Is my batch due to failure or...

That_Guy

Right. So I mentioned over in another thread that I started my first ever batch of homebrew. A Coopers IPA kit.

With the cold weather I decided to buy a heater belt for my fermenter. The room I have it in sits at around 12 degrees. With the belt, the fermenter reads at about 18-19 degrees.

Herein lies the problem. I had the belt plugged in only to discover that somebody had plugged it out. I brewed on Tuesday and has been now going a day and a half with the heat back down to 12 (maybe lower today).

I haven't really had much time to check on my bucket over the last couple of days with assignments etc.

Is my brew destined to fail or should I be ok and pretend this didn't happen?

drumswan

Low temperatures wont affect the beer. The only possible impact would be to make the fermentation slow down.

That_Guy

drumswan wrote: »

Low temperatures wont affect the beer. The only possible impact would be to make the fermentation slow down.

Phew.
Thanks pal. Much appreciated.

thelaoislad

i brewed my first kit as well 2 weeks ago , a Coopers IPA too
my temp was a steadish 20-22 oC luckily , lots of activity for 3-4 days , then all quite since.
FG started at 1012 5 days ago ,then 1006 , now at 1004 yesterday ..will check it again tonight and if the same Im going to let it into a 2nd FV with tap , and then bottle on Sun..so it will have been 15 days fermenting in total ..reason I left it bit longer is there is a whole lot of stuff still in suspension , thought it would fall out but its stills there...
only thing i might have done wrong is not to aerate the initial mix enought before it pitched the yeast ..
Layer around rim of bucket is present, not as thick as I thought it would be tho ..
its hard to read the FG by placing the hydrometer directly into the FV , but I thought syphoning a sample would be even harder ... I sterilised everyting first , so here's hoping ..
going to leave bottles in 20oC for a week, then into garage at about 10-12 o C i think ..
Im about 2 weeks ahead of you , so be interesting to see how both batches turn out

That_Guy

I'll certainly keep you up to date with how it turns out pal. Fingers crossed for both of us.

thelaoislad

I bottled my IPA on sat , got 36 500ml bottles ..
FG was 1004 steady for 2 days ..would have liked to wait another day but I didnt have sun availabe to me
I was advised not to fill to 23 L initially in the FV , so think i filled to 22 ..
Lost a bit with spillage and left the dregs behind in the 2nd fv
Bottling wand worked great .
Thing is i sampled the brew from bit left over , and it didnt taste too nice ,v v strong , has me thinking I should have filled the FV to the 23L mark after all .. so hopefully time will improve..
going to leave it in hotpress at 20oC for 1 week, then out to garage at ~~10oC for 2 more but Im bit uneasy .., in taste it was like some of the poorer quality IPA's that Ive bought in the Off-L's near me .. no where near the nicer english one's ..Fullers etc ..so I think a long wait is going to be needed

BeerNut

thelaoislad wrote: »

in taste it was like some of the poorer quality IPA's that Ive bought

That's just kits for you. If you want commercial-quality (or better) beer you need to move on to extract or all-grain brewing.

That_Guy

So I'll be bottling my first ever brew this coming weekend and I've got 500ml bottles at my disposal.

I've got Cooper's Carbonation Drops and was just wondering as to how many I should put in each bottle? 1-2? I don't want to run the risk of over carbonation so what would you, the more experienced, recommend?

BeerNut

I like the carbonation level you get with one.

TheDuke

You'll create bottle bombs.. or so I'm told... get the sugar mix right or things will over ferment into a mess. I've just started myself and have placed all bottles into the spare shower... taking no chances.

Another helpful guy (loyatemu)... and not to be disrespectful to the great help from BeerNut... gave me this link which is really helpful

http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

thelaoislad

quick question ;
Im just starting out with the kit brewing , think i have the knac if not enought actual practice , but how big is the jump up to extract brewing ... i 'd consider giving it a go after a few more kits under me belt.. is it a big increase in skill level ?

BeerNut

Not really. From kits you know about fermentation temperature and sanitisation, so you're au fait with the big factors that could cause a batch to go wrong. It's hard to make a complete undrinkable mess of an extract beer once you have these sorted.

You can buy extract kits now which save you formulating a recipe, so that's an option. For me, putting together the recipe is a big part of the fun -- if I wanted to make somebody else's beer I'd stick to kits.

I started brewing with extract, using this guide, though I did partial boils in a stockpot for the first few, until I bought a boiler and chiller.

thelaoislad

tks for that ,seems v good instructions ... i ll read up on it and have a go after the christmas festivities .I have 2 kit brews in motion at present , and 2 more kits to finish out in Jan maybe .. then i might try the real stuff