Now what?..

[HighHops]

I scoop my bottles from the recyle bin at the local supermarket. I get a few funny looks from the people putting them in as I'm taking them out, but too much homebrew has the same effect.

Soak bottles in baking soda (2 teaspoons in a sink full of hot water) to peel the labels and glue right off.

[Paulwales]

a plenitfull bottle youll find are the bullmers cider bottle easy to clean up too, find a couple of milk crates and to your rycycling depot or backs of pubs and you'll fill them in no time

[bigdave]

Thanks for the bottle collecting tips. I'll head round the local pubs next weekend and ask for their empties!

[Manx Guy]

Hi!

heres my 2 cents worth.. lol

Now is the perfect time to make a lager using genuine lager yeast..
I'm about to put on a Brewferm Pils ( which will be made up with 1 kilo candi sugar, and 35g of saaz 'hop tea' to 20litres ) I'll pitch the lager yeast at 18-20C then let it drop to 12-15C

This system worked for my Cooper Aussie Lager using Saflager S-23

On the subject of bottles (16x 450ml per crate)I obtain grolsch bottles from a friendly pub landlord... I now have enough glass bottles for 3-4 23 litre brews thanks to the festive period (he sold loads of Grolsch)

Only trouble is washing and sanitising 48 (450ml) bottles!
I got a bottle washer and stand for an Aniversary present from SWMBO, which is a big help...

The grolsch bottle dont have to be capped, which is a bonus... although ensuring that the seal on the swing top is clean and sanitised cant be ignored..

Good luck with the lager!

Slainte!

[bigdave]

I went to buy a lager kit, some spray malt and a bottling stick yesterday but the shop was closed because of the weather. I'm probably just going to mail order the bits so they arrive this next week otherwise it'll be a fortnight before I get time to go shopping again.

Im a bit miffed at the moment because I ordered a digital temp probe from hong kong about 2 weeks ago and its not arrived yet.

Is the yeast that comes in a coopers lager kit up to the job or would I be better off buying another sachet of lager yeast?

[Manx Guy]

Hi,

The yeast that comes with the Coopers Aussie Lager (Original series) is an ale yeast (S-04 if memory serves)

If you ferment that at 18-20c you will get a decent drink, however with the tempratures so cold its an ideal time to try using a genuine lager yeast that will happily ferment in 12-15C and even lower (but much slower)

Bear in mind if you do use a lager yeast its best to ensure a good seal on your FV as fermentation can take 10-14 days at ~12c...

A sachet of Saflager S-23 or brewferm Lager yeast should only set you back a few extra quid and its worth the effort as in a few months you wont be able to ferment at ideal lager temps without some complicted and expensive temprature control set up...


Also if using the Coopers Aussie Lager try to use a malt ration of 60-75% malt to sugar at least... eg. add 750g Light Dried Malt and 250-400g of Sugar using more will risk a cidery taste and also make for a thin tasteless lager...
If you want to add 500g Malt/500g sugar you could drop the brewlength to 20 litres...

I bulk primed my beer after primary and bottled left for 7days at 15C then moved it outside to 6c and after 3 weeks it was tasting pretty good!

My hope is that at least a dozen bottles will survie until practice week of TT (Late may)



Slainte!

[garwatts]

The yeast that comes with the Coopers Aussie Lager (Original series) is an ale yeast (S-04 if memory serves)

Not S-04 as I used some Coopers yeast recently and it had a reddish tinge to it. I think you will find that it's a Richies yeast?

[cwrw gwent]

The yeast used in Coopers European Lager is a genuine lager yeast. Coopers recommend fermenting at about 21C but the yeast will work down to 13C.

I'm not sure but I think all the other Coopers Lager kits use an ale yeast.

[Manx Guy]

Hi!

I stand corrected on the strain of yeast... The Original series Lager kit does come with an ale yeast (but now I'm not certain as to what it is...)

Both the Coopers International series European (formerly Bavarian Lager) and Brewmaster series Pilsener kits coem with a genuine lager yeast...

If you're going with a coopers Lager kit check out their website:
http://www.coopers.com.au/homebrew/makeBeer.php?cid=4

Hope this helps!

Slainte!



Guy