It was all going so well.....

GypsyBiker

Hi Guy 'n' Gals,
I'm on my 6th brew (all from kit) and I started a Coopers English Bitter yesterday afternoon and it's not looking to good at the moment.

My previous Coopers English Bitter turned out amazing and the yeast were having a field day after about 8 hours, I'm a day and a half into this brew and nothing is happening, here are the numbers for the previous brew. Yeast Temp

24 Deg



Malt / Sugar Type
Brew Enhancer 1
The only difference between the two brews were the temp when I introduced the yeast and for the first brew I used Brew Enhancer 1 (from homebrewwest.ie) and on this current brew I've used Spray Malt Light. Should I add sugar to give some life to the yeast?




Brew No6


Started

12/12/2012





Beer

Coopers English Bitter




Yeast Brand

Coopers Brewing Yeast 7g




Yeast Temp

17 Deg





Malt / Sugar Type
.5 kg Spray Malt Light




Volume

23L





OG

1028

oblivious

Do you have any more yeast to pitch?

GypsyBiker

I've used the 7g sachet that came with the brew and that has always been enough for my previous brews. It's my first time using the Spray Malt Light. Should I have added sugar as well?

BaZmO*

GypsyBiker wrote: »

I've used the 7g sachet that came with the brew and that has always been enough for my previous brews. It's my first time using the Spray Malt Light. Should I have added sugar as well?

Did you mix your yeast with lukewarm water before adding it the the wort?
It should be about 25 deg

BeerNut

Stop thinking about sugar!

It's early yet; give it a day or two but it would be worth having a spare sachet of yeast to hand.

BaZmO*

It has also been particularly cold in the last week so the yeasties are more than likely just taking their time to kick in.

GypsyBiker

I might have pulled it out of the bag... I left the heating belt on all last night and when I came down this morning there was a lovely beery smell when I entered the room and the yeast is doing it's foamy stuff!

I didn't mix the yeast with lukewarm water, but I'll do that next time as this is the first brew I've started in the cold.

BaZmO*

GypsyBiker wrote: »

I might have pulled it out of the bag... I left the heating belt on all last night and when I came down this morning there was a lovely beery smell when I entered the room and the yeast is doing it's foamy stuff!

I didn't mix the yeast with lukewarm water, but I'll do that next time as this is the first brew I've started in the cold.

I'd be careful with those heating belts though, they can get the temperature up higher than is desirable.

syngindub

Started a Coopers English Bitter last night
Added 500g Light Spray Malt + 500g Dextrose.

Still no action after 22 Hours..any ideas?

BaZmO*

syngindub wrote: »

Started a Coopers English Bitter last night
Added 500g Light Spray Malt + 500g Dextrose.

Still no action after 22 Hours..any ideas?

Move it somewhere slightly warmer

syngindub

Moved it to a warmer area in the house and covered with blacket. fingers crossed.
Have you tried this English Bitter, is it any use?

Khannie

How are you determining action? There might be an air leak somewhere = no bubbling. If it has kicked off but there is an air leak you might be able to hear the snap, crackle and pop with the lid off.

syngindub

pretty confident there is no air leak. Lid is very secure, when i press gently down on the lid im getting bubbling.

GypsyBiker

If you're a fan of bitter you'll love it. I was saving the batch I brewed in Oct for Christmas, but it didn't even see Nov..

ian_m

I've had an ale that took two days to get going...

syngindub

maybe it's just going to take 48 hours to get going. it's well wrapped up now

Eramen

syngindub wrote: »

Moved it to a warmer area in the house and covered with blacket. fingers crossed.
Have you tried this English Bitter, is it any use?

It's like I am experiencing a bit of Déjà vu here because I brewed the Coopers English Bitter in late-Sept/early Oct and it was also the first/and only beer I had trouble with fermenting so far - (though I'm sure this is a coincidence). My problem was that the fermentation temperature was too cold. I was waiting two days without any activity in the wort/airlock so I promptly moved the fermenter to warmer location where fermentation started to occur within 24 hrs.

