coopers kit, beer is flat!?

[arundel]

I brewed the kit that came with my microbrewery. Followed all directions...all went as expected. OG 1048....FG 1010... Bottled with 2 "carbonation drops" per bottle(750 ml)...waited 14 days as directed......and beer is flat...very little head... disappears quickly..

The beer has a decent taste...good color. The only variance from directions is that during bottling phase, temp has been about 67F, instead of the 70-80F recommended...

Question:...will my beers develop more carbonation if I wait longer?...or is this batch ruined??

Thanks

 

[JGB]

I'm no pro but my guess is:
1. wait at least 3 weeks or more
2. 67F might be a bit cold for carbonation (thus slowing it down a tad).
3. Sample beer and take notes
4. Wait a week and try not to worry. Go to Step 3.

 

[hopdawg]

I'm not a fan of bottling simply because there are too many variables to get to the perfect carbonation. Residual yeast is a big factor, starting viability is a factor (age of the kit or pitching temp), the fermentation temp is a big factor, amount of priming sugar (carbonation drops) is a factor, conditioning temp is a factor, I think you're seeing my point. There is no substitute for kegging and adjusting your carbonation with a regulator.
If you insist on bottling, keep it simple, correct temperatures for pitching and cold fermenting will dull the yeast for carbing. Good fresh yeast is a must. I've had better success (easier) with dry yeasts than liquid.
Hang this statement on your wall, "Beer is all about how you treat your yeast!!"

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

Is the flavor flat (ie. missing the sharpness in the nose that you expect from the CO2 bubbles exploding in your mouth) or is there just no head?

Lack of a head is usually explained by either a simple sugar recipe (which sums up a by-the-book Cooper's kit) or a residue on your glasses (usually caused by Jet Dry in your dish washer).

Lack of carbonation will mean that your beer actually tastes dead on your tongue, like sweetened water with a little bit of hop flavor.

If it's the former, try hand washing your beer glasses with a LOT of hot water (stay away from soap, but still scrub the glasses thoroughly.) If the later, then give the bottles another week or two before you give a final judgement. (I've seen the carbonation drops take several days to dissolve, and the 3 weeks that's recommended starts from when they finish dissolving.)

 

[Poindexter]

I would give them another week, try one; and then probably give them a second week before I started hitting that batch.

67 is a little on the cool side. Thank you for using a hydrometer.

 

[arundel]

thanks for the replies!... I guess I really have no choice but to wait and see what happens. When I started the brew, the weather was consistently cold outside , so the heat in the house was always on....thus, it was easy to regulate the temp where the brew was. Since then, we have one day of 70F high temp, followed by a day of 45F high. LITERALLY, about a week ago it snowed all day, then 2 days later I was riding my motorcycle in a short-sleeved T-shirt...

 

[jturie]

I've used the coopers carb drops and have been less than impressed with the carbonation levels. However, the correct dose is one drop per 12 oz bottle and two drops for the Coopers PET bottles, which are 240ml. You should have used 5 or 6 drops in a 750ml bottle.

 

[Bacchus]

I brewed the kit that came with my microbrewery. Followed all directions...all went as expected. OG 1048....FG 1010... Bottled with 2 "carbonation drops" per bottle(750 ml)...waited 14 days as directed......and beer is flat...very little head... disappears quickly..

The beer has a decent taste...good color. The only variance from directions is that during bottling phase, temp has been about 67F, instead of the 70-80F recommended...

Question:...will my beers develop more carbonation if I wait longer?...or is this batch ruined??

Thanks

Yep....too cold. As a veteran of Coopers beers I can tell you that the ale yeast that they provide with their kits like lots of warmth. Nothing under 70F and even as high as 80F. Get your bottles somewhere a little warmer or leave them there but give them a couple of more weeks.

 

[Bacchus]

BTW, Arundel.....I'm originally from Lake Charles. Been out here in CA for about ten years now. I've been talking to my family back down there and they've been telling me about all the snow they've been getting. LOL!

 

[IceFisherChris]

I've used the coopers carb drops and have been less than impressed with the carbonation levels. However, the correct dose is one drop per 12 oz bottle and two drops for the Coopers PET bottles, which are 240ml. You should have used 5 or 6 drops in a 750ml bottle.

Nooo that's telling him to make bombs! 750 mL is just over 25 ounces. Coopers recommends 2 drops for a 22 oz bottle. So a 750 mL bottle should use 2 also. It's going to be a little under-carbonated though because you have 3 more ounces of beer for the same amount of drop. I think people here will suggest you to use dextrose (cheaper than drops) or just use plain old table sugar (cheapest of all.)

 

[jcgifford]

I had the same problem with the same recipe and kit. I've been tied up with other things, and the bottles have been sitting for about a month and a half now since bottling. Mine also had an off taste after 2 weeks of bottle priming.

 

[jjones17]

I'm not a fan of bottling simply because there are too many variables to get to the perfect carbonation. Residual yeast is a big factor, starting viability is a factor (age of the kit or pitching temp), the fermentation temp is a big factor, amount of priming sugar (carbonation drops) is a factor, conditioning temp is a factor, I think you're seeing my point. There is no substitute for kegging and adjusting your carbonation with a regulator.
If you insist on bottling, keep it simple, correct temperatures for pitching and cold fermenting will dull the yeast for carbing. Good fresh yeast is a must. I've had better success (easier) with dry yeasts than liquid.
Hang this statement on your wall, "Beer is all about how you treat your yeast!!"

