Bottling, Secondary

[phillsmit]

Hi just a quicky, this is my first ever brew. It is a coopers diy lager kit.

In the instructions it says to keep secondary above 18 degrees. Is this very important? if it drops to 16 degrees will it be ok? Will it just take longer?

Just about to start bottling :) excited.

Thank you everyone for all your help during my first brew. This forum has been very helpful.

 

[pittsy]

morning phil , i don't think it will harm it really as its a larger although it will take longer as you thought , its more important to keep it at constant temp but you don't want it to drop below that , it's more to do with the yeast, if it was an all grain larger with the correct larger yeast it would be fermenting at a lower temp anyway. Best also to leave it in the FV a little longer than label says , the longer the better (with in reason) Just make sure you take a hydrometer reading and it stays constant over 2 days then leave a few days more then bottle .

 

[artiums_enteri]

When we say "secondary" are we referring to the process after primary when the beer is just conditioning becoming clearer and the yeast has finished munching all the sugars, or are we talking about an actual secondary fermentation where the yeast is consuming priming sugar to create C02? Both terms are used interchangeably quite often I've found.

For a lager primary should be kept cool, and usually the temp is gradually raised 1-2 degrees per day after the second week. Then a lot of people like to cold crash and lager (German word for store or age) at a cool temp to clear the beer and get that crisp dry character lagers are known for. From reading about the kits, it sounds like these are not true lagers in the sense that the yeast is not a lager strain. In that case I don't see why you can't condition the bottles at the same temp as an ale to get it carbonated.

I am curious though what is the difference between say a coopers lager kit and a coopers mild kit if the yeast strains are both from the ale family?

If I make a lager with say 10 pounds pale malt, my specialty grains, and hops and use a lager yeast at lager temps it comes out a completely different beer style than if I were to take the same recipe and use a cal ale yeast at 10 degrees warmer.