Problems with first brew

Darius7

As a newcomer to brewing I have just completed my first brew of Coopers wheat beer. I followed the instructions and used the right quantities of brewing sugar and light malt extract. Fermentation took about 4 days as it was in a room of about 22 degrees and I left it for an additional day just in case. I then bottled the beer using the right amount of priming sugar. After 2 weeks I tried it and it was pretty poor. I know this was very early so I have left it and tried additional bottles at 4 weeks and again at 5 weeks - same result. The beer was weaker than I had hoped for (about 3.9% according to hydrometer readings) and the taste was very weak and lacking any depth of flavour at all - in short it was pretty undrinkable, although it had some fizz to it which I was pleased with!! I'm going to try a second batch and wondered if anyone had any tips for improvements. Is wheat beer a hard one to start with - happy to try a lager next if it would be easier. I'm pretty sure there was no infection in the kit because it was new and I sterilised it thoroughly. Any tips gratefully received...  

HBO_Staff

The most common reason is that it is not yet conditioned, times can vary depending on temperature and vary from brew to brew, if it is clearing and carbonating that is a good sign. The depth of flavour can be lacking in the early stages, we think you should try putting it somewhere dark and cool for a few more weeks and it should improve. Some of the Coopers range such as the European Lager take a long time, so don't give up on it just yet! For the first week in the bottles it is best kept somewhere warm as this helps the priming sugar to dissolve and get the secondary fermentation off to a good start and helps with conditioning. If the beer was off you would know from the smell and taste.

mozza

4 days seems very quick did you use a hydrometer and if so what was the reading? Might have needed a bit longer in the bucket?

Darius7

Thanks for these two responses. Re: HBO staff response, it's reassuring to think that it might get better over the next few weeks. After I bottled the beer it stayed in a warm room for a week and has been in a cold and dark attic since. I think the conditions are ok but perhaps it will just take a few more weeks. It definitely started to ferment again because the plastic bottles have hardened from when it was initially bottled. As you say, I'm pretty sure it's not off, just not great. 

Re: Mozza response, it seemed quick to me as well but using the hydrometer the readings were stable over 2 days and then I left it another day to be sure - this gave it 5 days in the bucket before I bottled it. The initial reading (OG) was 1.038 which seemed a bit low but unless I mixed the water and wort wrong (!) there's not much I could do about that. On day 3 the reading was 1.012 and the same on days 4 and 5 - didn't seem like it was going to drop any further. By my calculations this made the final product around 4%abv. The room was set to 22 degrees so I thought that may account for the speed of the fermentation. Any thoughts?   

mozza

As HBO staff say then, probably needs a bit longer. Try and leave it go a couple months (if you can lol)

Darius7

Thanks Mozza - will wait it out and keep my fingers crossed! Thanks.

HBO_Staff

A warm brewing temperature can speed the fermentation time up, you would generally expect 4 to 4.5% strength from the Coopers range as it aimed at being similar to standard beers and lagers. It is hard to wait, but the brew will improve, we hear this time and time again from home brewers and the difference it can make!

Darius7

Perfect. Thanks very much for this - I'll hang in there!