First time brewer.... coopers brew kit

First time brewer here, decided to go for the coopers diy beer kit.
First brew is a British bitter and it's currently been brewing for 5 days. Here's a photo of it a day or two ago, foam has since subsided and I've removed the krausen collar for cleaning.
Can't wait for bottling time!!! (And drinking time of course!)

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welcome to the hobby and to the forums dude.
The beer looks tasty. I love English Bitters.

The cooper's English bitter is great with smoky pit bbq! I also make a mop sauce with it. Here's what a batch of mine looked like with some added hops & DME;

Welcome to the forum and the hobby.

Thanks guys! I'll keep the thread updated with progress. This is it now......

Unionrdr that looks lovely, how long did you secondary ferment it for?

I'm thinking it may be a little too warm for it. Currently on 24 degrees Celsius but it's condensing in the lid slightly

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24°C can be a little to warm for most ale yeasts. Which yeast did you use? There really is no need to secondary. You can keep your beer in the primary and it will clear just as well as when a secondary is used. Less work and risk of infection or oxidation also. I usually primary for three weeks and then get ready to bottle.

CurtTheCop said:

First time brewer here, decided to go for the coopers diy beer kit.
First brew is a British bitter and it's currently been brewing for 5 days. Here's a photo of it a day or two ago, foam has since subsided and I've removed the krausen collar for cleaning.
Can't wait for bottling time!!! (And drinking time of course!)

Click to expand...

OK, what's a krausen collar?

Calder said:

OK, what's a krausen collar?

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look up the coopers fermenter. Craigtube has a whole video about it...

Calder said:

OK, what's a krausen collar?

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It's like a keezer collar. Makes the fermenting unit taller.

Looking good! Welcome to the forum.

Yeh, it's an insert that goes in the top of the fermenter, under the lid. Once the foam dies down you can remove it and clean the brown ring off, leaving your fermenter nice and clean again. This kit doesn't have an airlock either, it just let's gas escape from the collar/lid... I was a bit skeptical at first but it's got nothing but good reviews!

CurtTheCop said:

Thanks guys! I'll keep the thread updated with progress. This is it now......

Unionrdr that looks lovely, how long did you secondary ferment it for?

I'm thinking it may be a little too warm for it. Currently on 24 degrees Celsius but it's condensing in the lid slightly

Click to expand...

I don't secondary myself, but it finished in primary in 14 days. I rehydrated the Cooper's ale yeast as well. So it was clear & ready to bottle at that point. I also used 500g of plain light DME for the boil, adding 1/2oz Hallertau hops @ 20 & 10 minutes left in the boil. Cooper's English Bitter can (international series) added @ flame out.
It looks like that pic of the 1st glass was about two weeks after bottling day. It's a low carbonation ale, so the head didn't stay very long. But the flavor was really good & very clear. And 24C, or 75.2F is a bit too high for an ale. 20C would be better. Cooper's ale yeast gets sluggish when it gets down to 64F, or about 18C. So 19C-20C would be better.

Ok, so I bottled the beer yesterday so I can get another batch in the fermenter (wilko Mexican cerveza). 42 bottles of goodness gonna try one after 2 weeks and see how it's progressed.

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Looks good. Chill one a few days in the frig before tasting after the two weeks. About this amount of chill time will produce a denser head.

Try another at three weeks of warm conditioning. Keep good tasting, and brewing notes.

Thanks for the tips flars - ill follow your advice I tasted one of the samples before bottling and it had a noticeable bitterness about it (not unpleasant) and there was definitely an alcohol aroma present so I hope these are good signs!

Just about finishing off drinking this batch of beer - it's nice - nothing special or worth showing off, but it's ok.

I didn't use any malt in this kit which I think is it's downfall, so I know for next time at least.