Coopers cerveza kit help/info

Hi All, new to the forum and just looking for info on the above kit, I have completed the lager kit that comes with the coopers DIY kit and bottled it all seemed to go to plan and I cleaned down fermentation vessel with boiled water taking care to clean everything. I then restarted with the coopers cerveza kit following the instructions as before (I did add a little extra caster sugar as advise by a friend of mine ) this time fermentation is really slow it is deffo happening OG was 1.049 and after 48 hours it is now 1.040. But there is no height to the foam ?? Is this a problem or is it just going to take longer oh and temp is 21-22c
Any help or advise will be very appreciated

RDWHAHB chill out it will be fine it is fermenting even if there is no monster krausen.

Just forget about it for a couple of weeks then come back take your hydrometer readings over a couple days to make sure it is done & bottle.

It's all good

To be fair having looked at it is alive !! It's moving and bubbling slowly bring on the BEER!! suppose each brew can be different ? And just was concerned as I had added an extra 300g castor sugar and the fermentation seems completely different.

Each fermentation IS different no worries you are going to make a fine beer...

It is best not to keep messing with it Just leave it be & it will turn out fine

What I really want to do eventually after I've learned a bit more is to do it from scratch can I do it with the coopers DIY unit (Kessler collar etc) ?

You can use the fermenter, I'm not sure how big they are but you can do that size batch regardless so I say yes!

My advice is to look into AG BIAB (Brew in a Bag) it is much cheaper & easier that is what I do & I love it!

I made the jump from Mr. Beer kits to 5 gallon AG BIAB about 2 years ago & never looked back. Just research the equipment & method & get going! It isn't as hard as it will sound I promise!

For more tips you can check out the article I wrote that they posted here the other day
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/5-lessons-learned-first-20-batches-beer.html

I suggest picking up a copy of The Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian

There are tons of helpful videos on YouTube too

If there is one thing I can't emphasize enough to a new brewer, is to make sure you are fermenting on the cooler side. i.e. if your room is 72, put a 2 liter bottle, frozen, next to the fermenter and wrap a towel around the whole thing. This isn't perfect, but when I first started fermentation control, this at least kept me in the upper 60s and make a world of difference compared to just fermenting at room temp. Even if everything else goes perfect, if that yeast ferments too high of a temp, you'll have some funky flavors.

Other than that, as said above, every fermentation is different, just let it sit and do your best not to bother it for at least the first week, I just kegged an amber tonight that, because of kid things, work, haven't been able to get to until almost a month after I brewed it. Gravity sample tasted like a million bucks. You are going to make beer, looking at it, fussing with it, just gives you more chance to ruin it.

On a lighter beer like Mexican cervesa, you are probably good after about 10 days to start taking gravity samples.

I have yet to brew a beer though, other than a higly hopped IPA, that didn't get better the closer to 3 weeks that I let it sit.

Yeast have been around longer than us, they know what they are doing. The best part is, sounds like you are well on your way to enjoying the greatest hobby ever invented.

You keep mentioning castor sugar, do you not mean brewing sugar ? as i didnt think you could use castor sugar for brewing, i use it for priming only.

Caster sugar as I understand it is just a finer cane sugar (sucrose) you can use it to bump up your ABV however it will dry your beer out somewhat. (which isn't necessarily a bad thing for a Mexican Cerveza)

I should also probably point out that it is a much debated topic as to whether or not this may cause a cidery taste in your beer. A lot of people tend to think it won't

mkyl428 said:

Caster sugar as I understand it is just a finer cane sugar (sucrose) you can use it to bump up your ABV however it will dry your beer out somewhat. (which isn't necessarily a bad thing for a Mexican Cerveza)

I should also probably point out that it is a much debated topic as to whether or not this may cause a cidery taste in your beer. A lot of people tend to think it won't

Click to expand...

I think i will try this on my next Cerveza brew, and see if there is any difference. Thanks for the info.

Having taken all your advice above I have left it alone to do its thing ! When I got home tonight there is almost no krausen at all so I did test and it came out at 1012 from 1049 4.7% ? Ish should I test tomorrow and if it's the same bottle ? It's been fermenting for 1 week

I would give it at least another week to allow the yeast to clean up all the unwanted flavors created during fermentation then check the gravity again. If it is the same you may bottle.

Also no krausen, does not mean it's done just because it doesn't look active anymore doesn't mean the yeast aren't still at work in your beer.

Personally I would leave it for 2.5-3 weeks from brew day before I check my SP again. So I brew my beer take an OG reading, then pitch my yeast seal the fermenter and don't open it again for about 2.5-3 weeks, at which point I will check my gravity, wait about 3-4 days & check it again, if it is the same I bottle.

Yeast create some undesirable flavors during fermentation allowing your beer extra time in primary will allow it to clean up some of those flavors. It will also selp to clear your beer a bit.

The old rule was 1 week in primary - 2 weeks in secondary - 3 weeks in the bottle, most of us cut out the secondary by leaving it in primary for longer. So instead of racking to secondary we just leave it in primary for the extra 2 weeks before bottling.