General homebrew discussion, tips and help on kit and malt extract brewing, and talk about equipment. Queries on sourcing supplies and equipment should go in The Store.
Untie Jill wrote:It was sitting on 22 this morning, It's still on 22 this evening, I still have the towels around it, even though it's alot cooler today..If we get another hot day like yesterday I'll put the fan in there as well..
Thanks everyone for your help and encouragement...
I wouldnt worry about it too much mate. I did my first brew between Christmas and New Year (coopers kit, done with all the standard crap) it fermented at around 26-27 degrees the whole time, hadnt found this site yet so wanst aware of cooling techniques etc. Came out alright, nothing special but id certainly rather drink it than VB.
I think ive got the bug now, bought a 2nd fermenter the other day, about to bottle a Hoegaarden attempt and have a german style lager fermenting inside an old fridge at the moment!
Pale_Ale wrote:The fermenter is roughly 45cm including lid, not including airlock.
Thanks Pale, this should be fine; plenty of room height wise. I'm just worried about the little freezer compartment in my bar fridge... what's the Coopers fermenter's diameter?
I suspect I'm going to have to get some kind of cube...
rwh a normal bar fridge would fit any 25-30L fermenter in terms of diameter.
I use a stack of books to level them with the compressor at the back and then sit the fermenter on top. It's tight height wise (has a freezer compartment too), but it's fine depth wise. Works well.
The air lock has stopped bubbling. It's day 6. I don't quite understand the hydrometer, I'm using the one from my Uncles kit that came with the coopers..It's got beer mark orange to green on the 1.000
i'm pretty sure you're aware you need to float the hydrometer in the tube of beer you've taken from the fermenter, so once you've done that, give it a twirl or two to dislodge any carbonation bubbles that have stuck to it (they'll give you a false reading), and look at the point where the surface of the beer crosses the hydrometer's scale. take your SG reading there
if the beer is thicker/heavier due to unfermented sugars, the hydrometer will float higher. the thinner the beer, the less sugars left in it, so the lower it will sink, showing you a lower SG reading
I don't know how to read these. It's sitting on the green which says beer,
The markings on the hydrometer for beer start and finish start at orange which is 40 and go up to green which is 10..it's sitting exactly on the green, it's not sinking or rising, I've taken four readings, with the twirl, there all exactly the same.
