Coopers English bitter

[T29]

Finished doing a batch of coopers English bitter great fermentation and its been 6 days now. How long should I let this one ferment for? Instructions say a week but this is my first batch of this stuff so I was wondering what someone who has made this thinks and has rendered good results.

Pics are from the second day and before I started of course.

 

[NewWestBrewer]

People all have varied opinions but the most common seems to be leave it in primary for 3 weeks then go straight to bottle or keg. Let the yeast do its thing and have the necessary time to clean up after itself. There is a lot of debate but many people feel there is no need to secondary.

 

[T29]

People all have varied opinions but the most common seems to be leave it in primary for 3 weeks then go straight to bottle or keg. Let the yeast do its thing and have the necessary time to clean up after itself. There is a lot of debate but many people feel there is no need to secondary.

Makes sense I guess. I know it says leave for 6 days in primary then bottle but seems like little time to me.

I don't normally put beer in secondary.

 

[NewWestBrewer]

Makes sense I guess. I know it says leave for 6 days in primary then bottle but seems like little time to me.

I don't normally put beer in secondary.

Yeah 6 days then bottle is too short. Leave at least another week if not 2 and you will have better beer.

 

[T29]

I guess I'll be leaving it for another 2 weeks. Can't hurt I guess.

 

[unionrdr]

I brewed that one as a kit from the North American Distributor. He sent me the freeby for promoting Cooper's on here so much. I used a lot of their products making different beers with them. Still do on occasion. I used their English Bitter can with their box of plain light DME. Came out really good to use for mop sauce on pit bbq,& for drinking with it. Here's a pic of it;
http://[URL=http://s563.photobucket.com/user/unionrdr/media/EB1.jpg.html] [/URL]
This is at 1.8 VCO2.

 

[T29]

Weird. It has been only 5 days and I decided to take a hydrometer reading and it comes out as 1.005 so soon?

 

[Bob]

Certainly. Pitching the right amount of yeast - like in a dry yeast packet - plus medium to low gravity, equals attenuation in sometimes 24-36 hours.

Bob

 

[unionrdr]

5 days is PDQ. My 1st batch of English Bitter came out to OG1.030 by my notes. No notation of if I stirred it or not. That was 7/30/11. Started bubbling slowly @ 2:45AM next morning. Reached a stable FG on 8/13 of 1.009. So 5 days beat me by double.

 

[T29]

I feel good about this batch. Being my third ever seems to be clicking a bit on how to do things. After the gravity reading I tasted it and its like a bitter beer and I'm excited to try it in a few weeks once its conditioned.

I'm wondering now that its reached low gravity should I bottle now, or should I leave it in the PF for longer and let the yeast do its thing?

Any recommendations

 

[unionrdr]

If the gravity is stable & it's settled out clear or slightly misty,go ahead & prime & bottle.

 

[twistr25]

There are two "stages" to primary fermentation. The yeast go to town and eat all of the sugar and in the mean time release waste products in the process. That stage typically takes about a week. The second stage is when the yeast realize they made a mess and go back and clean up after themselves. This helps clean up some off-flavors and other unwanted compounds. This process also can take around a week. Not to mention the extra week will allow your beer to clear more as all of the yeast begin to fall out of suspension.

So let it sit another week, patience is a tough but rewarding practice in this hobby.

 

[T29]

Makes sense

 

[twistr25]

Out of curiosity, what temperature were you fermenting at?

 

[T29]

I was fermenting at 22c in my kitchen

 

[CoTron]

My FG came out at 1.009
OG was 1.046

I bottled after two weeks in primary.

If you take gravity readings on consecutive days and the reading hasn't changed, you are safe to bottle. However, it's often considered helpful to give it a few more days to clean up some of the byproducts of initial fermentation. I doubt you will find any of the really experienced brewers on here bottling or kegging anything under two weeks from pitching.

I hope you enjoy it! I'm sure you will. I sure like mine.

 

[twistr25]

You were probably ok for this batch, but just in improving your practices, it is better for most ale yeasts to be in the mid 60s. If you don't have a ferm chamber or other device, you can make a swamp cooler. Just a rubbermaid bin with some water and frozen water bottles to regulate the temperature.

 

[Epimetheus]

-- deleted double-post ---

 

[Epimetheus]

A safe bet is 3 weeks in the primary, 3 weeks in the bottle. Quaff. Enjoy.

"No bubbles" is not a reliable indicator. Like NewWestBrewer said in post #2, give it 3 weeks in the primary and go to bottle. I usually give my brews 2 weeks in the primary and they seem done. I have no argument against 3 weeks, it does not hurt. Many people suggest you can be certain it is completed when the gravity reading is the same 3 days in a row.

Some kit vendors suggest 1 week fermentation and 1 week in the bottle. I have tried kits and tasted the results after 1 week in the bottle and then each day after. It definitely is much better after 2 or 3 weeks of conditioning.

Let us know how it turns out

 

[T29]

Thanks everyone for the help and advice. I will leave it in for another week or so and hopefully bottle it after that.

Great help on here. I'll post the finished results once its ready

Cheers

 

[unionrdr]

And thus why I said if it was clear or slightly misty to go ahead & bottle. I've preached on here many times about how I observed it taking 3-7 days after FG is reached for the beer to clean up by products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty. When all the simple sugars are gone,the yeast then start eating their own by products. As they do so,they settle to the bottom,taking their by products with them,or after having converted others into ethyl alcohol or other harmless substances.
So if it was clear or slightly misty already,then it's ready to bottle. If not,then you'll be better off waiting for this process to be carried out,as said.

 

[T29]

This is my reading today. I do see some sediment floating in the PF so waiting is a good idea I guess.

OG was 1.045

 

[unionrdr]

If you read through the meniscus,it's 1.007 or 1.008.