That's not bad at all!!!! The figures that came out of hopville/beer calculus were 1.085 OG and 1.021 FG so near enough bang on target.
I read on the coopers website that the chance of infection is a lot higher once primary fermentation is complete.
Usually after primary the beer has a high enough alcohol content to keep risks of infection to a minimum, BUT, racking to an insufficiently sanitized secondary, or one with too much head-space and the risk percentile probably increases.
I also read that cidery taste & bubbles can sometimes be due to sanitation or over priming bottles
True in some ways. Just the fact that the beer is still a bit young/immature/green can give it a cidery taste. It could be that the priming sugar hasn't been totally converted into CO2 and alcohol. It could be that acetaldehyde formed during the initial fermentation, due to lack of control and higher temps, hasn't been consumed by the yeast (as the beer didn't stay in primary long enough for the yeast to do its job). Could be a sanitizing issue but you said "but i couldnt of been more careful..." so maybe not. Not sure what you mean about the bubbles. Carbonation of the beer means there are bubbles of CO2 in your beer. If you put the beer in the fridge for a few days, or longer is even better, the bubbles of CO2 get absorbed into solution, are more compressed, produce a better, more dense, longer lasting head and continue to rise from the bottom of the glass until the glass has been drained. If the beer hasn't been chilled for a decent enough length of time the bubbles of CO2 escape faster and seem bigger. Head generally dies really fast after pouring.
one other thing i read was if temp is too high at start of fermentation?
Definitely not a good thing. Ideally you want to pitch your hydrated yeast or yeast starter into the wort, with their relative temps being within about 2 to 4 degrees centigrade of each other, as low as reasonably possible. With my ales I've been pitching somewhere around 17*C to 19*C, putting the fermenters into my brew room in swamp coolers and usually by next morning they are sitting around 14*C or thereabouts. Most of the time they take off pretty quickly and I just leave them until they get through the initial vigorous phase then, as the temp starts to drop after the extreme yeast activity, start warming them up to a max of about 24*C over the next couple of weeks.
It's generally better/easier to pitch at a cooler temp, warm up the brew and help the yeast get started than to have it too warm, producing off flavours and weird compounds then drop the temps and put the yeast to sleep.
What do you find works best as far as sanitising?
I soak everything in Oxyclean, rinse religiously and fanatically with hot tap water then soak, spray, fill with starsan solution of a dilution ratio 1 Oz : 5 (US) gallons
It tastes kinda ok when its flat!
Again, that might be because it hasn't been chilled enough for the CO2 to be properly absorbed, or it might just be that you were expecting it to turn out more like a Nitro'd Guinness that are silky smooth and creamy. Not going to happen BUT I've had some of my stouts that had been aging for six months, and more, that were pretty bloody smooth in the carbonation department, probably down to being in the fridge for weeks if not months.
Hopefully a few more weeks in the shed will fix it
otherwise i'll definately have another crack at it, recipe has a lot of potential with possibly a few changes.
Yep, time will probably allow certain processes to complete that might well have it turning into something you'll be pretty pleased with. If my calculation is correct I reckon you've got a beer with an ABV of somewhere from 8.25% to 8.5%, and that should take a good long while to mature and for the flavours to mellow/meld. Whether or not the Cooper's yeast you used will be up to the job, of re-fermenting/carbonating it, I'm not sure.
i started a light german bock nearly 2 weeks ago, would this be better left in primary for 3 weeks aswell? I just threw in 2 x 1.7kg Thomas Coopers Heritage Lager and 2 x 500g Coopers Light Dry Malt
Yes, I emphatically implore you to let the yeast do their thing for at least three weeks on this one:fro: It's still a pretty heavy brew, with that amount of fermentibles, if you're doing it at 23 litres.
So, to summarize and hopefully get you a perfect start out of the gate on your next brew, make sure you have enough, decent yeast. Hydrate it if it's a dried yeast. Pitch when the wort and hydrated yeast are within a couple of degrees C of each other, preferably at or below 20*C. Have a means to keep the brew cool and near the bottom of the preferred temperature range of the yeast you use. GIVE IT TIME
Both in the fermenter and after bottling. Be fanatical about cleaning and sanitizing.
Also, try to put your recipe, list of ingredients, into some sort of recipe calculator as that will give you an idea of how the malty sweetness is, or needs to be, balanced out by the addition of hops. I reckon your stout brew could have done with a bit of extra hopping to counteract the sweetness.
These are both free to use, have to download and install the one on thescrewybrewer.com but it is particularly good for calculating recipes using Cooper's kit cans, as well as other kit can stuff.
http://www.thescrewybrewer.com/2010/09/qbrew-homebrewers-recipe-calculator.html
http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe
By the way, the first thing that saw me getting a real positive improvement in my beer was using a swamp cooler to keep ferm temps lower and more constant.
and happy brewing.