Coopers Ginger Beer

Sonovagun

Started my Coopers Ginger Beer today.

It was pretty straight forward. After sterilising all my equipment i brought 3litres of water to the boil and alowed it to cool a little before adding the ginger extract(which had been sitting in a pan of hot water) and a kilo of brewing sugar!

I allowed the brew simmer for about 10mins making sure all the sugars had been disolved! Next i poured the brew into the fermentor! Topped the brew with cold water just above the 20litre mark! Then i sprinkled the yeast on top of the brew and left it!

I placed the brew in a empty wardrobe, placed the airlock and covered with a fleece as the tempture was only 18c!

So thats it! fingers crossed. Ulitimetly i want brew from natural ingredients but this will do as my first attempt!

I'll keep you imformed!

Sonovagun

24hrs later. There's a nice swell in the lid but no bubbles yet in the airlock. Was kinda expecting there to be bubbles at the stage! The temperture is concent 22c.

Will keep updating!

Sonovagun

Still no bubbles in the airlock after 30hrs. Should I be worried? There's a swell in the lid though! It's been kept at a 18-20c.

Brian CivilEng

Sonovagun wrote: »

Still no bubbles in the airlock after 30hrs. Should I be worried? There's a swell in the lid though! It's been kept at a 18-20c.

If there is a swell in the lid I wouldn't be worried. It's possible that the CO2 is escaping through the edge of the lid rather than the airlock. If you are using this type of fermenter that happens quite regularly and is perfectly normally.

Sonovagun

So am I correct in saying that I should bottle when the swelling goes down?

Sonovagun

Bubbles problem solved!

Due to the lack of bubbles i decided that there was too much water in the airlock. I had only filled it halfway, but i could see the water pressure was greater then the air pressure in the fermentor(well i guessed it was)

So i took a rubber tub and inserted it into the airlock and sucked out a tiny fraction of the water. It tasted of ginger and was fizzy! Within an hour i have a steady flow of bubbles, a couple every 15seconds. Is that too much?

Fingers crossed i haven't interferred with the brew! I was carefull not to blow any of the water in the airlock back into the brew!

guildofevil

Don't worry about the rate of bubbles. As long as you know it's fermenting you are fine. The best thing to do is to leave it until it has stopped fermenting and timing bubbles is not a good indicator of that.

Basically, I would let it ferment for a week or two then take a hydrometer sample. Leave it another couple of days, then take a second hydrometer sample. If the two readings are the same, fermentation has stopped.

I wrote an article a few years ago to help people with this sort of stuff.

Getting started: Brewing beer, with beer kits Have a look at it. You might pick up a few tips.

_blank_

just reading your excellent articles there, it looks like I did a mixture of bottling techniques.

I boiled my glucose in water, then added this to each bottle before the beer. Is that ok?

guildofevil

You should be fine Des. The worst that will happen is that maybe you put a bit more into some bottles and less in others, resulting in some bottles being a bit more carbonated than others.

Sonovagun

Progress report on my Coopers ginger beer. Day Six

Came home today to find my brew had stopped bubbling. So i take this as the fermenting has finished. I took a Hydrometer reading and gonna take another one in a couple of days! Does 6 days sound normal? The tempture is about 18c, which is prob the lowest it's been.

But i have another question. I couldn't help but have a sip of the sample i took for the hydrometer reading. Wasn't impressed with it's taste at all. Now i didn't expect it to blow me away as i know it's far from finished! It tasted of ginger but has a funny after-taste!

How much can i expect my brew to change in taste after the bottling process?

Brian CivilEng

Day Six means that the vigorous fermentation is finished, but you should still leave it to condition for a week or two. It may still drop another couple of points. A general rule of thumb I use is that if the gravity doesn't change in seven days then it's ready to bottled. Generally the least amount of time you should leave between brew day and bottling day is three weeks.

Some beers can really change in flavour after conditioning and bottling. I have brewed a couple of IPAs that tasted awful on bottling day, didn't taste much better when i sampled after two weeks but tasted excellent after six weeks. you just need to show the self-restraint not to drink all of your beer before it has conditioned long enough. I always take two bottles from every batch and put them in my wardrobe to be consumed one year after brewing.

Sonovagun

Thanks for that.

The experts knowlege on here are very valuable to us new comers. I'm learning a lot from you guys. Thank you

BaZmO*

abitofacomedian wrote: »

A general rule of thumb I use is that if the gravity doesn't change in seven days then it's ready to bottled.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. The general rule is that if you take a couple of readings a few days apart and they haven't changed, well then fermenting has finished. That said, it would also be dependent on the temperature, if the temperature was too low it would take longer for the beer to fully ferment. That's why taking hydrometer readers is so important, it's so much easier to judge if you know what your Final Gravity should be.

abitofacomedian wrote: »

Generally the least amount of time you should leave between brew day and bottling day is three weeks.

Personally, I think no less than two weeks is fine, again, assuming that you've reached close enough to your FG. But certainly, leaving the beer that bit longer can add to the quality of the final beer.

Sonovagun

Just a little update

Took another Hydrometer reading today, it was more or less the same as two days ago.

The plan now is to take the advice I've been given here and leave the brew for a while longer. I plan to leave it for another 10 days.

Had another little taste and it tasted much better, but still had a dry after-taste. Getting excited now about bottling it.

Really enjoying my new hobby!!!

Brian CivilEng

BaZmO* wrote: »

Personally, I think no less than two weeks is fine, again, assuming that you've reached close enough to your FG. But certainly, leaving the beer that bit longer can add to the quality of the final beer.

I leave for 3 weeks to let a lot of the gunk settle out before bottling. I have tried bottling earlier and while the beer tastes alright if conditioned in the bottle long enough there is a huge amount of sediment which can easily be disturbed. I usually reach FG quite quickly (or close enough to it, all my beers seem to end on 1.017).

Then again I have had a problem of beers taking weeks to carbonate so maybe the yeast is going dormant when I leave it in the fermenter conditioning.

Brian CivilEng

Sonovagun wrote: »

Really enjoying my new hobby!!!

It just keeps on giving.

Sonovagun

I'm a bit late updating my ginger beer brew!!!

On Thursday last i bottled my brew. It had been 13 days since the brew stopped fermenting. I bottled it using the little bottler into 500ml peta bottles and grolsch swing tops! Managed to get 42 bottles out of my brew. Sterillized each bottle using a bottle rinser. Only problem i had was with the peta bottle tops. When I sterilize them the solution got in under the rubber seal. I was affraid to use them then. So cos the tops came in a sealed bag i decided to go with them! I feel this might have been a mistake! Any way i Added one and a half cardonated drops to each bottle before filling! And sealed the bottles, job done!

So thats it. The bottles are now stored away in a dark place and i plan to leave them there for up to a month!

What can i expect to happen in a month? Will the beer become clear? or will it stay cloudy?

Now my fermenter is empty i am looking forward to giving a larger a try!

thelynchfella

Sonovagun wrote: »

Now my fermenter is empty i am looking forward to giving a larger a try!

a larger what????:D

Sonovagun

thelynchfella wrote: »

a larger what????:D

Haha my bad! Lager time!!!

But thanx for your input!