Hey cool, you are from my hometown! I moved away in 1999...

That being said, too many variables in bottling? All it takes is beersmith or some kind of brewing software. I have botle 30+ batches and have had every single one turn out the way I wanted it as far as carbonation.

I understand you are trying to sell him on Kegging, and yes kegging is awesome. But either A) I am way more awesome at controlling my bottle carb levels than everyone else (pretty much no chance for this being the case), or B) you have not ever used brewing software. Maybe I am wrong, and I an not trying to flame you, I just worry about new brewers being mislead when the process is probably one of the easiest involved in brewing (boil your carb sugar/dme or whatever with small bit of water to sanitize, amt based on reccomended for the style in beersmith. Cool. Add to beer, stir. Bottle. Done.)

To the OP, buddy those carb drops are just not as accurate as boiling some carbing sugar (or DME), but you will need to use brewing software unless you are sure to be spot on using the calculations that are required for proper conditinoing. There is WAYYYYYYYYYYY more than enough yeast left in your beer, hanging out in suspension, to carb it.

 

[jturie]

Nooo that's telling him to make bombs! 750 mL is just over 25 ounces. Coopers recommends 2 drops for a 22 oz bottle. So a 750 mL bottle should use 2 also. It's going to be a little under-carbonated though because you have 3 more ounces of beer for the same amount of drop. I think people here will suggest you to use dextrose (cheaper than drops) or just use plain old table sugar (cheapest of all.)

Crap...you're right! Damn metric system. I think the Coopers Pet bottles are actually 740ml. Given my experience with the drops, 2 are not adequate, and it looks like three might be too many.

 

[arundel]

Thank you all for the replies.
btw, it's not just that there is no head....it is actually flat on the tongue. I even swished a mouthful around in my mouth to see if it would bubble up, but it did very little.

I'm just gonna sit on 'em another week or two..

 

[kwaidonjin]

I use the coopers microbrewery as well, I use 2 coopers drops and one munton's carb tab for the coopers bottles, works great. I also put bottles on top of a warming pad for first 3 days and try to keep the temp around 75 . pretty good carbonation.I like the coopers better, the muntons seems to leave floaties in beer.

 

[jcgifford]

Thank you all for the replies.
btw, it's not just that there is no head....it is actually flat on the tongue. I even swished a mouthful around in my mouth to see if it would bubble up, but it did very little.

I'm just gonna sit on 'em another week or two..

As noted above, I had a similar problem with carbonation with the Cooper's kit. I checked my bottles this weekend and they were hard as a rock. Previously they had some give to them. They've been sitting for a a little over a month, so I think more time is the answer.

Haven't done a taste test yet. Just put them in the fridge yesterday.

 

[lady_brewer]

Which Cooper's kit is it? I have noticed that there is a difference in the level of carbonation among those kits.

I agree that they haven't been left long enough and warm enough. Other thoughts are that if you have left the beer to clear a lot before bottling you may have less yeast in the bottles and it will take them longer than average to carb. I know that you said you followed the instructions, but can you give a quick overview of your process (ie how many weeks in primary? Any secondary? Any clarifying agents?)

I have never used the drops myself, so I can't help on that one!

 

[arundel]

I mixed the liquid concentrate, and the dextrose in about a gallon of boiling water...topped off with cool water., let ferment for 7 days at about 22-24C, then bottled. I think the problem is that since bottling, the weather has changed and the room temp has been below the recommended 21-28C...they have been bottled for 20 days now..

 

[Minky]

Hi Arundel,
Another thing to remember is that the temperature of the beer must be at serving temperature for a considerable amount of time in order for the CO2 to be drawn into solution. Much of the carbonation is in the headspace until it's chilled. I discovered this back when I would put a freshly carbonated beer in the freezer for 20 minutes or so before sampling. It always seemed flat to me. Once your beer has had sufficient time to carbonate (3 weeks or so), leave one in the fridge overnight and try it.

 

[frankjconway]

Hopefully I'm not hijacking the thread, but is that pretty much a general rule (to keep at 70-80F after bottling)? I bottled an IPA two weeks ago and a Pliny Clone a few days ago and they are at around 67 right now. My furnace room is around 75, so should I move the cases down there? I'm guessing yes.

 

[KUBU]

Hi all,

I did the same thing - 2 carbonate drops per 750ml bottle and also have the problem of flat beer. This is my second attempt at brewing and I felt that the previous batch was too cold so I built a temp controller and used a heater mat under my fermenter and fermenting happened like a dream at 20 Celsius +\- 0.5 deg [instructions suggested a brewing temp between 18 and 24 degrees] and believed that I had this beer making process licked. Developed a rubber elbow from patting myself on the back. Waited until fermenting stopped completely and FG was correct for at least 2 days before bottling. Read that bottling too soon can result in exploding bottles. Now I have a question: will it be better to not let the fermenting bubbling stop completely and bottle when there is still some yeast activity at the correct FG?

All advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
KUBU

 

[unionrdr]

No. Let it ferment all the way out to a stable FG. Then give it another 3-7 days to clean up any by-products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty. Those Cooper's PET bottles, as I had, are 740mL. or 25.16ozs. I found that with the carb drops, they had to sit 3-4 weeks at 70F or so to get good carbonation. Here's a shot of the beer that came with my Cooper's Micro Brew set, the OS lager;