Beer - when to bottle.

[Markme]

Well my beer is still bubbling ever soo slightly, there is a tiny bit of foam on the top of the beer... also might i add that im making beer for the first time, but its a premixed product, coopers mexicana or something, which i added a brew enhancer to and 500mg more of dextrose to increase abv%.
The people at the brew shop told me to bottle it as soon a it stops bubbling.. it SG is 1020(take into note that i added 500grams of dextrose), will bottling it prematurely do anything bad? or will it just decrease the abv%? because i dont want to get a yeasty taste to it. im sure that it will stop bubbling by tommorow, but i dont have the time tommorow or for the rest of the week to do any bottling.

[steve541]

I would sit back and wait. Let the yeast do its job.

[Dnderhead]

how are you bottling?

[Markme]

ive got some coopers PET bottles that my girlfriends dad passed on to me. Also i have a stack of glass grolsch bottles that another mate gave to me, but they need to be cleaned properly and sterilised.
the hydrometer indicates its ready to bottle, but like there might be 1 bubble go through the airlock every 10-20minutes..
and i cant sit back and let the yeast ferment until next monday, im moving house at the moment and working and gyming, so times short.
But would there be off tastes from bottling too soon, or any sort of issues that will make the beer taste shit?

[Dnderhead]

why I ask is there is a diferance in how your going to carbanate. (let it clear add sugar and bottle) or (let it clear, keg add
co2 "cold 30f (5c) and bottle.) some bottle before it complets fermenting but that is tricky

[SuperDavid]

if you have added extra malt its not going to finish at the reccomended gravity. Extra malt means extra unfermentables.
The best way to tell is get the same reading a couple of days in a row, 24 hours apart.
The longer you leave it the better though. The more it clears now, means the less yeast you are going to have in the bottle. Alot of the beer guys rack off the yeast cake into another fermenter and let it settle there for another week or two or more.

[Markme]

yea i know about the extra malt affecting the SG, which is why i figured with an SG of 1020 and 1010 being the finish, that my beer is most likely completed fermenting 99% of whatevers in there.

I think i will have to bottle it today, so i will let you all know how it goes.

[Barney Fife]

Sounds like you're a little antsy to get the beer bottled up! We've all been there I'd suggest racking it off the yeast, and letting it settle another week before bottling, also. You can add some gelatin in the second fermenter/bucket at this time, and that will really clear it up before you bottle.

You've come this far; don't rush the good part!

[plonker]

SG is too high, Barney is right, wait for at LEAST a week. Trust me, I do more than a brew a week.

You don't mention the temps you are fermenting at. If you bottle at 1020 the bottles will likely explode. and yes, you can explode the PET plastic bottles..

Cheers

[Markme]

Well i did bottle it against everyones word, if they explode it will be a waste and i will have learnt a lesson, only reason ive done it that way was because the brew shop people told me to bottle it as soon as it stopped bubbling... so by about 9pm last night there wasnt any bubbles coming through, added sugar to the PET bottles, filled them all up, stuck it in a cupboard in my kitchen that rarely gets opened... and we will see how it goes.
the SG was higher because i added extra malt and sugar, i was told that it wasnt going to finish at anything much lower than that by the brew shop people..
i gave it a taste last night while i was bottling it and it tastes pretty good and if it taste good flat at about 28 degrees then i think cold and filled with CO2 it will taste great.

i will let you know if they explode.

actually my house mate wants to borrow the fermenter and put some beers on for himself now.

Also after all this moving is over and done with im going to put on another batch of the same beer to see if waiting that extra day or two would help, so just curious how much gelatin do i add?

[Dnderhead]

bottling with sugar ,you will have yeast in it,, if you let it sit the yeast will settle to the bottom and "stick" there.

[rubber duck]

Word of advice from a guy that has messed this all up. You might get away with this at 1.02 but you probably won't. put some towels down and make sure you bottles are in a box. I didn't read the whole thread, If it was a hg beer you might be ok.

[Markme]

how long will it take for my bottles to explode do you rekon?
i might remove them from my pantry, just incase they do explode.

[cornwhiskey]

Maybe a week, maybe less. The hydrometer is your friend and only it will tell you when your beer is done. Even if you bottled before you should have all is not lost. After 5 days open a bottle and check it's carbonation level. Then open another bottle each day. If you notice them getting to highly carbonated (i.e. they are going to turn into bottle bombs) then put them in your refrigerator and the yeast will go dormant and it will stop carbonating. This is the same technique you use when making homemade root beer. Exploding glass is a safety issue, plus is makes a huge mess.

[rubber duck]

+1 good advice.

[Markme]

i opened one yesterday and there was a fizz with the open and the beer had a head, my housemate was begging for a beer with dinner, so i figured he could drink one. he told me it was the best home brew he had tasted
so i may take your advice and filly my fridge with beer.
As long as its drinkable im fine with it, ive put another batch on but im going to leave this one fully.
i might also add that i added dextrsos, coopers brew enhancer and the original can mix and i was told that the my SG would never make it to 1.01, so i figured at 1.02 it wasnt such a bad thing.

[cornwhiskey]

i opened one yesterday and there was a fizz with the open and the beer had a head, my housemate was begging for a beer with dinner, so i figured he could drink one. he told me it was the best home brew he had tasted
so i may take your advice and filly my fridge with beer.
As long as its drinkable im fine with it, ive put another batch on but im going to leave this one fully.
i might also add that i added dextrsos, coopers brew enhancer and the original can mix and i was told that the my SG would never make it to 1.01, so i figured at 1.02 it wasnt such a bad thing.

