Cooper's Starter Kit question

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the_Sliver

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Hi guys! Another newbie here :).

My dad got me a Cooper's DIY Beer kit last weekend as I have never brewed beer before but am extremely intrigued by the hobby :).

I am now on day 3 of primary fermentation and things seem to be going great. According to the instructions, it says to bottle it when the specific gravity is stable (6 - 8 days) which is all well and good. When bottling it, I'm to add their Carbonation Drops to the bottles to get the next stage of fermentation going.

My question is: since it's not a carboy (it's a big plastic bucket with a nozzle on the bottom), how should I go about adding any priming sugar to my next batch of beer when it comes time to bottle? Will I be forced to buy more carbonation drops every time?
 
Hi guys! Another newbie here :).

My dad got me a Cooper's DIY Beer kit last weekend as I have never brewed beer before but am extremely intrigued by the hobby :).

I am now on day 3 of primary fermentation and things seem to be going great. According to the instructions, it says to bottle it when the specific gravity is stable (6 - 8 days) which is all well and good. When bottling it, I'm to add their Carbonation Drops to the bottles to get the next stage of fermentation going.

My question is: since it's not a carboy (it's a big plastic bucket with a nozzle on the bottom), how should I go about adding any priming sugar to my next batch of beer when it comes time to bottle? Will I be forced to buy more carbonation drops every time?

The OS lager will not be done that soon. Mine took 12 days to get my 1st FG. Their instructions,like many,are a bit off,way too rushed. I'd do an FG test in 12-14 days,then wait till 2nd or 3rd day to test again. Then 2 carb drops per PET bottle (cooper's). Next time,get yourself a bottling bucket for bulk priming. In that scenario,you could take the bottling wand,remove the valve on the end,& stick it in the spout of the spigot as usual. Then,take some 3/8" tubing & place one end over the wand,the other end curled half way around the bottom of the bottling bucket.
 
AFAIK you're going to need drops without a second bucket. We ran into the same problem on our first batch, got a bare bones kit with one bucket (future expansions to come) and will have to carb drop that batch.
 
Hmm... okay.

Looks like I'm going to have to look into getting myself a bottling bucket. I did some searching online and found a store that sells brewing supplies relatively nearby. I'll probably pick up the bucket as well as some ingredients to start experimenting :). Hopefully, whatever workers that are there can help me out with getting some tubing that fits the spout.

Thanks :)
 
Hmm... okay.

Looks like I'm going to have to look into getting myself a bottling bucket. I did some searching online and found a store that sells brewing supplies relatively nearby. I'll probably pick up the bucket as well as some ingredients to start experimenting :). Hopefully, whatever workers that are there can help me out with getting some tubing that fits the spout.

Thanks :)

You have a bottling bucket! I use a coopers bucket with the "little bottler" to bottle. Get yourself a 6 gallon primary bucket (without spigot) for about $12 or make an investment of about $50 for a 6 gallon glass carboy.. Get an auto-siphon too
 
Hi guys! Another newbie here :).

My dad got me a Cooper's DIY Beer kit last weekend as I have never brewed beer before but am extremely intrigued by the hobby :).

I am now on day 3 of primary fermentation and things seem to be going great. According to the instructions, it says to bottle it when the specific gravity is stable (6 - 8 days) which is all well and good. When bottling it, I'm to add their Carbonation Drops to the bottles to get the next stage of fermentation going.

My question is: since it's not a carboy (it's a big plastic bucket with a nozzle on the bottom), how should I go about adding any priming sugar to my next batch of beer when it comes time to bottle? Will I be forced to buy more carbonation drops every time?

Regardless of the instructions:
1-let it ferment for 2-3 weeks
2-3 weeks in bottle at 70*
3-2-4 days in refer at drinking temp
 
You have a bottling bucket! I use a coopers bucket with the "little bottler" to bottle. Get yourself a 6 gallon primary bucket (without spigot) for about $12 or make an investment of about $50 for a 6 gallon glass carboy.. Get an auto-siphon too

When I was still using the little bottler on the cooper's fermenter,I noticed it stopped draining at the lower level of the spigot. 4-6 bottles were still in there. So I made a bottling bucket with the spigot hole nearer to the bottom. I can tilt it slightly to get all but a couple TBSP's out of it. And that'll have the grainy stuff settled out in it.
 
When I was still using the little bottler on the cooper's fermenter,I noticed it stopped draining at the lower level of the spigot. 4-6 bottles were still in there. So I made a bottling bucket with the spigot hole nearer to the bottom. I can tilt it slightly to get all but a couple TBSP's out of it. And that'll have the grainy stuff settled out in it.

Sounds good! I know that the little bottler isn't the best. It's a little leaky too. But I have had success with tilting the bucket a little when it gets down around the spigot level.. I think I might have taken it a little too far with my last batch though because my 55th bottle was not quite full. I actually drank that bottle early on and it was not that pleasant tasting but the rest of the bottles have been great from that batch and I'm more than happy to get 54 bottles out of 5 gallons...
 