This also might be your problem as others have said. I'm pretty sure as well that you will have success just by moving it to somewhere warmer. Let us know how it goes!

syngindub

Well Folks, hats off to you all..I woke this morning to hear a pleasant bubbling noise.
Possible that the move to a warmer area done the trick and wrapped up in a Hello Kitty Blanket ..Sure i'll keep yis posted anyway how it's progressing

BaZmO*

syngindub wrote: »

Well Folks, hats off to you all..I woke this morning to hear a pleasant bubbling noise.
Possible that the move to a warmer area done the trick and wrapped up in a Hello Kitty Blanket ..Sure i'll keep yis posted anyway how it's progressing

Just make sure it doesn't get too warm. If it gets too cold it'll just slow down fermentation, but if it gets too warm you run the risk of funky flavours.

syngindub

so how often should i be taking temp readings?
Do you guys generally keep logs for temp fluctuations

BeerNut

syngindub wrote: »

so how often should i be taking temp readings?

Just put a thermometer where the beer is. You don't need to take a reading in the beer itself.

BaZmO*

BeerNut wrote: »

Just put a thermometer where the beer is. You don't need to take a reading in the beer itself.

Yeah, I use a stick thermometer, like the type you get for an aquarium, on the fermenter

Sky King

BeerNut wrote: »

Just put a thermometer where the beer is. You don't need to take a reading in the beer itself.

I dunno man, the beer would have a lot more inertia than the atmosphere around it, you could get serious temp lag there - surely measuring the beer would be a better job?

Anyway, +1 for the coopers english bitter - it's grade A.

adamski8

BeerNut wrote: »

Just put a thermometer where the beer is. You don't need to take a reading in the beer itself.

But the yeast generates heat itself so its always a few degrees higher than the room?!

BaZmO*

I think the point that BeerNut is making is that for a general indication of temperature a thermometer in the room will do. You don't need to keep disturbing the beer taking samples all the time. This is home brew lads not industrial scale brewing.

syngindub

well i stuck one of those thermometers that you get on the little calendars.
should do the trick..currently around 20 Deg

BeerNut

Sky King wrote: »

surely measuring the beer would be a better job?

But then you have to balance the benefit of that accuracy against the risk of infection from dipping something into the wort. And of course the inconvenience of having to sanitise the thermometer. You only need ballpark figures for ale fermentation temperature.

Tube

The initial yeast growth phase, when oxygen is plentiful, is exothermic, and can create quite a lot of heat. Having a thermometer in the vicinity of the fermenter isn't going to register quick enough that your brew is overheating.

Ideally the environment in which the fermenter is should have temperature control, e.g. in a fridge with an STC-1000 and the temperature probe in contact with the fermenter.

You really need a stick-on thermometer if you're not in a controlled environment, or failing that take the temperature from the wort itself but you really risk infection every time you open the fermenter even if the thermometer is sanitised. Alternatively if you have the "little bubbler" type airlock you can take the temperature through the airlock without having to remove the lid. This greatly reduces the risk of infection.

Anyway, the long ans short of it is, keep your temperature under control during the growth phase, and for most beers (not all) this means 20°C or less. It's fine to let the temperature rise to 22°C+ at the end for a diactyl rest, though it won't rise by itself by then.

syngindub

So the English Bitter is Bottled after 11 or 12 days.
Primed with some Dextrose.

thinking of leaving it 4 weeks or should i go for longer?

mayto

syngindub wrote: »

So the English Bitter is Bottled after 11 or 12 days.
Primed with some Dextrose.

thinking of leaving it 4 weeks or should i go for longer?

I usually leave my bottled beers at least two weeks to carbonate at 18C to 20C, I find they need at least this time to carbonate properly. Another two weeks really helps the beer condition a bit. Try one after two weeks to see how they are going