Adventures into my first homebrew

[orlando]

It is obviously starting to flocculate now so I would leave it a few more days to help that process, if you can chill it down to below 5 c this will happen even quicker. Don't worry about it being too clear going into bottle, there will still be more than enough cells to carbonate. If it tastes good with that level of yeast in it it should improve even more as that element reduces further.

[Cam]

It is obviously starting to flocculate now so I would leave it a few more days to help that process, if you can chill it down to below 5 c this will happen even quicker. Don't worry about it being too clear going into bottle, there will still be more than enough cells to carbonate. If it tastes good with that level of yeast in it it should improve even more as that element reduces further.

Great, thanks again for the reply. Annoyingly no place suitable in my flat to have the fermenter outside. I'll turn the heating off in that room and try get it as cold as I can.

Im going away this weekend and the only night I could manage to bottle this week is Wednesday. Should I go for then or wait till Im back next Monday?

[orlando]

It is obviously starting to flocculate now so I would leave it a few more days to help that process, if you can chill it down to below 5 c this will happen even quicker. Don't worry about it being too clear going into bottle, there will still be more than enough cells to carbonate. If it tastes good with that level of yeast in it it should improve even more as that element reduces further.

Great, thanks again for the reply. Annoyingly no place suitable in my flat to have the fermenter outside. I'll turn the heating off in that room and try get it as cold as I can.

Im going away this weekend and the only night I could manage to bottle this week is Wednesday. Should I go for then or wait till Im back next Monday?

Your choice, till Monday won't do any harm, keep covered, the longer left the more the yeast will drop out.

[Cam]

Your choice, till Monday won't do any harm, keep covered, the longer left the more the yeast will drop out.

Will leave it till next Monday then. Cheers.

[Cam]

Is there much difference between brewers sugar and the Coopers Priming Drops. I have both so was going to try 1/2 with one and 1/2 the bottles with the other.

Coopers says 1 drop for a 375ml bottle, I have 500ml so was going to use 1-1/2 drops.

How much brewers sugar would I use per 500ml bottle. Its the Young's Brewing/Wine Sugar I have.

[Matt in Birdham]

If you've got a spare vessel, then it is a lot easier (IMO) to "bulk prime", which means mixing all of the priming sugar with the beer before bottling. In this case, you need to work out the total volume of sugar (dextrose, usually) that you need. I tend to go about 2.3 volumes for these kinds of ales, and Beersmith tells me that 15l of ale requires 85g of dextrose to carb to 2.3 vols (you can find similar carbonation calculators online). The procedure is to boil up a cup or so of water with your dextrose, add to a bucket and (gently) siphon in your beer. You then bottle from this bucket.
If you want to prime each bottle individually, then the above works out at 5.6g of dex per litre.

edit: to clarify, "brewer's sugar" is dextrose. I'm not exactly sure what the Coopers drops are made of.

[Cam]

If you've got a spare vessel, then it is a lot easier (IMO) to "bulk prime", which means mixing all of the priming sugar with the beer before bottling. In this case, you need to work out the total volume of sugar (dextrose, usually) that you need. I tend to go about 2.3 volumes for these kinds of ales, and Beersmith tells me that 15l of ale requires 85g of dextrose to carb to 2.3 vols (you can find similar carbonation calculators online). The procedure is to boil up a cup or so of water with your dextrose, add to a bucket and (gently) siphon in your beer. You then bottle from this bucket.
If you want to prime each bottle individually, then the above works out at 5.6g of dex per litre.

edit: to clarify, "brewer's sugar" is dextrose. I'm not exactly sure what the Coopers drops are made of.

Thanks for that. I just have the one vessle just now so I'll stick with priming individually. I'll check what the Young's and Coopers are and get back.

[orlando]

If you've got a spare vessel, then it is a lot easier (IMO) to "bulk prime", which means mixing all of the priming sugar with the beer before bottling. In this case, you need to work out the total volume of sugar (dextrose, usually) that you need. I tend to go about 2.3 volumes for these kinds of ales, and Beersmith tells me that 15l of ale requires 85g of dextrose to carb to 2.3 vols (you can find similar carbonation calculators online). The procedure is to boil up a cup or so of water with your dextrose, add to a bucket and (gently) siphon in your beer. You then bottle from this bucket.
If you want to prime each bottle individually, then the above works out at 5.6g of dex per litre.

edit: to clarify, "brewer's sugar" is dextrose. I'm not exactly sure what the Coopers drops are made of.

Thanks for that. I just have the one vessle just now so I'll stick with priming individually. I'll check what the Young's and Coopers are and get back.

I used to bulk prime when I bottled, it is extremely effective and a lot less hassle, it does require a second bucket/fermentor but that's not a bad thing. Use ordinary table sugar for an ale or lager style, using molasses or Demerera can bring something extra to dark beers.

[Cam]

I used to bulk prime when I bottled, it is extremely effective and a lot less hassle, it does require a second bucket/fermentor but that's not a bad thing. Use ordinary table sugar for an ale or lager style, using molasses or Demerera can bring something extra to dark beers.

Good tip there. Thanks

[Cam]

Moved the fermentor to where I'll be bottling last night so it has time to settle again over the weekend. Looking forward to getting it into bottles on Monday.

[Cam]

Ran out of time yesterday so bottling tonight instead. The fermentor does bubble every so often though. That ok?

[Nitro Jim]

Ran out of time yesterday so bottling tonight instead. The fermentor does bubble every so often though. That ok?

The bubbling could be caused by increase in ambient temperature. Have you had constant hydrometer readings over the past 48 hours or so?

[Cam]

Ran out of time yesterday so bottling tonight instead. The fermentor does bubble every so often though. That ok?

The bubbling could be caused by increase in ambient temperature. Have you had constant hydrometer readings over the past 48 hours or so?

I'll take another reading before bottling. I had moved it onto a warmer room on Thursday to settle where I am going to bottle it.

I took the below reading last Sunday 13th. If its only dropped a little from this guessing it should be safe to bottle?

OG 1.074
Current Gravity 1.012 - (Sunday 13th)

[orlando]

Ran out of time yesterday so bottling tonight instead. The fermentor does bubble every so often though. That ok?

The bubbling could be caused by increase in ambient temperature. Have you had constant hydrometer readings over the past 48 hours or so?

I'll take another reading before bottling. I had moved it onto a warmer room on Thursday to settle where I am going to bottle it.

I took the below reading last Sunday 13th. If its only dropped a little from this guessing it should be safe to bottle?

OG 1.074
Current Gravity 1.012 - (Sunday 13th)

I make that an AA of 83% and an ABV of 8.14%. Phew good luck with that. Over a week ago so assume you have it in bottle now?

[Cam]

I make that an AA of 83% and an ABV of 8.14%. Phew good luck with that. Over a week ago so assume you have it in bottle now?

Nope. I've been super busy. Just took another reading and its just a tiny bit below 1.012 so basically the same.

It's cleared up a bunch and still tastes good.

Prepping my bottles now. Hoping some starsan bubbles aren't a problem in the bottles.