I Hope I Didn't Ruin This Batch - Cooper's IPA

Good morning all,


I just received my Cooper's IPA kit in the mail yesterday. I decided "Hey, this should be fun...let's get this going!" I thoroughly sterilized everything that would be touching my beer. I boiled my 2 liters of water and added it to the fermenter.


HERE IS WHERE I THINK I SCREWED UP..... (Please be gentle! )

I was carried away with the excitement of the whole ordeal and sadly added EVERYTHING THAT CAME WITH THE KIT. This includes:

1. 500 grams of Light Dry Malt
2. 1Kg of Dextrose
3. Malt- Hops Syrup - 1 Can


I did NOT intend to add everything but in a moment of massive brain-fart, I dumped everything in the fermenter...and I mean EVERYTHING. I did not measure the 300 grams of Dextrose or the suggested amount of LDM.



I stirred this mass and pitched my yeast. I covered the beast with the lid and noticed this morning that there wasn't any "foaming" going on. Besides the mere fact I did NOT follow directions...(I take full blame on this one) my question to the experts is


Did I just screw up 37.50 cents worth of Coopers IPA and with that amount of ingredients...what (might) be my possible end result if it isn't ruined already.


Ugh... Thanks in advance. Just forgive my noobie-ness!


Thank,

WillyWonka71

It will more then likely start bubbling away soon. You will need to bet some priming sugar when it is time to bottle.

I'd drink that. Its gonna be pretty good i bet,creamy,rich,probably strong. did you pitch below 80F? if so I think thats gonna be really good. Just watch it make sure you dont blow off the airlock. run a hose to a bottle of star san or sanitizer,with all that sugar that would be my only concern. also make sure your ambient temp of the fermenter doesnt get above 75f at most. If you have a warm environment I highly suggest a big rope tub filled with water for the bucket to sit while it ferments make sure the water temp isnt below 60 or above 75-80 and you should be good,mine keeps at 68f with a rotation of ice packs and a ambient of 75-85f . hope that helps. let us know how it turns out! cheers!

Naw, you are fine. You added more fermentables than Coopers called for, so it will be stronger and maliter than intended, and the prehopped IPA kit hoppyness might not seem as hoppy because of this, but it should still turn out OK.

Are you using the Coopers DIY Beer fermenter kit?

Dont get crazy with these 1st few, follow recipies till you learn what does what to your flavor/abv/maltieness/hoppieness. Though, honestly I just started drinking my 2nd coopers batch that I completely whipped together, and its better than the 1st where I followed directions

Also, watch your temperatures!
read the instructions, then ignore the part where it says to bottle after 7 days. Keep it in the fermenter for 2-3 weeks.

99% chance if you keep your temps in a good range, it will turn out grand!
Enjoy it!

All,

I cannot thank you enough for your responses. Larwd knows I needed help on that one! thank you for taking the time.


I do have ONE more question about:

read the instructions, then ignore the part where it says to bottle after 7 days. Keep it in the fermenter for 2-3 weeks.

Click to expand...

What would be the benefit of this? (I am new so forgive me again on my noob status)



Thanks again all!!


-WillyWonka71

Because its not really ready at 7 days.

The kits just want you to get 'something' made, to get you hooked. The reality is that making beer requires a TON of patience and 'leaving stuff alone' when all you want to do is constantly check the progress and 'interfere' with what the yeast are doing.

To keep it simple for you, yeast do more than just eat sugar and create alcohol and CO2. Other compounds get produced, especially if the yeast aren't 100% happy.
By allowing the beer to sit on the yeast cake after fermentation ends, you allow the yeast to metabolize some of those compounds. We refer to this as 'letting the yeast clean-up after itself'.

You'll see many recipes say "primary 1 week, rack to secondary for 1-2 weeks, then bottle". This works, but is often un-necessary since you can just as easily leave it in primary 3 weeks, then bottle. In fact a 3 week primary is 'safer' since there's less racking which means less oxygen exposure, less risk of infection...plus its just easy and simple.

Thank you malkore,

I am using the Cooper's DIY kit (fermenter kit) and I do not have a secondary. I didn't answer JRapps question completely.


Thank you all again for your time and expertise.


-WillyWonka71

Update on my first IPA.


Hello all and I thank you for all your advice on my Cooper's IPA. I wanted to give you all an update and I have been waiting 3 weeks to drink this one. I had one last night and OMG! It was EXCELLENT! The smell was outstanding and it was a nice, amber color with tiny carbonation bubbles with great head retention.

Of course, please remember this from the original post:

I did NOT intend to add everything but in a moment of massive brain-fart, I dumped everything in the fermenter...and I mean EVERYTHING. I did not measure the 300 grams of Dextrose or the suggested amount of LDM.

Click to expand...

This turned out excellent. My ABV was around 5.8% and I will be taking pics of this one to post if you care to see it. I can honestly say that this is the BEST mistake I have made in a while (HA HA)

Again, stay tuned for pictures and again I want to thank you all for your words of wisdom.


You are all much appreciated.


-WillyWonka71 (Dave in Memphis)

Congrats.. ya done it..

As long as you use a hydrometer to make sure the fermentation ahs completed, you should be okay to bottle. However, leaving it in the fermentor another couple of days helps clear the beer.

About your beer not bubbling yet, don't worry. Some fermentation only starts 2-3 days after you pitch. I think you're worry should be about vigorous and explosive your fermentation will be with all that sugar you added!

But all in all, no worries. You're good. Have a beer. Chill.