Heya, First brew here. Justing checking to see i'm on the right track.

[Camworrall]

Hey. So i've got my first brew on the go at the moment.
It's a Coopers Australian Lager. Now i only had a 15l Ferm, so i had the split the ingredients up to 1.21kg of the coopers can, and 650g of the coopers brewing sugar. Starting Gravity was 1042, and now 9 days later it's reading 1016, and has held steady for 2 days.
Pitched with cooper lager yeast, admittedly a bit high at 25C, but cooled it to 16, and has been sitting between 14-18C since.
Am i on the right track here, i put it all in to beer smith and apparently i should be looking at a FG of 1005, but i'm a bit worried coz it seems to be holding at 1016 and there's not much action, maybe a slowing bubble every minute or so, and no foam.

Cheers, Cam

 

[Biscuits]

If it is still bubbling, the yeast are still working. Be patient with it, most people will suggest you let the beer sit in the fermenter for two weeks regardless. Much of the time you will not see bubbles in your air lock but the yeast are still working. After 9 days and you're still getting bubbles is actually a bit out of the norm from what I have experienced...I usually only get bubbles for the first few days and then it stops. I will let some of the more experienced guys chime in on this one.

 

[aprichman]

My software reports that Coopers yeast has ~72% attenuation so if your SG was 1.042 your FG should be ~1.012

 

[andy6026]

The bubbling isn't much of an indication of active fermentation - it can be carbon dioxide releasing out of suspension from in the beer. 9 days though is young to bottle a beer and it may even lose a few more points. Give it another week or two in the fermenter - this will give it time to clear up and ensure that it's done fermenting. The beer will be much better for it.

Patience improves the beer more than any other characteristic.

 

[m00ps]

How much yeast did you pitch? Lagers generally require more yeast to properly attenuate due to the lower temperatures. 1.046 isnt a very high OG, so you may be ok with just a dry packet if it was pretty fresh and stored well

 

[Camworrall]

My software reports that Coopers yeast has ~72% attenuation so if your SG was 1.042 your FG should be ~1.012

hmm... I must be doing something wrong then.
I've input
1pck Cooper ale Yeast
0.13kg Maltodextrin
0.53kg Dextrose
1.21 kg Cooper's Australian Lager Extract
14.5L Water

But i'm still getting a final gravity of 1.006

 

[joshesmusica]

since it's an ale yeast, i would crank it up to about 18-19 for a few days before you lager it. this should encourage the yeast to finish strong.

 

[Calypso]

hmm... I must be doing something wrong then.
I've input
1pck Cooper ale Yeast
0.13kg Maltodextrin
0.53kg Dextrose
1.21 kg Cooper's Australian Lager Extract
14.5L Water

But i'm still getting a final gravity of 1.006

I'm getting numbers similar to you, Camworral. You say in your original post that you pitched Coopers lager yeast. But in this post you pitched an ale yeast. Can you confirm which one you pitched? My research says that the standard Coopers "Lager" kit comes with an ale yeast. If this is in fact what you pitched, then 14C is too cool. I would try bumping your temperature up to 18-20C and see if that kickstarts fermentation.

EDIT: scooped!

 

[aprichman]

I'm getting numbers similar to you, Camworral. You say in your original post that you pitched Coopers lager yeast. But in this post you pitched an ale yeast. Can you confirm which one you pitched? My research says that the standard Coopers "Lager" kit comes with an ale yeast. If this is in fact what you pitched, then 14C is too cool. I would try bumping your temperature up to 18-20C and see if that kickstarts fermentation.

EDIT: scooped!

How are you guys calculating the attenuation to be 85%? I know there is some corn sugar in there but that seems really dry for an extract beer with yeast that is supposed to attenuate closer to 70%.

 

[Calypso]

I'm no wizard, but I think it's because the dextrose is 100% fermentable.

 

[ol-hazza]

Personally i would get the temp upto 20° and see if it drops at all, possibly even give it a wee shake. If its still at the same gravity in 3 days time then bottle her.
Often the yeast that comes with those kits has not been properly stored so its health may not be the best, which could be why your attenuation is lower than expected. Also i would recommend trying to hold the temperature more steady than 14-18 by putting it in a water bath or wrapping it in a blanket or putting it in a cupboard or something (building a fermentation chamber was my solution but they arent entirely necessary).

Also for future reference you could just use the whole can and not add the sugar (or a small amount , say 150-200g) and your beer will come out at at the same alcohol but with a bit more body and bitterness. That would be gow i would roll anyway.

And welcome to the hobby! There is a lot to learn but dont get to worried, you have already made a batch

 

[lowtones84]

Sounds like it's coming along just fine. Raising the temp a bit won't hurt at this point, but if it's still there after 2-3 days you're ready to bottle. There's nothing wrong with waiting for a full two weeks or a bit more, but with a relatively low gravity beer like that my bet is that it's done, and some of my cleanest tasting beers have come from bottling after 9-10 days. Either way, it will be beer that you made, and it will probably be good Next time try to pitch the yeast at a slightly cooler temp, but it sounds like you know that.

BTW, you can "lager" in the bottle after it's carbonated for a couple of weeks if you desire if you don't have space to cool your entire fermenting vessel.

 

[aprichman]

I'm no wizard, but I think it's because the dextrose is 100% fermentable.

But the maltodextrin is 100% unfermentable

 

[Camworrall]

Cheers all for your help. Doesn't taste to bad, nice n light. So i've racked it to a secondary, and am gonna let it sit and settle for a few weeks, or at least until i've drunk enough commercial to bottle it all

Yeah, the yeast probably wasn't best to start with, bought the can from kmart, haha. Gonna use proper lager yeast next time round, and keep the temps a little more stable with and eski of water.

Got can of Cooper's Cerveza and a Del Mex Steepac, so that's up next :cross:
And have a bought a larger fv, so i don't have to split it up this time.

 

[ol-hazza]

Sounds like you have it sorted.
Was trying some of the beers out of WA at the good beer week in melbourne, looks like you have a good craft scene out there