don'ts.

I am going to start two brews tomorrow ready for my bday the middle of June, Coopers original series Australian larger and Coopers international series Mexican cerveza. I will be following the instructions to the letter but instead of using 1kg brew enhancer 2, I will be using muntons beer kit enhancer. I was told this would give a better flavour????

Also rather than bottling I will store in a 5 Gallon Plastic Barrel with a Bulb Co2 PIN VALVE. Is this ok as I have been reading that the plastic barrels are not suitable to store larger????

It also says in the istructions that I should use 8g of sugar per litre to prime the bottles so as they will both be 23ltr brews I assume I should prime the barrels with 184g of sugar????

Please any help/advise will be helpful as I don't want a bday without a brew :cry:
 
Bottles are definitely more convenient than barrels for lager, because

a) they hold a higher CO2 pressure, you'll struggle to achieve the carbonation you want for a lager in a pressure barrel. Expect to go through a lot of CO2 in the process.

b) they fit conveniently in a fridge - lager wants to be served cold, and most people struggle to refrigerate a King Keg

Your beer kit enhancer will be fine, it's a mixture of spray-dried malt extract and dextrose. I tend to prefer all-malt kits, and they're often worth the extra money (that said, I've had good results from Coopers kits).

You may just about find the beer to be in condition after 3 months, but don't hurry it. If you're starting now you'll be bottling in April, and I normally reckon 3+ months in bottle for best quality beer. You can drink it after a month or two, but you'll probably be disappointed with it. This is another advantage of bottles, you can open one after one month, one after two months, and drink the rest when it's ready.

It's your brew... you will get beer of a sort in a keg, but I would recommend finding bottles for those lagers and planning on drinking them later than mid-June. If you don't want to buy bottles, you can get away with PET bottles from fizzy drinks if you clean them well, or drink Grolsch in swing-top bottles for a while.
 
Thanks for the reply, I have just started the brews and all appears to have gone ok, how long does it take for the bubble to start coming up through the airlock?
 
Depends on temp but about 24-48 hours and how good a seal on the FV but thats not a big deal :thumb:
 
think I might just be being paranoid as its my first attempt, just watched a utube video on how to test weather its working or if I have a air leak and it all seems to be ok, but thanks for replying. got the temp on all three brews at 24 degrees before adding yeast but that has now dropped slightly to 22.

just don't want to screw it up.

thanks again for the reply :thumb:
 
22 is fine but don't keep opening the lid and leave (as hard as it is) alone :thumb: :thumb:
 
hey blueface thanks for info, what is your opinion on pressure barrel conditioning? Im a little nervous about it as I don't want it to explode, how will I know when to release a little pressure or will it be ok? :hmm:
 
Like magick777 said you will get better results by bottling them, Lager works better being bottled than barrelled but no need to worry about pressure in barrel the pin should have a pressure realise (you need to check that tho) Prime as per instructions or search on here quite a few post about priming bottles etc.
:cheers:
 
Hey guys, just wanted to give you an update, I nailed it, I think:grin:.
magick777 I took your advise and bottled the brew, I was dying to try some so had a little sample today and am overjoyed. it has cleared, the taste and the gassiness( if that's a word?) was great but I'm still going to leave it till June July before enjoying the rest.

My only issue is there is a little bit of sediment in the bottom of the bottle and when I poor it into a glass it makes the beer a little cloudy. I am about to start another a wondered if it was because I done something wrong??:doh: I followed the instruction to letter but afterwards read that I should put into another fv for a secondary fermentation and then bottle????

Thanks for help/advise:thumb:
 
How long did you leave it in the FV, and was it cloudy when you bottled it?

You can either leave it longer in the FV (min 2 weeks, ideally 3 or 4), or transfer it to a secondary FV for a week or so - but this isn't for secondary fermentation, it's to allow the beer to clear before bottling. In either case, once fermentation is finished move it somewhere cool for a week or so and you'll have much clearer beer when bottling, and thus much less sedement. Then you can bottle with priming sugar, which'll allow secondary fermentation to take place and build up CO2 in the bottle.
 
Hi Darrellm, Thanks for the reply, the brew was cloudy when I bottled but it was only in the fv for just over a week as that's what instruction said. Is it ok to leave it in the fv to clear even if its reached its designated fg reading?:hmm:
 
MtirKiesh said:
Hi Darrellm, Thanks for the reply, the brew was cloudy when I bottled but it was only in the fv for just over a week as that's what instruction said. Is it ok to leave it in the fv to clear even if its reached its designated fg reading?:hmm:
Click to expand...

Yes it is - for future reference the Coopers kits are great if you leave them for 2 weeks in Primary FV. Also the yeast that comes with the kits flocculates (clumps) very well and after 2 months you will be able to pour out into a glass (small bottles) or decant into a jug (large bottles) without picking up much sediment.

Just leave it as it is in a warm place for a week or 2 and then a cool place until you need it.

I did much the same on my first brews (Coopers Australian Lager) and they turned out great, despite following the kit instructions :-). So will yours if you just leave it alone.
 

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