Beer brewing kit and a 5 litre bottle.

[Brewsinn]

Hi,
I just bought a kit and all the equipment needed to brew my first beer (Lager).
My first problem is I can't find a fermenting bucket or demijohn so I just modified a 5 liter bottle so I can fit a grommet, this was done successfully =], out of what you see in the pic, would you say this setup is alright?
My next problem is the kit is made for 22 liters worth, do I just use my math skills and work out the amounts or are there other things that need to be accounted?
And last of all, could I sterilize all the equipment (it's all plastic) just by boiling it in water?
Here's a pic

.
Thanks =].

 

[JoefromPhilly]

I hope you know the steps involved with brewing a lager, especially the ability to lager it at temps near 34 degrees for up to a couple of months.

Not sure if this is the beer to start with.

- Joe

 

[JoefromPhilly]

Also, you will find that modifying a recipe from 5 gallons to 5 liters does not quite work, mathematically. Plus, how are you going to transfer out the beer to your secondary to lager, and then to bottle? Looks like you need more equipment.

- Joe

 

[iammatt]

You need a whole bunch more volume to ferment that batch of beer. If you're on a pinch and can't find any glass locally look for a 5 gallon Water Bottle. Going to have some problems with headspace, or lack there of, but gotta do what ya gotta do.

 

[Revvy]

I hope you know the steps involved with brewing a lager, especially the ability to lager it at temps near 34 degrees for up to a couple of months.

Not sure if this is the beer to start with.

- Joe

Actually Cooper's Lager, is really Lager Style meaning it has ale yeast in it....We'd call it a steam beer.

The instructions say,

ferment temperature should be in the range 21C-27C.

So no worry about temp control. The only issue indeed with the size of the fermenter. It really needs to be much larger.

 

[Edcculus]

As for steriliziing, you would be better off using bleach than boiling. I rarely use it, so I'm sure someone else can tell you the proper dilution.

As homebrewers, we like no rinse sanitizers. They come as iodine based (Iodophor) or acid based (StarSan).

 

[Brewsinn]

Thanks for helping.
I've got all the equipment needed (they're just not in the picture) just no carboy, and I can't seem to find any place that sells them down here in South Africa =[.

 

[Brewsinn]

What would happen if I were to brew this in a 5 liter bottle?

 

[Brewsinn]

Alright, I managed to find a place where I can attain a 20 liter food grade bucket, would this do?

 

[SeamusMac]

Alright, I managed to find a place where I can attain a 20 liter food grade bucket, would this do?

It really depends on what was in the bucket before you came into possession of it. It will more than likely contribute some flavours to your beer, which may or may not ruin the beer. Old icing buckets are regarded as suitable fermentation pails, although I'd never use a bucket that had anything like pickles or olives in it.

A 25 or 30 liter bucket would be preferred but if 20 liters is as big as they come down there then I would be inclined to make a 19 liter batch using all of the pre-hopped malt extract in the cooper's can and perhaps 75% of however many kgs of fermentables the instructions would have you add to the wort. Don't forget to use a blow-off tube on your bucket for the first few days!

 

[Brewsinn]

I'm getting it from some sort of specialized bucket hardware store and their largest bucket is their 20 liter food grade bucket that would cost about 3 dollars.
And could I use a siphon tube as a blow-off tube?
Thanks.

 

[Nugu]

Blow off tube is simply a siphon tube shoved into the hole in the bucket lid, so yes. (Most will recommend a 1/2" tube but you can use smaller and hope it doesn't plug.)

 

[Brewsinn]

Alright then, I think I'm sorted =].
I'll buy a bucket probably this weekend and then get started.
Thank you all for helping me out =].