Cooper lager cleared VERY fast once bottled, is this normal?

[leofrancis]

Hi all,
Firstly, hello to everyone enjoying this great hobby! Cant believe its taken me this long to find out about this home brew malarkey! I'm loving it and I've not even tasted my first one yet!

This is my first brew and I refuse to fail/quit until I've made a successful batch. However, I have a question. I've seen a lot of things online about how it can take 2-3 weeks or even longer for the lager to clear once bottled. I'm concerned as mine cleared totally within 36 hours and now looks fantastic. Even at 12 hours it was half cleared. Being 30, I've learned a few things in life, and one of them is fast things are NEVER good. Is this ok at this stage?

Some back ground info:
- Used cooper home brew equipment (40 pint kit)
- Used Coopers Lager kit
- Primary fermented for 8 days (26-29 degrees for two days as weather was great, and then 23-27 for the rest)
- OG (unavailable as I didn't have one), FG (1.003) - tested over two days before bottling
- Bottled into 500ml bottles with 1.5 carbonation drops each (I like mine fizzy!)
- Bottles stored under the sink and boxed
- I used an old whiskey bottle (with cork) to poor the left over stuff in so I could keep an eye on it like a sampler bottle.

Its this sample bottle that ive been keeping an eye on. As it was corked I didn't add any carbonation drops. I opened it the other day to check and there was a nice pop as the pressure was released (im guessing from primary fermentation). Smells sweet but normal. I checked the proper bottles and they have all cleared with not even a bubble to be seen. High pressure is evident with a squeeze test.

Any help/advice would be grand!

 

[fbsf]

My Coopers APA cleared pretty damn quickly once bottled (certainly less than a week) - the yeast they supply seems to like dropping out and sticking to the bottom of the bottle.

However, being clear isn't a sign that it's ready for drinking - I found that at 6-8 weeks it was significantly cleaner tasting and better carbonated than at 2 weeks.

 

[leofrancis]

Thanks for your input FBSF. Do you think its ok to taste at this stage? I will be leaving it for the full 3 weeks to condition though. My whole work place have been following my progress and pretty much the whole 40 pints has already been promised to them. So lost my first batch already!

But I have another one starting tonight so need some pointers if the above turns out to be a problem :-/

 

[marksa222]

My coopers kits have normally cleared a fair bit in the first week. Nothing to worry about I wouldn't have though.

When I did my first one, I opened one after a week and then again after 2 & 3 etc... Not because I thought they'd be a nice pint, but because I thought it'd help me knowing what they'd be like as they mature. I'd say mine were best after about 3 months, but more than drinkable after 4 weeks or so.

I'd leave them a while before giving them out. A 3 week old lager will be drinkable after 3 weeks, but it probably won't be too impressive.

 

[fbsf]

Yeah, it's fine to taste at this stage (TBH, you can taste directly from the FV once fermentation is finished if you like!), but it won't taste it's best. As Marksa222 said, it's fine for yourself, but I'd hang fire before giving them out to friends & family!

 

[leofrancis]

Fantastic! Ok this is good news. So, hopefully nothing wrong, but aim for 5-6 weeks conditioning. Got it.

Thanks again for your time!

 

[marksa222]

If you have somewhere cool to store them after 3 weeks or so, that'd help it condition. Quite tricky at this time of year mind. I found my coopers lager really benefited from a few weeks in the fridge. Theres a youtube video that shows how it carbonates over time. I think if you looked for "carbonation time lapse" it will be the first one that comes up.

 

[leofrancis]

So, should be ok, 3-4 weeks condition at normal temp, and 2 weeks in the fridge. Check

Think I need to buy a fridge. :-)

 

[marksa222]

I'm not too sure about the best conditioning temp. I'm thinking of doing an experiment in a few weeks where I carbonate in the warm for 3 weeks. Then;

Keep 2 bottles in the fridge for 3 weeks

2 bottles in a bucket or water with a bottle of ice that I change every day and try and keep them around 10 degreess

leave 2 at room temps for the 3 weeks and stick them in the fridge an hour or so before drinking.

Then have a bottle of each with a friend and see which is best.

 

[leofrancis]

I would be very interested to hear how this goes! I'll be moving onto ales and bitters (and maybe some cider) so would love to hear about temperature control using standard household environments.