First brew done!! Few questions though!

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CraigM

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Hi all, as the title says my first brew is done and bottled!
It's a simple coopers lager with a kilo of Muntons brew enhancer!
I had a cheeky one the other night just to see if they had carbonated ok:lol:
The colour is great and it had carbonated really well but even though it was drinkable it tasted and smelled very yeasty and was still very cloudy..I understand this is still very young having only been in the bottles 3 weeks but I did expect it to have cleared a bit more as it was in the fv for just over 3 weeks as well..
My question is will this yeasty smell and taste disappear with some time conditioning or is it likely just a characteristic of the kit yeast I used? And also is it likely to clear a bit more also?

IMG_2413.jpg
 
In my experience it's best to leave your brew for at least two weeks in the FV, better three, so that when it comes to bottling time its clear or nearly clear, but still with enough yeast in suspension to carbonate.
Nonetheless even if you do end up with a lot of yeast in your bottles it should settle out with time. Some yeasts don't pack down as well as others and when you open the beer you may have to leave more behind than you would really like to have truly clear beer into your glass.
You may find that your beer improves with time, most do up to a point, and if its the Coopers Euro lager you have done I seem to remember Coopers recommending it's kept 3 months before it comes good.
Finally If you have fridge space handy you could store some bottles in there and this will encourage the yeast to settle quicker.
All that said, your beer doesn't look too cloudy from your photo, perhaps it just needs more conditioning
 
Welcome to brewing, perhaps the hardest skill to acquire for brewing is patience..
your kits instructions will have suggested that your beer can be drunk after only X days, and strictly speaking thats true it can be drunk, But as you have discovered once the brew has conditioned it will also need some time to settle out and Mature, Just how much time is a tricky question as it depends a lot on personal taste. A rule of thumb often suggested as a starting point is once you have conditioned the beer for a few weeks in the bottle/barrel let it stand in the cool for a week to mature for every 10 gravity points lost during fermentation, so if your OG was circa 1050 and your final gravity was 1010, give the beer at least 4 weeks to mature in the cool.

However the easiest method i guess most brewers adopt is a sample n see approach, generally wait til the sediment has dropped out of the beer and its gained some clarity, and then crack a bottle to see.. If the beers not at its best sit of the rest of that batch for another week or two.

there has been some debate in here about the specific words used to describe the maturing period of the beer im using maturing to distinguish it from the conditioning which i understand to mean adding the condition, life , fizz or carbonation naturally via a priming charge and yeast activity. Im not saying this is the right way to describe/distinguish the stages, just the way i am doing it to answer your Q's..

btw keep a couple of bottles back from each batch you brew for a grand taste comparison come Christmas or your b'day etc.. the difference a few months maturing will have on the flavour will be enlightening, and rewarding ;)
 
Looks like a good one :)

I'm very new to this but from my first couple of attempts, the best bottle each time was the last one. Patience does seem to be a virtue. I've started my latest batch fermenting before even opening one bottle of the previous in an attempt to give them more time to mature. We'll see.
 
If you're happy with the carbonation levels, get them in a fridge, upright, and leave them alone for another 7-10 days to "lager" a little more.
 
Cheers for the replys guys, yeah patience does seem to be an important virtue in brewing!
If a little bit of the yeasty taste disappeared I would be well chuffed to be honest especially for such a basic kit and my first attempt! I have a festival New Zealand pilsner in the brewing fridge at the moment which I have high hopes for as it smells and looks great so just trying to build some stock up!
 
Cheers for the replys guys, yeah patience does seem to be an important virtue in brewing!
If a little bit of the yeasty taste disappeared I would be well chuffed to be honest especially for such a basic kit and my first attempt! I have a festival New Zealand pilsner in the brewing fridge at the moment which I have high hopes for as it smells and looks great so just trying to build some stock up!

You have a great kit in the brew fridge right now, this ones a cracker but a bit more effort to get bottled because of the dry hop. I'd advise you to stir it in gently to encourage it to sink, and cold crash, even then leave it longer to clear right down. Condition and mature for 6 weeks and drink within 4 months to fully appreciate the hop flavours and aroma
 
You have a great kit in the brew fridge right now, this ones a cracker but a bit more effort to get bottled because of the dry hop. I'd advise you to stir it in gently to encourage it to sink, and cold crash, even then leave it longer to clear right down. Condition and mature for 6 weeks and drink within 4 months to fully appreciate the hop flavours and aroma

Thanks for the advice I will do just that! I think the coldest my fridge will get down to is about 3 degrees, is this cold enough for cold crashing?
 
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