Have i ruined my brew already??

david_cwood

I bought the coopers australian lager kit from yous, i started on friday lunchtime, sterilised everything. I took a reading off 1.040 on the friday lunchtime. I was not able to check on it again until this morning which i know was not ideal.. I took a reading of about 1.030/1.032 today.  The temperature today was at 16 also. When i opened the lid there was a slight skin on top round the sides which i assume is normal. The sample i took for reading was a nice lager colour (maybe slightly lighter) and it also had a lager smell to it. I seem to remember seeing somewhere that an ideal reading is of 1.010 over 2 days. So going by that have i ruined the brew by letting temperature drop or should i leave and if reading tomorrow is same as today should i then proceedd to bottling. Thanks in advance.

paulomillerz

I'm no expert but I'd take a stab that as it's been colder it's taking a lot longer... maybe it needs some heat...

marko

Hey David. Paulo is right, it can take a fair bit longer in cooler conditions. If it smells alright then you probably don't have anything to worry about. Ideally you want to keep the temperature as constant as possible, but it wont ruin it if it varies. If you still have a reading of around 1.032 i would give it a little stir to rouse the yeast and get it somewhere warm. Then take another reading 2 or 3 days later and see if it has changed much.

HBO_Staff

The temperature will slow it down, no largers ferment faster than around 4 days, and it is common for it to take longer, a week or more. The hydrometer reading will continue to go down until around 1010 and you should check it stays constant for 2 days to be sure it's finished fermenting. All bubbles must stop rising to the surface and the hydrometer reading stay the same before you bottle. To speed it up a bit try and brew around 20 degrees or so