Just so you know,19L= 5G,23L = 6G. I get a maximum of 66 bottles if there isn't too much trub from my cooper's micro brew FV. I had some more trub & whole leaf dry hop soak up some ale this last time. I still got 64 bottles of IPA. The cooper's kits are 6G,or 23L as well. It's the kits made over here that are 5G,or 19L.
 
Just so you know,19L= 5G,23L = 6G. I get a maximum of 66 bottles if there isn't too much trub from my cooper's micro brew FV. I had some more trub & whole leaf dry hop soak up some ale this last time. I still got 64 bottles of IPA. The cooper's kits are 6G,or 23L as well. It's the kits made over here that are 5G,or 19L.

lol.. If you don't know liters to gallons you probably shouldn't be brewing beer. 66 bottles for 6 gallons is consistent with 55 bottles for 5 gallons. I've only done 1 Cooper's, the rest have been 5 gallon batches.
 
I use some formulas from sciencemadesimple.com. So 23L is 6.072 gallons,to be exact. 5 gallons equals 18.925L,or 19L to round off,as I did. I've never gotten 55 bottles from 5G,but I understand that's about maximum for a 5G batch. We got 48 bottles from 5G last time with the wife's brew.
The formula is;gallons x 3.785 = Liters.
I think what threw me is our discussing cooper's kits (6G,23L),& you mentioned getting 54 out of 5G.
 
I think Cooper's kits are designed to make 5 gallons...5 imperial gallons.
 
I think Cooper's kits are designed to make 5 gallons...5 imperial gallons.

Interesting point. Now we need to know that one imperial gallon is approximately 1.201 U.S. gallons and that one imperial gallon is 4.54609 litres, whereas one U.S. gallon is 3.7854118 liters.
 
To the OP. The Coopers kit is a great way to get into the hobby. It gives you a nice taste of what brewing is. They have a nice selection of extract kits as well. What you have already is probably enough for those. If you're anything like me you'll eventually want to kick it up a notch, you'll need to get a little more equipment at that point.
 
The 23L,or 6.072 gallons I mentioned is US Standard gallons,as I was told by ye old brew tech down under. Close enough for me. All I know is,I get 64-66 bottles,so that's about as right as can be had. Not to mention,all the variations I can make with their OS cans,plain DME,& various hops. I think it's kinda fun. The OS cans have some little bittering only. Great base for experimenting. I can get all kids of ales out of them. The OS draught was the base for my APA/IPA duel purpose recipe.
 
Hmm... So I'm on day 12 and so far there are a couple of things I have noticed:

1. Keeping the temperature consistent has been very challenging! We've had some very hot days here in Montreal and the wort's temperature has been fluctuating from around 24* C (75*F) to 27*C (81*F)! Since this city's winters are famously chilly sometimes I'm not too worried about encountering this problem once the fall season hits, but in the meantime are there any tricks to lowering the temperature and keeping it relatively stable?

2. I was keeping the wort in my living room (closest to the air conditioning unit to keep it as cool as possible, but in plain view of the windows) uncovered for the first five days of fermenting when I read online that sunlight can skunk a fermenting beer! Of course I panicked and quickly threw a spare sheet over top of the fermenter! Since I noticed so late, will this have a significant effect on the beer? I do have a closet I could put future worts in, but they can get pretty warm since they don't get the air conditioned air flow!
 
Hmm... So I'm on day 12 and so far there are a couple of things I have noticed:

1. Keeping the temperature consistent has been very challenging! We've had some very hot days here in Montreal and the wort's temperature has been fluctuating from around 24* C (75*F) to 27*C (81*F)! Since this city's winters are famously chilly sometimes I'm not too worried about encountering this problem once the fall season hits, but in the meantime are there any tricks to lowering the temperature and keeping it relatively stable?

2. I was keeping the wort in my living room (closest to the air conditioning unit to keep it as cool as possible, but in plain view of the windows) uncovered for the first five days of fermenting when I read online that sunlight can skunk a fermenting beer! Of course I panicked and quickly threw a spare sheet over top of the fermenter! Since I noticed so late, will this have a significant effect on the beer? I do have a closet I could put future worts in, but they can get pretty warm since they don't get the air conditioned air flow!

It's been hotter than Hot Rod Hades down here too. I used a wet tee shirt & a 12" turbo fan I picked up for like $20. Cooler/cold weather is easier to control with my electric oil heater in the room,& an old fleece lined CPO. It will likely be ok,just remember to put a dark colored tee over it. And try to keep it close to the floor. Cold settles,hot air rises.
Sunlight can skunk beer at any point,not just fermentation. By the way,the cooper's ale yeast is best between 62F-72F,according to info @ Midwest. Cheers m8.
 
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