Very low FG

[Frasermitch]

Hello,
I have been fermenting my coopers Australian lager for 7 days now and yesterday and today the gravity was 1.002. Is this very low? What effect will this have on the beer? (the original gravity was 1.035). I am thinking that this needs bottling tonight. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Wendy1971]

Hi and welcome fraser i dont know a lot about kits but im sure someone will answer you question shortly :thumb:

 

[PD]

If your correct with your hydro readings it gives you a %abv of 4.4 very nice but I would suggest you havent read the FG quite right not to worry.
The brew needs 10 days in the fv so leave it a few more days.
If your bottling use three quarters of a tsp of sugar per 550ml bottle or 1 tsp per litre bottle to make a good fizzy lager.
Anything up to 2 weeks in the primary fermenter is good.

 

[Frasermitch]

Thanks for the quick reply, well the brew smells like lager, tastes like flat lager and looks like a slightly cloudy shandy. The 'foam' from the top of the brew has now died down to almost nothing. Will this brew clear the longer it is left in the fv? Will have to curb the excitement and be patient.

 

[Frasermitch]

Oh, and there is quite a bit of white looking sediment on the bottom of the vessel. (can u tell this is my first brew?)

 

[PD]

yes the longer you leave it in the fermenter the more debris will drop out, and the clearer your brew will be. take a couple of hydrometer readings to make sure the yeasts have stopped working and then bottle or keg. Most folks like their lagers to be fizzy so give a generous three quarters of a tsp sugar to 550ml bottles. Then leave the primed bottles somewhere warm for 2 weeks cooler for 1 week and then enjoy.
Its a waste of time opening lagers before then as you will invariably be disappointed Patience is a virtue.

Old saying Give time in the bucket and give time in the bottle

The sediment is all the dead yeast and debris fallen out of suspension you leave this behind when either bottling or moving the brew to a secondary fv.

 

[Frasermitch]

Thanks piddledribble, I will check the gravity tomorrow if it's 1.002 as it was this morning and yesterday I think I will bottle, I am using the coopers carbonation drops which apparently is one per 500ml bottle. Good times.

 

[ScottM]

That's normal for a lager, especially if brewed with sugar or brewing sugar. If you used a beer enhancer (50/50 DME & Sugar) then it should have been a little higher. I think I normally get around 1.004 with my lagers, 1.008 when I used a LOT of DME.

I would recommend a week in a secondary vessel if you can spare one. This will get the lager off the trub that's in the primary, thus allowing more of the solids to fall helping the beer to clear easier. This will leave a bit less sediment in the bottles :)

 

[Frasermitch]

Schoolboy error, you were right piddledribble, 1.012 not 1.002, this is what you get at reading it at 7am. LOL

 

[ScottM]

Schoolboy error, you were right piddledribble, 1.012 not 1.002, this is what you get at reading it at 7am. LOL

That sounds extremely high for a lager. I'd worry about it being stuck to be honest.

 

[the-erl]

I would recommend a week in a secondary vessel if you can spare one. This will get the lager off the trub that's in the primary, thus allowing more of the solids to fall helping the beer to clear easier. This will leave a bit less sediment in the bottles :)

I'd second this, I've just started using a secondary fermentation vessel (2nd FV) and the result s are loads better. The last 2 brews I've bottled using a 2nd FV have been lovely and clear with next to no sediment in the bottle. :party:

Schoolboy error, you were right piddledribble, 1.012 not 1.002, this is what you get at reading it at 7am. LOL

Give it another couple of days and then take another reading, if it's still 1.012 you could give it a gentle stir. There are also plenty of posts on here regarding stuck fermentation and what to do! Just use the search function!

Welcome to the forum and let us know how it turns out! :

Erl :drink:

 

[PD]

When you make a kit brew, you can be assured that all the ingredients have been worked out and included in the correct quantities so you can produce an OK drink. ( otherwise the company wouldn't survive long )
So there will be enough fermentables in the mix together with an amount of sugar you add according to the makers instructions.
Most kits when made up will end up with a starting gravity that's appropriate to the type of lager ale beer that it makes. You say your SG reading was 1.035 as read by you, in my limited experience I feel that this reading is low, and would be or should be up around 1.044 ish and if worked out as it should would give you an abv of around 4% ( in general terms )
I would suggest your SG was not read correctly ( again ) or the brew had not been stirred /mixed as much as it should. Its little errors like this that we as new brewers make its part of the learning process.
With basic equipment and even without a hydrometer, the commercial kits are designed to make up a respectable alcoholic brew. Of course with experience we all learn little tips and enhancements to do to make better beers.
Even now after approx 30 brews I sometimes still find getting an exact hydrometer reading can be problematic, with different temperatures and amount of foam/ bubbles in the trial jar etc. Don't get to anal about it especially on your first few brews.....Go with the flow....Trust Coopers/Muntons/Woodfordes etc to allow you to make good beers and then learn how to make even better beers.
Happy brewing ( and drinking )

 

[Frasermitch]

Well its 1.011 this morning, so i suppose its still coming down slowly.

 

[Cussword]

I would give it a stir now, then leave it a few days until it drops clear :thumb:

 

[Frasermitch]

Gave it a nice gentle stir as per the v.helpful guide on this forum. Fingers crossed. Will give it to a couple of days as recommended by cussword. Thanks again for the advice. What is the disadvantage of stirring? (assuming a stir was not needed in normal circumstances) is it just infection?

 

[jamesrt2004]

Gave it a nice gentle stir as per the v.helpful guide on this forum. Fingers crossed. Will give it to a couple of days as recommended by cussword. Thanks again for the advice. What is the disadvantage of stirring? (assuming a stir was not needed in normal circumstances) is it just infection?

Well letting air into the FV can be a pain and introduce oxidization and other nasties (like infection as you said) but if you are quick and the spoon is clean/sanitized it should be fine :)

basically the stir will mix up the yeast back into suspension to hopefully give it another lease(sp?) of life to finish off the ferment.

what temp you fermenting at? :) can take a while the colder it is

James


(also try leave in FV about 2 weeks.. even with kits should help quite a bit, as they do seem quite a bit better after a couple weeks. Also next time you try a beer kit, try using beer enhancer instead of sugar/brewing sugar if you didn't this time and also brew to 20/21L instead.. the slightly less volume of water should push the abv up a tad. but with the malt in the kit not being stretched so far it will produce a quite nice fuller tasting product)