Absolute beginner!

Hi everyone, I have just started a geordie lager kit which is the second kit i have ever embarked on, the first was a brew buddy lager kit and turned out ok, it was cloudy and didnt really taste like the lager im familier with (not that im expecting carlsberg/stella quality just yet). I have made both kits the same way using the same quantity of sugar, same temp etc, and followed the instructions on the box, however for the brew buddy i used a keg after primary fermentation and for the geordie lager I read on another forum to use 2L PET bottles. Something to do with the carbonation? So I have put all my geordie in 12 bottles with a tablespoon of sugar in each one and put them all in a fridge to chill.

Basically what I would like to know is;
Will it matter that my primary was at room temp? (about 17-19 degrees)
Was it ok to go straight from primary to bottling? (after a week of fermentation)
Will my lager be fizzy from using the bottles as apposed to the keg as when i used the keg there really wasnt much fizz.

Basically ANY info on lager brewing in simpleton terms would be very much appreciated as I am very interested in homebrewing but find it all a bit confusing! thank you

John

lagers need to ferment BELOW room temperature in the 50s (12-14C). if you can't accommodate this, you ought to be brewing ales, which ferment very well in the temperature range you give.

one week is not enough time for a lager to ferment. i'm starting to wonder if this is actually a lager and not an ale. what do the kit instructions recommend?

plastic bottles work fine.

I'm not familiar with those kits, but if it's truly a lager, it would need to ferment much lower. Someone chime in here on which yeast these kits use?

You generally want to let the beer ferment much longer than a week for best results. As a beginner, I'd say 3 weeks minimum.

Then, yes, you can bottle them. The procedure would be to use the correct amount of sugar (there are calculators online) for how much beer you're bottling in total and you'd boil that amount of sugar in a small amount of water for 5 minutes or so, then cool down to the temp of the beer, and mix the two gently together in the bottling vessel, then bottle in clean, sanitized bottles. PET bottles are fine, too.

the kit said to ferment for a week or until the hydrometer reading gets below 1.005, my original reading was 1.031 but just after taking that reading i smashed my hydrometer to bits so i left it for a week until bottling.

so its not lager unless its fermented in a cool environment?

also what do people mean when they say they are lagering their beer?

johndavies86 said:

the kit said to ferment for a week or until the hydrometer reading gets below 1.005, my original reading was 1.031 but just after taking that reading i smashed my hydrometer to bits so i left it for a week until bottling.

so its not lager unless its fermented in a cool environment?

also what do people mean when they say they are lagering their beer?

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Don't listen to the kits. Their job is to get you done quick so you buy another kit. Ferment it for longer than a week.

Lagers use lager yeast, which need cooler temps to ferment. Your kit may actually be using an Ale yeast, but calling itself a "lager" because it emulates a popular commercial lager.

Lagering means bulk-aging beer at cool temperatures, usually just above freezing. It's a technique for getting very clear, crisp beer.

So even though i bottled after a week do you think now that i have the bottles in a fridge if i leave them for ?? amount of time then they will turn out ok? It makes sense what you said about the kits, ill def be taking advice from these forums before the kits!

I would also recommend a homebrewing book for beginners that and these forums is how im learning. Only on week 3. Learned alot. Read and try to understand much as possible before brewing. But either way you learn by brewing too. Good luck.

johndavies86 said:

So even though i bottled after a week do you think now that i have the bottles in a fridge if i leave them for ?? amount of time then they will turn out ok? It makes sense what you said about the kits, ill def be taking advice from these forums before the kits!

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The bottles shouldn't go into the fridge until they've sat at room temp for at least 2 weeks. Otherwise they won't carbonate properly. I'm assuming you added priming sugar to the bottles or to the beer itself before bottling?

Just because the bottles are in the fridge, they are not lagering.

Perhaps you could list the kit's ingredients or provide a link we could see the kit. At this point, what's done is done and whether the beer turns out is anybody's guess.

Lagering is a process in which the beer is fermented at colder temperatures for a period of time, then allowed to rise for a diacetyl rest then cold conditioned for a longer period and lager yeast is used. Ales are fermented with Ale yeast and are usually fermented in the mid 60'sF for about two weeks total, another week to clear and then bottle.

http://m.wilkinsonplus.com/wilkinsonplus/product/detail.do?itemId=0022841
this is a link to what i used

Yes i added some sugar to the bottles, im guessing if i take the bottles out of the fridge now for two weeks i may be making things worse by screwing with the temperatures?

I just re read the kit and i think tre9er hit the nail on the head, it looks like its just called geordie lager but its actually a beer kit.

Ive got ALOT to learn haha

johndavies86 said:

http://m.wilkinsonplus.com/wilkinsonplus/product/detail.do?itemId=0022841
this is a link to what i used

Yes i added some sugar to the bottles, im guessing if i take the bottles out of the fridge now for two weeks i may be making things worse by screwing with the temperatures?

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If you do not take them out of the fridge they will not carbonate, the beer is already screwed up, sorry. Like I mentioned before, we do not know anything about what you brewed so we are kind of lost in trying to help without more info The link shows the kit but that's all, no real information to work off of other than the word Lager.......

Ok well ill take them out and leave them for a few weeks and see what happens, im gna drink it anyway lol next time i think ill research into what im looking to achieve realisticaly before getting a kit rather than just getting a kit and diving in!

johndavies86 said:

Ok well ill take them out and leave them for a few weeks and see what happens, im gna drink it anyway lol next time i think ill research into what im looking to achieve realisticaly before getting a kit rather than just getting a kit and diving in!

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Going with kits is fine but understanding what you are brewing and how to brew are more important. I would do some more learning by reading.

http://http://www.howtobrew.com/sitemap.html

In addition, "The Joy of Hombrewing" by Charlie Papazian is another good, fun read.

Stick with it and good luck!

Often times we learn by screwing-up. I know that's always been most effective for me, unfortunately

okay, i just found this page - it is definitely an ale, based on saying give it 7 days to ferment.

anyhow, OP, everything you've done is fine, but you have to take the beer out of the fridge. just give the beer two weeks and room temp before putting it back in the fridge. otherwise, it won't carb up.

progmac said:

okay, i just found this page - it is definitely an ale, based on saying give it 7 days to ferment.

anyhow, OP, everything you've done is fine, but you have to take the beer out of the fridge. just give the beer two weeks and room temp before putting it back in the fridge. otherwise, it won't carb up.

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Thats great i took them out the fridge last night and fortunatly they werent even that cold.
Thank you all or your help ill let you know how it tastes

johndavies86 said:

Thats great i took them out the fridge last night and fortunatly they werent even that cold.
Thank you all or your help ill let you know how it tastes

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Make sure that you place them in some kind of container that could contain the beer and glass shards if needed.

With not knowing if the beer was done fermenting (no hydro reading), and a very uneven and not specific sugar addition, you could be setting yourself up for some bottle bombs.
Just a warning, as it happens, and it's just best to be on the safe side rather than get hurt or have it damage something.

I used 1kg of sugar in primary and ive used 2L PET bottles with only a tablespoon so they should be fine cos i think those type bottles withhold stupid amounts of pressure before bursting, but I did place them all inside a black bin liner just incase! Thanks for the heads up tho