Coopers Starter kit and a cold basement

[Moltenink]

Hey all,

New to the forum and new to the hobby.

Just picked up my coopers DIY starter kit ( the one without the airlock ) and set up the Fermenter in the basment to see what kind of ambient temperature it was reading. Turns out it was 16℃ , so naturally I started researching ways to keep my brew to the recommended 21-27°.

While doing this i discovered that the temperature i have in my basement is PERFECT for brewing a lager... But that coopers ships with ale yeast to keep their promised deadline of a week for fermentation.

So here is my plan, I wanted some opinions.

I'm going to buy an aquarium heater and a large tupperware to warm my fermenter with, and buy an ale kit for my first brew. Do the 21℃ thing as thats probably easier for my first brew.... After my bottling, im going to make the lager kit, only with a lager yeast im going to grab from my supply store so as not to waste the lager kit it came with and the great temperature i have right now. And it'll take a ling time to ferment, but thats okay cause ill have my first brew to drink while I wait.

Thanks for your time,
Moltenink

 

[HopHeadGrady]

Welcome! Another Ottawa native. BTW it's supposed to start getting a little warmer today (-1) as that lousy cold front coming off Hudson Bay goes away.
You will find a lot of helpful people here. Without a doubt I owe the success of a few batches to this forum. Especially when it comes to the art of Lagering.
If you are going to do a lager, I would do some reading around here. Lots of excellent info.

Thats the kit I started with. Its actually a great fermenter. I still use it.
16-18C is what I usually ferment my Ales at. The Coopers yeast that comes with that kit doesn't mind cooler temps. The temps they are talking about in the kit, are the WORT temps, not the temp of the room. A side effect of fermentation is heat, and your wort will be anywhere from 2-5 degrees hotter that the ambient temp of the room your fermenter is placed in.
Just give it a good 3-4 weeks of fermenting time. In my experience the cooler temps make for a slightly clearer beer, but take a bit longer.

I just bottled another batch from the trusty Coopers DIY fermenter yesterday.

Tip: You may wish to rub vaseline on the rubber seals on the tap. It will prevent any dripping etc.

Welcome to the hobby.

BTW - If you do decide to pitch the Ale yeast over the lager it turns out quite good. The Coopers Traditional draught is actually a great base for mash/extract recipes.

Also, PM me if you are interested in getting into group buys of grain/hops etc in the Ottawa area. There's a few of us that get together to do group buys on bulk stuff.

 

[Moltenink]

Wow, thats fantastic to hear!!! Not having to do all this extra work for my first batch would be nice. I'd like a baseline to judge my following attempts from.

I was worried that the yeast wouldn't perform at that temp... I might do an ale first either way though, just cause they finish faster.

 

[HopHeadGrady]

No problem. Do you know of any other home brew stores around other than Defalcos?

I just started back before xmas and have gone to them exclusively, but I am interested if there is any other brew stores around the ottawa valley area. I'll even trek to Gatineau if I have to.
I can't find a store that sells kettles etc.

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

Off topic, but have you tried Brewer's Pantry? They're a web store from Ontario, that I've been looking at but haven't ordered from. They keep adding new items, so they might be a good source, and their prices seem good to me.

 

[Moltenink]

Defalcos is where i went... But most of the wine making places should carry a kit or two, but none of the awesome adjuncts and hops that defalcos has... A buddy of mine is really into brewing so I'll ask him

 

[Moltenink]

Actually a second question I had was about submerging the FV in warmed water to bring the temperature up...

The cooper's has a built in tap, is there much of a risk of bacteria building up on the tap if its sitting in warmed water for a week? Would that get into the bottles and spoil a beer?

 

[HopHeadGrady]

I haven't done that so I am not sure. I have heard that it's not advised if you have a spigot on your fermentor. If you added a bit of sanatizer to the water it may help. Do you have a heating pad you could quickly wrap around it? Some people take a heating pad and use bungee cords to help them stay attached.

Again, I think with todays rise in temp your basement should go up a few degrees making it perfect.

Yeah I go to Defalcos too. I just wish there was a place locally that sold kettles, more grain selections and catered more to the beer enthusiast. Defalcos new store on Moodie is huge and has a lot of good stuff in it though. Can't complain!

The mutons LME they get is always super fresh. I am kinda liking the DME better though, it comes out lighter. I think there must be lots of Extract brewers around, and the festabrew flies off the pallet. Last time I was in they had about 15 different types of hops , 10+ selections of yeast and pretty much every specialty malt. I was just looking for different types of 2 row pale malt and pilsen etc, the basics.

I have done a couple 4 gal BIAB experiments and that is the next phase of my brewing adventure. A BIAB setup...

 

[Moltenink]

Yeah I'm going pick up a muton's bitter and brew it with 500 light DME and 500 dextrose for my second brew

Im gonna leave off the hop additions for now so i can establish a baseline... But then my plan is to try some dryhopping and some end of boil additions

 

[HopHeadGrady]

Good idea. If you want to basically see how the Muntons Yorkshire Bitter looks check out my videos. Its the base I used for my Pitch Invasion ESB. It was awesome. Its less bitter than the Traditional Bitter kit. I used some Gelena in mine and added a mini mash too.

