Bottling Cooper's Australian

[HantsGaz]

Hello All,

I have a Cooper's Australian that is now down to 1012 (made with 1kg of Spraymalt Light & S-23), so I'm expecting to bottle it in a few days or so. I've read the articles on bottling and I'm wondering if adding a Spraymalt solution to the fermenting bin and stirring in is a good way to go to condition? My caution here is it almost sounds impossible to do without disturbing the sediment, even if taking care, in order to disperse it completely.

I'll be bottling it into 1ltr PET bottles and was planning on putting 1 teaspoon of Spraymalt Light into each bottle then adding the lager (sounds tricky to avoid getting air in the lager whilst dissolving the DME), then I read the article on adding your boiled conditioning sugars to your fermenting bin (I don' have a secondary) and this sounds a simpler method - apart from the sediment issue.

Any ideas on what’s the best method without having a second fermenting bin? Or tips how to avoid disturbing the sediment!!

I’ve also read that you should leave lager about four weeks to condition (never brewed Lager before you might be able to tell!) – one week per 10 points of OG - and to keep it in the warm for about a week to start with. Is this still the case even if I’ve used S-23 that likes to be kept between 11-15 degrees or does that not matter for conditioning?

Many thanks in advance,
Gaz.

[Beer Terrorist]

With regards to adding spray malt/sugar for carbonation, boil it with sugar, let i cool and add it to the beer. You could give it a gentle mix but I usually just leave if for 30mins or so to drop through the beer.

I assume you're not using a bottling stick or tap and hose but using a syphon. If its got a U-bend at the end you should be ok with not disturbing the sediment. If you havent got one you could still do it being careful to keep the tube steady.

I've never used S-23 or any other lager yeast before so I'm not too sure about temperature of conditioning but 11-15 doesn't sound bad

[HantsGaz]

Thanks guys. I'll go the DME route and stir it in - I'm feeling easier about that now.

With regards to the conditioning are we agreed that a week at 11-15 degrees and then followed by 3 weeks in the garage (prob at about 5 degrees) should be good for conditioning? Or does it need to be somewhere slightly warmer for the first week?

One last question, when the lager's FG is stable for 24 hours is there any harm/risk in leaving it in the fermenter for a few days longer, to clear a bit more before bottling?

Thanks again...

[HantsGaz]

Great, many thanks DaaB. I have a plan now...

Is leaving beer in the fermenter for a few extra days beneficial for ale & stout too?