Friary's second brew - Coopers Stout

[Friary]

OK, with the first brew (Coopers English Bitter) in it's second week of conditioning in the bottle and with a few lessons learned already I headed down to the home brew shop in Aldershot to choose the next kit to put on. So, after searching through a whole bunch of threads I decided to go with the Coopers (standard) Stout with 1kg of medium dry malt extract, which will again be bottled, but this time mainly in glass (Mainly Fullers and Magners Pear Cider) bottles and using my newly purchased crown capper and caps, with a few 1.5 litre Ginger Beer PETs because I don't have enough glass yet.

I'm not starting the brew until late next week, but so far my thoughts are this:

- initial fermentation with kit and malt filled up to the 20 litre mark (to avoid the explosive head - oo err)
- attempt to keep as close to 21 degrees as possible
- after 3-4 days and when the brew has settled a bit, top up to the 23 litre mark. Should I give it a good stir now?
- leave at least 10 days and until I get 2 identical readings
- prime with 1/3rd tea spoon of granulated sugar in the 500ml bottles, a tea spoon in the 1.5 litre PETs and fill leaving about two inches (to minimise risk of bottle bombs - having said that hopefully this shouldn't be a problem if I have let it fully ferment out ).
- use my lovely shiny crown capper and caps, hoping they fit!
- leave for another 7 days at as close to 21 degrees as possible.
- condition for at least a month, without touching
- drink responsibly, ish.

Does this seem reasonable, or have I missed anything important / said anything daft? Is there any point taking an OG, given that 3-4 days later I'm gonna putting another 3 litres of water in there?

[Ditch]

- initial fermentation with kit and malt filled up to the 20 litre mark (to avoid the explosive head - oo err)

Doesn't work, mate. I habitually brew 20 Ltrs now. Still blows.

[Friary]

Doesn't work, mate. I habitually brew 20 Ltrs now. Still blows.

So I'm guessing I probably shouldn't screw the lid down on my FV then.

Seems a shame not to make the extra 3 litres, but probably better than it ending up on the misses' kitchen floor!

[Ditch]

Screw the lid down? I should say not. Only last night I was stood, admiring my FV's. I noted how the blow had lifted the lid completely and was now holding it a good four inches up. God alone knows what might happen if we tried to forcibly contain that level of force.

Fermenting beer blows glass bottles apart. Can ye imagine the effect of it bursting a five gallon bucket? Not pretty.

[Friary]

Screw the lid down? I should say not. Only last night I was stood, admiring my FV's. I noted how the blow had lifted the lid completely and was now holding it a good four inches up. God alone knows what might happen if we tried to forcibly contain that level of force.

Fermenting beer blows glass bottles apart. Can ye imagine the effect of it bursting a five gallon bucket? Not pretty.

I would have thought the air vent would let out the Co2, but perhaps not the head on the brew during fermentation, but I wouldn't have thought that would build up too much pressure would it? How much throth / how big 'head-space' are we saying I'm going to need here?

[Ditch]

Sorry, mate. I never considered that, 'of course' there'd be an air vent / hole in a screw down lid. I just sort of envisaged something like a jam jar. Screw it on and that'd be that.

Saying that; If he lid has a 1/4" sort of hole? Blimey, that could become interesting, if it's the only place for the Blow to exit! I mean, seriously. I brew 20 Litres in a Young's '5 Gallon + Headroom' FV. Two of them, in fact.

They always blow Vesuvius. Simple fact is, I don't think anyone's yet done the mathematics to figure out just what can contain such an exuberant forthcoming. Gillian Taylforth, perhaps?

[Friary]

Gillian Taylforth

I'm gonna try and ignore that cos no matter how much stout you're drinking, that's not right!

Just looked at my FV, which apparently is 30 litres, so a 7-10 litre 'head space' (sorry that isn't a real term is it?! I'll try to stop using it!!) depending if I do the full 23 litres or the 20 litres and suggested. I recon you're right about not screwing the lid 'cos the hole is about 1/4 inch, plus putting a bubbler air vent ain't gonna help! Looked on t'internet and can ony see 25 litre FV's - might make a different?