I think the idea of creating a baseline is great. My only advice is to lose the dextrose and just go all extract. If you have to maybe do a 1KG DME, 250g of Dextrose.

 

[unionrdr]

16-20C is a better temp for the cooper's ale yeast. 27C,& you start getting fusels & other off flavors. And the Cooper's OS lager with the ale yeast is actually a light pale ale. Not meant to be an actual lager. But brewed at lower temps,it'd be close with maybe some Saaz hops. The cooper's Original Series cans have some bit of bittering only with Pride of Ringwood hops. You have to add finishing hops.

 

[Moltenink]

I'll try that out... I mean why not try for a quality beer right?

Do you have your FVs in the same room as your water heater? Im concerned with the CO2 from the fermentation tripping the natural gas sensor on it.

Also what part of the city are you in? If its barrhaven they have a place called wine haven that has box kits

 

[unionrdr]

I wouldn't think it's give off that much co2,but it may depend on how the sensor is set. It's just better generally to stay near the yeasts' lower temp range. But not too close,since when initial fermentation is over,it slows down till it ferments down to FG. Thus lowering the brews internal temp. If that goes below minimum,it can stall & the yeast go dormant.

 

[HopHeadGrady]

I'll try that out... I mean why not try for a quality beer right?

Do you have your FVs in the same room as your water heater? Im concerned with the CO2 from the fermentation tripping the natural gas sensor on it.

Also what part of the city are you in? If its barrhaven they have a place called wine haven that has box kits

You bring up a good point about c02, I've never thought about this before. All I can say is I have a very nice c02 detector in my basement that has yet to go off with 4 fermenters on the go at one point.

I'm just 5-10 min west of you in Stittsville. Nice to know about Winehaven. There's also a spot out in Richmond by the Value Mart and LCBO that sells kits. Not sure what else they sell. They were closed last time I went by.

 

[gMonkey]

I'll try that out... I mean why not try for a quality beer right?

Do you have your FVs in the same room as your water heater? Im concerned with the CO2 from the fermentation tripping the natural gas sensor on it.

Also what part of the city are you in? If its barrhaven they have a place called wine haven that has box kits

Your sensor is probably looking for carbon monoxide (CO), not carbon dioxide (CO2). CO=bad; CO2=fine

 

[Moltenink]

Yeah that's what i thought too but i was told when they built the house that these water heaters have VERY sensitive gas sensors and that even spraying an aerosol air freshener in there could trip them... I am dubious, but supposedly reseting this one requires a service call from a technician on my dime... So.......

 

[ffs]

Off topic, but have you tried Brewer's Pantry? They're a web store from Ontario, that I've been looking at but haven't ordered from. They keep adding new items, so they might be a good source, and their prices seem good to me.

I've ordered from there a few times, and the service has always been great.

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

I've ordered from there a few times, and the service has always been great.

Nice one. I sent them a feeler email yesterday and they got back to me about 90 minutes later. They'll send me dry yeast in a plain envelope, which is what I was really after. I'd like a source of better yeast to use with my kits, but don't have a HBS within an hour drive that sells anything other than Cooper's or Munton's. A couple of packs of yeast, shipped for the price of a stamp beats driving an hour to 90 minutes to get it.

I want to try their kits, but need to order 4 at once to make the shipping worth my while, and the boss isn't gonna let me shell out $100 for brew supplies at this point. Come on Lotto Max!:rockin:

 

[Moltenink]

SWMBO....

She
Who
Must
Be
Obeyed

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

SWMBO....

She
Who
Must
Be
Obeyed

She likes it when I call her the boss, thinks SWMBO is demeaning. I'm easy, the truth is the cat and our daughter call the shots.....

 

[Moltenink]

Truth

 

[ffs]

I want to try their kits, but need to order 4 at once to make the shipping worth my while, and the boss isn't gonna let me shell out $100 for brew supplies at this point. Come on Lotto Max!:rockin:

The last time I ordered I got an email from him a few minutes later offering to drop the order off at my house in Kingston since he was going to be heading past on the way to Montreal the next day. Can't beat that kind of service

Needless to say I tacked a bunch of heavy and bulky stuff on to the order right away. It'd be silly to pass up that kind of offer

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

The last time I ordered I got an email from him a few minutes later offering to drop the order off at my house in Kingston since he was going to be heading past on the way to Montreal the next day. Can't beat that kind of service

Needless to say I tacked a bunch of heavy and bulky stuff on to the order right away. It'd be silly to pass up that kind of offer

Wonder if he'll be driving through the Annapolis Valley anytime in the not too distant....?

 

[Revelator]

Heya...Not sure if youve considered using a heating belt...Ive never used one before, but I hear they can be effective for warming your wort when temperatures start to dip. Im fairly certain you can buy one at defalcos for less than $20. I live in Ottawa as well, but am lucky enough to have a basement that stabilizes around 18C...so Ive never had the need...I always run into the issues of higher brewing temps, which I solve by using a deep freezer and a temp controller

EDIT: It might prove useful to get a stick-on thermometer as well...that way you can easily differentiate between the air temp and the actual wort temp when adjusting