Bottle conditioning question

[DDoe]

Having bottled our Citra Pale Ale is there any way to know it's actually carbonating (without opening a bottle to see if it goes psstt)?

It's been in the bottle for 9 days now.

Thanks.

[Cobnut]

Hi,

I take it you have bottled in glass and not plastic bottles?

A useful tip is to bottle at least one in plastic (Coopers PET are ideal) so you can gauge the level of carbonation.

It also depends on amount of priming sugar and how warm the place you've been conditioning is, but I usually find at room temperature a week should be enough to get to adequate carbonation. Then move to somewhere cool (not a fridge!) and leave for another couple of weeks, longer if you can. And definitely longer for stronger beers!

You can't usually go wrong if you follow the "2 weeks warm, 2 weeks cool" regime.

[Kingfisher4]

Cobnut’s reply is spot-on.

You presumably haven’t used a plastic bottle to gauge the pressure for this batch, but good idea for future. If it’s single hop Citra you may well have dryhopped. If I were you, I would open one now and try it. The learning from tasting progression / fading of hop aroma it’s well worth sacrificing an early bottle or two.

[guypettigrew]

Cobnut’s reply is spot-on.

You presumably haven’t used a plastic bottle to gauge the pressure for this batch, but good idea for future. If it’s single hop Citra you may well have dryhopped. If I were you, I would open one now and try it. The learning from tasting progression / fading of hop aroma it’s well worth sacrificing an early bottle or two.

+1 for KF4's suggestion. But don't try opening a bottle if it's still at room temperature. It'll need to be cooled to usual beer temperature (12°C) to stop it frothing. Plus, if it's too warm, you won't get a real idea of the taste.

Guy

[DDoe]

Thank you.

No, didn't use a PET☹, but if we can get hold of a 500ml fizzy drink bottle soon we shall next time. Top tip!

Think we'll put them in the shed next Tuesday for a couple of weeks, thus giving the 2+2, and maybe crack open a bottle as we do so.

Cheers.

[guypettigrew]

Your patience is amazing! How on earth can you wait so long?

Guy

[DDoe]

We have plenty of bottles of beer until they're ready. We really want to try our best to make sure it's done it's thing and is ready before the first bottle is opened.

Much as we (mainly me) enjoyed the making and we (mainly hubby) will enjoy the drinking we will not be making enough to drink solely homebrew. We're happy to potter around making the odd 5L here and there but there are lots of other things to keep us amused we can't put the time into it.

[Nitro Jim]

Your patience is amazing! How on earth can you wait so long?

Guy

Hmm, I use the 2+2+2 method and the final 2 is usually months not weeks. The homebrew I am currently drinking in the evenings was first put in the fermenter at the end of October 2020.

The secret is to have plenty of bottles and storage space and don't drink more than you can replace. I find most of my brews are nicely matured by the time I get round to drinking them. Some are better younger and some older.

[guypettigrew]

The secret is to have plenty of bottles and storage space and don't drink more than you can replace. I find most of my brews are nicely matured by the time I get round to drinking them. Some are better younger and some older.

Absolutely true. But this DDoe's first attempt at brewing. I'd want to try at least one bottle fairly early on and get another brew underway asap!

Guy