Water in Airlock Decreasing

[PompeyNovice]

Hi Guys,

Forgive me if this is in the wrong place please but I havea question.
I am 4 days into brewing a Coopers Lager with kit (my first) and the water in the airlock is bubbling but seems to be depreciatiing.

The beer has foam on the top and sediment in the bottom and seems to smell like lager.

Do I need to add anymore water (its kind of nearly at the u-bend part) part of the airlock and does seem to be doing its job.

Also - it is quite warm here at the moment with my temp reading currently at 24.

Any tips greatly welcomed.

Thanks

 

[buffalobrewer]

Might be a good idea to add a little more to the airlock to make sure it doesn't dry out. some use vodka in theirs.

Your temp is a little high. If you have a large plastic tub you can put your fermenter in there, fill with cool water, and put a t shirt over the fermenter. The evaporation will get you down a few degrees. If you have a basement you might move it down there where it's cooler. You can get a few degrees lower by adding ice to the tub too. Many use plastic soda bottles with ice in them and just keep swapping them out.

This really belongs in the beginners forum. A mod might be along soon to move it.

Good luck, except in the world cup

 

[PompeyNovice]

Thanks buffalo,

I will add a little water if it get to close to running out and will move to a cooler place to bring the temp down.

If it were your first lager brew how long would you leave it in the bottle for before tasting?

The Novice.

Good luck next week. I have the that week off work - the only time you get to see three games a day.

 

[buffalobrewer]

Didn't pick up it was a lager kit. Do you know what yeast it came with? Usually lagers are cold fermented (<55 degrees f). If it came with an ale yeast if you can get the temps down under 20c you should be ok. Here is a description of the difference from Palmer's book. http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10.html

 

[goose1873]

unless you have a cool place to ferment, I would recommend trying an ale next time. They are more tolerant of high temps and finish much quicker (which is imp to most in the beginning I would definitely cool it down as much as possible and don't be discouraged if it tastes a little "off"

That was my first beer a few years ago and it didn't go to well, but soon enough I was brewing for all my friends

This is not to say yours won't turn out great, but if not...the high temp is probably the culprit.

good luck and welcome

--cheers