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ryanshelton

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Hello guys(and maybe gals?)

My first brew is currently fermenting here in the sunny UK(yeah right!!), i opted for 'Coopers english bitter' kit for my first go.
Its been fermenting for around 7 days now, the OG was 1.032, taken a reading today and its 1.008.
I used 500 grams sugar(normal sugar as i thought if i screw it up at least its not cost me alot) and after tasting a bit earlier ive got to say im pretty impressed.

Doing the calculations itll come out around 3.7% which is lower than i was expecting but i guess thats to do with the amount of sugar used?

Im hoping itll be ready for bottling in the next day or 2, any tips on doing this? Ive got the syphon that came with the kit and 48 coopers bottles.

Im a bit confused on how to store it once bottled, the instructions say store upright for at least another 7 days +18 degrees yet other places ive seen/read say store it in a cool place(fridge, garden shed etc)

Any help much appreciated for a newbie

Thanks
Ryan
 
Do you have a bottling bucket? That's a big help.

Sanitize everything. That's an even bigger help. Siphon the beer into the bottling bucket, leaving the trub behind. If some gets in with the beer, don't worry about it. Use a priming calculator to figure out the bottling sugar, or just use roughly 6 grams per liter ( I hope I'm doing the conversion right, here in my head...), boiled in a pint of water and cooled. Swirl it gently into the beer, or rack the beer into the sugar water, just get them all together. Then bottle.

Store the bottles upright, at room temperature, for three weeks. Then chill and enjoy!

Cheers,
 
Do you have a bottling bucket? That's a big help.

Sanitize everything. That's an even bigger help. Siphon the beer into the bottling bucket, leaving the trub behind. If some gets in with the beer, don't worry about it. Use a priming calculator to figure out the bottling sugar, or just use roughly 6 grams per liter ( I hope I'm doing the conversion right, here in my head...), boiled in a pint of water and cooled. Swirl it gently into the beer, or rack the beer into the sugar water, just get them all together. Then bottle.

Store the bottles upright, at room temperature, for three weeks. Then chill and enjoy!

Cheers,

Nope no bottling bucket unfortunately :( The brew shop i brought the kit from advised around 6 grams per litre(or a teaspoon in every bottle they also advised) when i brought the bottles so you were spot on with your calculations!
How would i go about syphoning without a bottling bucket?
 
Or just use Cooper's carb drops this go round. The Cooper's PET bottles take to drops per bottle. the Cooper's fermenters all have their "little bottler" that ataches to the spout on the spigot. It's simply a bottling wand. You put the two carb drops in the bottle,then push the pin valve on the end of the bottling wand against the inside of the bottle bottom. When it just fills to the top,lower your hand a couple inches to close the pin valve & stop the flow. Pull the bottle down to remove the wand & you get the right head space by way of volume displacement. Sanitize the caps & screw them on tighter than you'd think. They take a lot of tightening to seal against co2 pressure when carbonationg & conditioning.
 
The kit i have isnt actually a coopers kit. The box said richies? The bottles are coopers and the malt kit were coopers
 
Well,I was thinking of saving the added expense & travel time to get extra equipment by using the Cooper's carb drops. Then go out & get a bottling bucket,etc.
 
Well,I was thinking of saving the added expense & travel time to get extra equipment by using the Cooper's carb drops. Then go out & get a bottling bucket,etc.

Ok so let me get this right, i ca use the carb drops(or a teaspoon of normal sugar) in the bottom of each bottle, Then syphon the brew from the fermenting bucket into each individual bottle? There were no instructions with the kit so ive had to pretty much learn as ive gone along!
 
You can but it would be MUCH easier to batch prime in a bottleing bucket and use a bottleing wand instead of your siphon. These items should be very inexpensive and available at your LHBS. I can pretty much garrantee you are going to buy them soon so you might as well do it now.
 
Yeah bottling bucket and a spring loaded bottle filler are an absolute must. Keep your bottles at room temp for 1-3 weeks to let the yeast eat your priming sugar so your beers will carb. If you refrigerate right away you'll get flat beer. you can refrigerate after that but you don't have to. beer conditions best at around 60 degrees. Conditioning decreases exponentially as temp drops.

The reason they tell you to store upright is so that the sediment from carbing ends up on the bottom of the bottle. If you refrigerate before serving this sediment will stick to the bottom of the glass and you'll get almost none in the glass. I'd say store at room temp and refrigerate what you want to drink. always pour into a glass to avoid the sediment from carbing.
 
Actually,carbing & conditioning is best around 70F,60F is a little cool & will take longer. 1 week will not be enough time. 3-4 weeks is the norm in my experience. Then at least a week i the fridge to get co2 into solution,clear any chill haze that shows up as they cool down. Also to compact the yeast rub tighter on the bottom of the bottle.
You could even put a bottling wand on the end of your auto siphon.
 
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