Brew 3 - Coopers Pilsener (Juborg)

Seeing as I'm not having so much luck with the Woodfordes Wherry I decide to give another Coopers extract a go. This one is Coopers Pilsener, one of the Thomas Coopers Brewmaster Selection range. I chose this mainly because it uses a real bottom-fermenting lager yeast which doesn't need such a high temperature in the fermenter. This means I can brew it in the garage without having to use the brewbelt.

I shall call this brew "Juborg" in remembrance of the thousands of bottles of Tuborg Gold we drank growing up in Newquay back in the eighties. Everyone used to call it "Steam" which was a bit confusing really as around that time Newquay Steam Lager was released and quite popular I seem to remember. Still, the real "steam" to a local back then was always the little brown bottle of Tuborg Gold.

Here's the brewing notes:

04/09/2008 20:30 Sanitized equipment
04/09/2008 21:45 - OG: 1.034
Air temp 16/17 degrees so no brew belt as this is a true lager yeast.

05/09/2008 21:00ish SG: 1.030
06/09/2008 20:00ish SG: 1.027 - No bubbling still so I screwed the top on a little tighter and it immediately started bubbling every 10 secs!
07/09/2008 20:00ish SG: 1.022
08/09/2008 SG: 1.019
09/09/2008 21:00 SG: 1.015
10/09/2008 21:00 SG: 1.012
11/09/2008 21:00 SG: 1.011
12/09/2008 20:30 SG: 1.009
14/09/2008 SG: 1.008
15/09/2008 - Bottling Day! SG: 1.008 - added 1 teaspoon of dextrose to each bottle.

I love the Coopers kits. They seem to ferment really well and the Coopers fermenter with tap means that I can take a daily SG reading with opening it up and risking infection. Beauty! (as the Aussies might say.)

Brew 2 - Houston, we have a problem

Because this second brew kit says to brew it in the pressure keg supplied (odd I know but I decided to do what it says) I can't take sample everyday for a SG reading as it would lose pressure. I decide to take a sample every few days. Here's my brewing notes:

Specific Gravity (SG) Readings
30/08/2008: 1018
04/09/2008: 1016 - stuck? Still plenty of pressure though.

09/09/2008: 1016 - shook it!
11/09/2008: 1015 - Took off brew belt - still good pressure
12/09/2008: 15 degrees - I put the keg on the floor

I took off 2 litres into a 2 litre PET bottle and added 1 tablespoon of brewing sugar (dextrose).

19/09/08: Pulled a pint from the keg. Very cloudy and yeasty - very bitter aftertaste!

I'm pretty disappointed by now. I decide to add some more malt and re-pitch some more yeast just in case it's stuck. Remember, I'm flying blind here and am clutching at straws. (These are all metaphors, I cannot fly. I do have straws though albeit not at hand.)
21/09/08: Cleaned but did not sanitize my Coopers fermenter although I did a couple of days ago - alcohol already in it so may not matter? (I know, I know, hindsight and all that but sod it.)

Added 1kg of Munton's Beerkit Enhancer to 2 litres hot water.

Poored the beer from keg to fermenter using tap then out of the top. This made it up to the 20 litre mark. Temp of 25 degrees . added brew belt. The SG is now 1.028

Added Young's Ale Yeast.

22/09/08: 1015 and bubbling well!
23/09/08: 1014 and hardly bubbling! Sample really cloudy.
25/09/08: 101227/09/08: 1010 - Time to bottle.

Didn't put into king keg because as there's only 20 litres I though that there would be too much headspace and therefore too much oxygen so I decided to bottle into 11 1.5 litre bottles. Added 2 teaspoons of dextrose. It was still very cloudy.

Strength Calculations
First ferment
1034 - 1015 = 19
Second ferment
1028 - 1010 = 18

Does that mean it's effectively 37 altogther?
If so, ABV = 37 / 7.46 = 4.959 + .5 = 5.459

So, by my (probably very wrong) calculations 5.5% ABV is what I can expect. But will it clear and taste any better? I'll have to wait.