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Jamie15185

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Hampshire
Evening all,

Firstly i want to congratulate all involved in this forum ive been reading through certain threads on here with questions i wanted to answer, i have found answers to most of them however a few questions remain,

Im 30 and from Hampshire and like alcohol, i was given a coopers kit as a leaving present, as the title states im an absolute novice and have never attempted any kind of homebrew before, i watched the instructional dvd and set about starting the process, Its been in the FV for 4 days now at a constant 22 degrees, im just a little unsure if i should remove the krausen collar or not as people say dont disturb the fermentation others say remove and replace the lid, Also i took a reading on hydrometer before yeast was put in (didnt note temp at the time) and the hydrometer read 40!! This is me probably not reading it right or doing the whole thing wrong as people have a 4 digit reading!

Any help would be very much appreciated

Regards

Jamie
 
Firstly, welcome aboard! My advice, leave the lid on. Oxygen at this stage is bad for your beer, and exposing your ale to the air could give rise to infection.
A hydrometer reading is usually given in 4 figures - mine is calibrated to read 1000 at 20°c. If yours read 40 at the beginning (known as Starting Gravity, or SG for short) that would be 1040. What you are looking for is a couple of consecutive readings where the gravity hasn't changed, then you know fermentation has finished and it is ready for the next step - bottle or barrel.
 
Thank you for the reply, So leave collar on it is then, In regards to the hydrometer do you always place the 10 digits before whatever reading you get?

When would be ideal to take another reading as i dont want to keep doing it and ruin the fermantation, Once the first reading has taken place do i take a reading every other day from then until the readings are the same for a couple of days, then bottle?

Sorry for all the novice questions that have probably been answered a million times before,
 
Not a problem with questions! Do you have an airlock in the lid of your fv? If you do, wait until it stops bubbling, then take a reading. If not, leave it a week, then take one. Does your fv have a tap? Makes taking samples very easy. If not, some people use a turkey baster to take a sample. Just make sure if you are putting anything into your beer that it is sterilised, or the chances of infection are high.
As for the hydrometer, yes the norm is to give a 4-digit reading.
 
I have a coopers diy kit, with a krausen collar so no need for an airlock, the instructional dvd says to remove after day 3 but reading through here people have advised to keep it as it is and not disturb the fermentation,

I have a tap and a bottle filler for the the tap (makes bottling easy apperantly)
 
Do you have the DVD with the slightly homoerotic Aussie blokes smiling winningly at the camera? I started with this kit and I would advise to leave it in the bucket for about two weeks minimum. It won't hurt your beer and will actually let the yeast clean up after itself, resulting in clearer beer. You would also be wise to move the bucket somewhere cool for about 48 hours before bottling, too. As for bottles I'm going to do a Mystic Meg and assume you have a load of plastic bottles that came with the kit?
 
Haha yeah that's the one, When you say somewhere cooler for 48 hours how cool can i go, can I put in the outside garage? What advantages would I get if I did this? As for the bottles yes loads of brown plastic ones, have been told to purchase glass bottles and a capper so will look into this
 
putting it somewhere cool prior to bottling helps yeasts to drop out and compact at the bottom, you should get less sediment in the bottles and perhaps a cleaner beer. It's not the be all and end all though. I can't imagine your garage would be cold enough anyway. I wouldn't bother doing it unless I could get it below 12c and bottle directly from that position. If you chill it down and then move it to bottle it, it can stir it all up again.

You can always put the bottles somewhere cool after carbonating anyway.

In regards to the krausen collar, I had the same kit when I started. I removed the collar after a few days and then left it for another week-10 days. Ignore the instructions when they tell you to bottle it after a week. An extra week in the FV should produce a better beer. After four days, the head space of the fermenter will be full of co2, which is heavier than oxygen (I believe), so lifting the lid off and removing the krausen collar offers little if any risk of oxidation, unless you start sloshing it round. It makes it a little easier to clean and removes a krausen ring, which can harbour bacteria (unlikely to make a difference tbh, but it's easy enough to remove, so why not?)

In general, it's best not to keep taking the lid off, but when it's still producing co2, it shouldn't have any ill effects. Many brewery's even have open fermenters.
 
I have just started with the Coopers kit also.I too scratched my head as to why mine read '40' on the plastic hydrometer...I then took a closer look,and if you look at the very top,and bottom,it says 900+1000 (or something like that) respectively.So.by my understanding,your brew would be 1040 (same as mine,brewed at between 20-21.9c).
I removed the krausen ring on day 4,as the froth had totally subsided,and I could do it without moving the FV what so ever.Have to be honest,I DID do it really quickly,just in case (and removed the lid first,so as not to have a vacuum effect on the Co2 layer)
I have just bought a pressure keg,another FV,and a syphon (thanks to Tesco clubcard doubling up the points),and was going to give my brew a secondary fermentation after 2 weeks in the new FV,but I think (as I have a brew fridge) I will give it 2 1/2 weeks in the Coopers FV,then knock the temp down to 3c for 3 days,then transfer it to the new FV,add dissolved sugar,then bottle.Not quite sure yet,have to do a bit more homework!.
 

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