Coopers Pale super fast primary ferment?

[pricey]

Well after impulse buying a cube and racking my first brew into it (I think hereafter the cube will be relegated to bulk priming duties only) I decided to lay down my second, a Coopers Pale kit.

So I;
- Sanitised with Sodium Met
- Put the yeast into about 2 cups of lukewarm water for 15 minutes or so (in sanitised jug)
- Mixed can and HBS equivalent of BE2 (500g Malt Extract, 250g Maltodextrin, 250g Dextrose I think) with about 2L of hot water
- Topped up with cold tap water to 24L (second time I've been caught daydreaming into the wort and overshot 23L ) , added the hydrated yeast and sealed the lid
- At this stage the wort was sitting at about 28* C so I filled the tub it was sitting in with water and a few ice packs until it came down to 25-26 or so
- Placed the fermenter in garage and before I went off to bed a few hours later checked it and it had heated up to about 28 again (Sunday night in Sydney)

So Monday morning before I left for work it was bubbling away pretty quick. There was about 3 cm of krausen on top and I figured it was pretty sweet. It didn't seem anywhere near as violent as the coopers lager kit I put together before though. Monday night it was still going and still pretty hot, 28 or so.

During Monday night there was a cool change and the fermenter dropped to 23-24 degrees or so. This morning (tues) I woke up and the airlock had stopped although the krausen had only dropped a little. I was a little worried the fermentation may have stalled but then I figured most advice around here points to it being ok.

So two days after putting it down with an OG of 1.060 I took another sample tonight and the SG was 1.015 after correcting for temp. I found it strange that it seemed to have fermented so fast yet wasn't overly vigorous to watch. I tasted the sample and it wasn't sweet so somethings going right, but it didn't seem to have much flavour at all and a slight bitter aftertaste. There was very little smell to the sample either.

I guess after that long winded explanation, what I'm wondering is can it really have more or less finished in so short a time? The BE2 pack from the HBS said to expect a FG of between 10 and 15 so in that sense it seems like its done.

Other questions are, was cooling the wort straight after pitching the yeast a bad idea in terms of shocking the yeast?

And last one I promise, when using the brewcraft calculator, should maltodextrin come under the glucose/dextrose category or dried corn syrup?

[db]

when using the brewcraft calculator, should maltodextrin come under the glucose/dextrose category or dried corn syrup?

maltodextrin is dried corn syrup. & dextrose is corn sugar (in yank terms )

I've found the brewcraft calc tends to over estimate the FG.. could be just me tho I'd leave it sit for another day or 2 & take a few more readings before deciding if it's done..

your OG sounds too high for your recipe & i suspect you either havent stirred properly or have some higher gravity wort stuck in your tap.. i reckon your FG will be a bit lower than 1.015

in regards to shocking the yeast - maybe... but with the amount of fermentation you've had in 2 days i don't think you have anything to worry about.. just give it a little more time IMO

[Smabb]

maltodextrin is dried corn syrup. & dextrose is corn sugar (in yank terms )

That explains why the seppo recipes I was reading loved "corn sugar" (I thought they meant maltodextrin) so much!

[501]

also mate,
check that your hydrometer is actually set to low temp.

if tap water is about 24-26deg and hydro reads true (i.e. 1.0000) in that at that temp, don't adjust reading for temp.

my pale ales come out at 1008-1010, and though they krausen, they are cleaner then some.

cheers 501

[yardglass]

i'm with db,
1060 sounds a tad high for 24lt.

[wiggins]

I did the same with a coopers canadian blonde and my initial sg was 1030,with 24 litres of water.I used coopers BE 2 as well.Am probably going to pitch 500 grams of LME to add body and alcohol to this brew as soon as it slows down fermenting.Don't know if this a good idea or not but im going to try it anyway

[501]

1 liter extra (who cares) !!
just drink it 1/23 times faster
go hard me hearties.