A few queries from a beginner

[Big Al]

My first question I have is in regards to steralising. I have bought ASDA'a own best price thin bleach, is this ok for sterilising my equipment? I am planning on using 2.ml per bottle, or by trying to calculate how much water the bath holds to cover 40 pint bottles + Equipment

Also I am going to be using Newcastle Brown Ale bottles and Bulmers Cider pint bottles to store my brew. Are these ok for when using a secondary fermentation method???

Finally I am using a Coopers Real Ale kit and when my first reading, (that I could read through all the bubbles) was 1032
now after 1 week it is reading 1002. so at 8 days, would this be ok to bottle it?

[Madbrewer]

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=17010

I think that thread should answer all your sterilisign bottles with bleach queries, regarding the 'is it ready yet'? A good way to tell is by taking hydrometer readings when it hasn't changed two days on the bounce it's usually finished fermenting.

[Ditch]

1033 OG ? I'd be reconsidering just how much water I'd slung in there, mate. I'm yet to try a Coopers 'Ale', but I'd certainly be hoping for a higher OG than that.

Sounding like a nice FG, regardless At least it's bloody fermented! Coopers do. Some .....


Bleach in bottles? Won't that lead to a nightmare of rinsing? I started out with bleach for all my stuff (Keg man here) but now use the brown stuff I can never spell right and the name of which I can't for the life of me remember right now!

Someone'll set us straight in a minute.

[Jim]

The brown stuff is iodophor (aka betadine).

There's an FAQ on it here.

Re using bleach, that's fine as long as you rinse well with cold water (I usually rinse and drain 5 times, but then I'm pretty anal about sterilisation). Dilution depends on the quality of the bleach - there's a thread somewhere discussing that. You must use un-scented bleach.

EDIT: Madbrewer already gave a link to the bleach thread.

[Curious Brew]

(I usually rinse and drain 5 times, but then I'm pretty anal about sterilisation)

Three or occasionally two rinses works okay for me, but then I'm pretty lazy.

[Ditch]

The brown stuff is iodophor (aka betadine).

That's the kiddie! Thanks, Jim!

But. tell me; Would it not be simpler to hit bottles with one lot of Iodophor, then drain. Rather than all that fresh water rinsing after bleach?

Forgive me if I'm missing an obvious here. I'm a dedicated Keg man as I really don't go a ton on bottled beer. Just hoping to lay the question. It's all about learning

[Hoppkins]

Most wilko branches sell two things i use to sterilise and clean:

1) Soda Crystals. Cheap and easy to use and hard to use too much of since it just wont dissolve. I clean visible dirt off with this in a solution of water. Shake the keg up, let it soak. Shake it up again. Drain and rinse a few times. NOTE: This does NOT sterilise, only cleans.

2) Youngs Steriliser/Cleaner: Comes in a little tub. Just add a little of this to half a keg of water and shake well. Leave for a while, shake again and rinse a few times. Always does the job for me and fairly inexpensive.

I've always been wary of using ANY kind of bleach, thin, unscented or otherwise. Doubtless there are brands which are suitable but i wont chance it in case i pick up one that is an odd ball brand and sticks or something.

[Big Al]

Out of curiosity, and I am a newbie what was wrong with an OG of 1032??

1033 OG ? I'd be reconsidering just how much water I'd slung in there, mate. I'm yet to try a Coopers 'Ale', but I'd certainly be hoping for a higher OG than that.

Sounding like a nice FG, regardless At least it's bloody fermented! Coopers do. Some .....


Bleach in bottles? Won't that lead to a nightmare of rinsing? I started out with bleach for all my stuff (Keg man here) but now use the brown stuff I can never spell right and the name of which I can't for the life of me remember right now!

Someone'll set us straight in a minute.

[wetdog]

Out of curiosity, and I am a newbie what was wrong with an OG of 1032??

well if the beer ferments down to a final gravity of around 1.010 then with that OG you're only looking at a beer of around 3%

[Big Al]

Oh I see, might take a closer look at the instructions next time.
Thought I had followed them correctly, I believe it said to mix it all up to 25 litres mark...

but the main thing to me is that it tastes nice. 3% will do me just fine

[wetdog]

actually I've just re-read your first post. if you really have got it down to 1.002 then you will be at 4% so even better although a FG of 1.002 is very unsual and as for the starting volume, 25 litres seems a bit over but then I've never done a coopers but even so an OG of 1.032 does seem a bit low. did you add any sugar?

[Marts]

Usually kits say 40 pints or 23 litres. Some people (me included) tend to reduce the water content by a couple of litres to increase the brew strength - increasing the amount of water by a couple of litres will, I guess, have the opposite effect. The only problem I could forsee being that in a standard FV there will be very little room left for the head to form in. You're likely to get an appearance from the creeping foam monster

With regard to your hydro readings in your first post you said your OG was 1032 and that currently the reading was 1002. This is pretty low - in my experience single can kits tend to FG at 1008 - 1016. On the figures you have supplied your ABV would be somewhere in the region of 4.5%

[Big Al]

I think it must have been to the 23 litre mark as I filled it to the top mark on the FV.
I'm a little tired at work today as the new born kept me up quite a bit last night.

It has made 40 pints when I bottled it so it must have been 23 litres.

The proof is in the pudding as they say, so when I drink it, if it gets me drunk I know it must have been around 4.5%

I thought the Hydro reading was alittle low at 1002, thats why I thought I would check on here, thought something had gone wrong :-/