Coopers Euro Lager

[Tweedie]

Hi there

Looking for some guidence here as I have just bottled/kegged my Coopers Euro Lager after two weeks in the FV but noticed it was "fizzy" as i transfered it into a 2nd FV to prime and wanted to check why this was as this is my first lager so didnt know if this was normal ?

I brewed it at 14-15 degC for a week and it fell from the SG of 1042 to 1008, where it sat for a week. I raised the temp to 17 degC for the last two days to make sure it had fully fermented and there was no change in the gravity, hence moving to conditioning it, priming it with 160g of Brewers Sugar. As the gravity had settled for so long I was sure it had finished but the fizzing when I moved it into a second FV and then bottles caused me some concern.

Any guidence would be useful as I dont want any exploding bottles !!!

Thanks in advance

 

[phettebs]

What do you mean by fizzing? It's normal, post-fermentation, to still have some CO2 in solution. But if you racked it to secondary and had a massive "head" in that FV, something else was going on.

 

[Sandimas]

Surprised it finished in so short a time but 1008 sounds about right for that brew.

As it's a lager that'll be presumably stored in the fridge after 1-2 weeks in the warm to gas up, exploding bottles shouldn't be a problem, most bottle bombs occur with brews stored at room temp when the yeast can carry on fermenting.

 

[Tweedie]

What do you mean by fizzing? It's normal, post-fermentation, to still have some CO2 in solution. But if you racked it to secondary and had a massive "head" in that FV, something else was going on.

I mean it was like it already was carbonated... when I took a sample, there was bubbles rising in the sample tube. There wasnt any head when I racked it but was very concious of not disturning the brew too much so it was a gentle feed from the primary to the secondary and as such no chance to form a head.

 

[Tweedie]

Surprised it finished in so short a time but 1008 sounds about right for that brew.

As it's a lager that'll be presumably stored in the fridge after 1-2 weeks in the warm to gas up, exploding bottles shouldn't be a problem, most bottle bombs occur with brews stored at room temp when the yeast can carry on fermenting.

Yeah I have the bottles and keg in the cupboard currently conditioning at 18 degs and will leave for two weeks before moving to the fridge for another two weeks, just as I would with any other brew.

I have been monitoring the kegs and they are absorbing any CO2 under pressure so not too concerned. Think it was just the initial shock of seeing carbonation in the sample tube before bottling as I havent seen it before.

 

[obscure]

I mean it was like it already was carbonated... when I took a sample, there was bubbles rising in the sample tube. There wasnt any head when I racked it but was very concious of not disturning the brew too much so it was a gentle feed from the primary to the secondary and as such no chance to form a head.

You will basically always get some degree of carbonation in beer straight out of primary but it’s not generally all that much (less than even what would be acceptable for cask ale) as it goes into the bottle it may foam up a bit did you try tasting any of it out the fermentor as that will give you a better idea of the actual level of carbonation.

 

[Tweedie]

You will basically always get some degree of carbonation in beer straight out of primary but it’s not generally all that much (less than even what would be acceptable for cask ale) as it goes into the bottle it may foam up a bit did you try tasting any of it out the fermentor as that will give you a better idea of the actual level of carbonation.

Yeah I tried it before bottling from the sample tube and it tasted fine. There wasnt anything to cause concern in the taste and you could see how it would, after conditioning, be a euro lager in taste. I think its just that this is my first steps into brewing lager and coming from brewing IPAs and ales for the last few years, it might just be normal in the lager world.