[Ditch]

Gillian Taylforth

I'm gonna try and ignore that cos no matter how much stout you're drinking, that's not right!

How can This be wrong?




Alright; It Was taken some years back. But, a legend should never be allowed to age!


Regards the rest? Hell, just get used to it! That or start messing with Munton's stuff. Then ye complaint will likely be that it won't ferment

Pay ye money and make ye choice .....

[Friary]

Me thinks it's time to start talking about beer again!

Started the second brew late on thursday night (25/02/2010). In the end I decided to follow the Coopers instructions, i.e. brew to 23 litres - I'm hoping the 30 litre FV will be able to hold the brew. So far, so good - I had condensation the morning after starting and now have a very decent, but contained, head. I recon the airlock is gonna start bubbling tomorrow. Just to recap, I'm brewing Coopers Stout to 23l with 1KG dry medium malt. Tried some of the malt after putting it in, kinda like candy floss - much more intesting than the brewing suger. Also tasted the Wort, which tasted a bit like licorice/treacle.

Because of the cold weather I had to work a bit harder to maintain the temperature of my first brew, using a brew belt to keep the temperature around the 26 degrees mark, possibly a little too high? It's now warmed up a bit and, apart from the first 8 or so hours, I've just been using a thick old fleece with no heating from the brew-belt for this brew. So far this has maintained a steady 22 degrees.

This time I remembered to take an OG, which was about 1040. When the foam has settled I'll sterilise the hydrometer and put it in the FV. If everything goes to plan it'll be ready for bottling after 10 days, i.e. a week tomorrow in the evening. Having said that I'm not gonna rush it - I'm defo a bit more confident about what I'm doing now, although still looking for any advice.

One thing I'd like some advice on: because of the head on the FV I really struggled to take the OG. I ended up filling the hydro tester tube and waiting for about an hour for the head to clear a little. Even then I found it difficult to read because it still had about 0.5-1cm head. Anyone got any advice?

[Ditch]

Anyone got any advice?

Yeah. Make ye beer. Drink it. Enjoy it.

If it tastes good and does ye good? Bingo!

If it tastes good but doesn't get ye as wrecked as ye'd like to be? Chuck a mug of decent sugar into the next brew. Do that ~ upping the sugar, if necessary ~ till ye make a brew that tastes good and makes ye wake up in the chair.

No amount of faffing about with Hydrometers and studying advanced mathematics to figure out what the reading really means at such and such a temperature will make ye beer suit you. It'll just tell ye how strong the alcohol content is.

There's no university in the world, to my knowledge, offering a degree in liking beer. Sod all the science. Just enjoy yeself and use some common sense in ye experimentation


Signed: Ditch. Who put a bit too much sugar in his last brew and is now half cut on less than the best tasting beer he's ever made. Next batch, I halved the amount of sugar. Tomorrow I hope to be cheerful on some great beer!

Hydrometer? I'm not even sure where mine is!

[Friary]

Cheers Ditch (I think!).

Brew still seems to be going well. I can see condensation, but unlike my first brew the 'bubbler' airlock doesn't appear to be as active, infact I haven't seen it bubble at all. The equipment is the same and I'm pretty sure the seal is good, so I recon it's using malt instead of brewing suger, or possibly because it's a different kit. I recon I'll start taking gravity readings on friday and hopefully bottle on Sunday...

Whilst I'm here, anyone got any advice about this:

because of the head on the FV I really struggled to take the OG. I ended up filling the hydro tester tube and waiting for about an hour for the head to clear a little. Even then I found it difficult to read because it still had about 0.5-1cm head.

thanks.

[Beer Belly]

fill the tester tube until the wort is just spilling over the rim then put in your hydrometer

[Friary]

fill the tester tube until the wort is just spilling over the rim then put in your hydrometer

cheers Beer Belly, a nice and simple solution - now why didn't I think of that?

[Friary]

Just taken a gravity reading of 1010. Will do a few more over the weekend and see what's going on on Sunday night

[EoinMag]

Just taken a gravity reading of 1010. Will do a few more over the weekend and see what's going on on Sunday night

That'll be safe to bottle at that, it won't drop much further.