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Coopers lager help

PostPosted: Wednesday May 30, 2012 1:59 am
by Mattyboy
Hi guys iv got a coopers Australian lager brewing and need a bit of help.

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Iv been brewing it for 7 days and it's still bubbling once every 1min.
When I put the hydrometer on it it is half way in the shaded area. It says on the meter bottling gravity of beer and wonderd what you guys think. Can I bottle it? Should I leave it?
Thanks guys for all you kind help :)

Re: Coopers lager help

PostPosted: Wednesday May 30, 2012 6:01 am
by warra48
If your reading is in the blue shaded area, fermentation will be complete.
That is, unless you used some dry enzyme. In that case it may well drop further.

Do not take airlock bubbling, or lack of it, as any indication of progress or completion of fermentation. Your hydrometer is the only reliable guide. The bubbling once a minute or so is simply dissolved cO² coming out of solution.

I'd leave your beer for another week. The extra week will only do good things for your beer. The yeast still works slowly away to remove some undesirable elements in the beer, and you will end up with a nicer brew.

I leave my Ales for between 2 to 3 weeks before bottling. Lagers get 3 weeks fementing, and as long as I can stand it for lagering before bottling.

Do you have temperature control for your fementer? If so, you could drop the temperature down to say 1 or 2ºC over the last 3 or 4 days before bottling. You should have clearer beer if you can do that.

Re: Coopers lager help

PostPosted: Saturday Jun 02, 2012 6:23 am
by Chris2012
Do you recon dropping the temp like that would clear up ales aswell or just lagers ?

Coopers lager help

PostPosted: Saturday Jun 02, 2012 9:19 am
by bullfrog
Chris2012 wrote:Do you recon dropping the temp like that would clear up ales aswell or just lagers ?

Yes. Cold crashing isn't just for lagers and a lot of us use the method for every brew.

Re: Coopers lager help

PostPosted: Saturday Jun 02, 2012 9:41 am
by Bum
It is worth mentioning that even if you don't have the ability to drop the temp like this ("cold crashing") then the same amount of extra time will go significant way towards making your beer clear anyway.