Don't use that garbage. From now on use DME (dry malt extract) and steep your grains. If you don't already have theses two books I suggest buying them right now:
1) "How to brew" by John Palmer
2) "Brewing Classic Styles" by Jamil Zainasheff

The "How to brew" is the bible of homebrewing and the "Brewing Classic Styles" has an award winning recipe for every BJCP style there is.

As far as extract goes dry is better than liquid for three simple reasons:
1) it's much easier to weigh out
2) it stays fresh for much longer
3) liquid causes the extract twang taste the people don't like

As far as I'm concerned liquid extract shouldn't exist.

[SuperDavid]

I just wanted to add, it not bubbling doesn't mean its finished. as your fermenters gets more use the airlock seals and lid seals and even the tap can leak.
if any of them have a small leak your airlock won't bubble or it may bubble very slowly.
read the wash with your hydrometer its the best way.
Your beer maybe fine at 1020. That is high, but I have had one finish that high before. Turns out that was one of my best beers.
I left that beer for a very long time and tried to get it restarted several times before I accpeted that it really was finished. You do have to be carefull because exploding glass is not just an issue of mess its a safety issue when one of those bad boys goes off in your hand.

[theBrewMeister]

1.02 isnt high at all. In reality, I wouldnt expect any beer to ever get to .01 unless I were brewing a Light American Ale. The most important issue is what was the OG -original gravity? Different malts, extracts included, have different amount of unfermentable sugars in them; the more unfermentables the higher your FG-final gravity will be.

I dont know why the homebrew shop guys told you to bottle as soon as it stops bubbling, but they should not have.. They must have forgot how paranoid beginners are. When you think your fermentation is complete check your FG, then wait another day and check again. Has it dropped? If no, and your temps are still in active range for your yeast strain then your wort is now beer.

At this point however, you should then transfer your beer into a clear carboy and place in a cool spot for 5-7 days until the suspended dormant yeast settles out. Dont worry, it wont all settle out. But skipping this step and bottling immediately will ensure that your tasty beverage will not only taste yeasty but it will cleanse your colon as well. What I reccomend people do that want to skip the clarifying step is to go ahead and bottle right away and allow your beer to "condition" for 2 weeks in a warm location, then refrigerate for 2 WEEKS! This now has become your clarifying step and will allow the yeast to settle out. Now, what would you rather have though - 2 inches of yeast in your bottle that will cause gastric disturbances if youre not a professional pourer, or, a very fine layer of yeast in your bottle and the rest at the bottom of your carboy??

Hope this helps. Have any more questions? PM me, I get paid to make beer.

[AquaVitae]

Hydrometers only take you so far by letting you know how much sugar is used up, the best way I've figured out for when a beer is ready to bottle is to taste it, if you think its perfect you can virtually stop fermentation by adding gelatin or fining agent of choice or keep it going and bottle as is for natural carbonation but make sure to keep it cold to reduce risk of explosion etc etc. If it is not to your taste then wait a week and see if it improves keep doin this until there's virtually no airlock bubbling and then it will definitly be ready to bottle unless your into the whole aging and resting period thing

[rubber duck]

I just get nervous bottling, I had a case go off a couple of years back and it was a hell of a mess. After that experience I store bottled beer in a box with a towel. It's excessive I know but it makes me feel better.

[Dnderhead]

when you pop the top and you git all head, it has enough carbonation
run all my distilled stuff off in a month, so did a few 100gal in beer , got borad with that now doing wine.soon Im going to have to fiend something diferant
to play with.

[Markme]

i bottled the beer, non of it has exploded. I get a nice head on the beer when i pour it, it tastes wicked and its got a decent ABV%.
i think it turned out pretty well.

i started a new batch of lager the other day, added the extra brew enhancer and then another 1kg of dextrose, figure id make a high abv beer, but i then realised if it goes to high, it will kill the yeast in my beer.
so i hope it survives.

[Dnderhead]

that will add about 2-3% alcohol, your pushing the limits of yeast, you mite have a hard time carbanating.

[myerfire]

In that case, just force carbonate with CO2.
myerfire

[Markme]

the SG is at 1.02, i will see if it can get to 1.01 before i bottle it, im afraid these may explode if i bottle them at 1.02 because of all the sugar i put into them.
but i guess if it doesnt go down to 1.01 it might be because i used the same brew enhancer stuff.

i will let you all know how it goes, 8% beer is going to be nuts, pitty i cant drink anymore of my alcohol for like 6 months because of bodybuilding.
Ive got about 50 or 60 bottles of spirits in my cabinet now, about 10 bottles of dark rum

[AquaVitae]

If explosion is your fear you can do a cuple things like attaching a bungnairlock that fit your bottle and watching it carefully till it starts to die down, then seal it, or you can use champagne bottles, thier specially designed for higher carbonation and more resistant to exploding, I've been there, when I first got into this hobby I damn near killed my pop and got kicked out for a week b/c we cold stabilized some wine that apperently wasnt done fermentin, exploded and made a mess somethin awful, almost like a shrapnel grenade

[BrewBrand]

just a note - it can take more than a week to explode, depending on your storing temperature. I bottled some imperial stouts that I thought had finished (the fg was 1.032, but the og was a whopping 1.105...) turns out - wasnt done...I think the yeast was just suppressed due to the high alcohol. I was keeping them in my basement - temperatures got up...apparently it was enough to kickstart the yeasties and 5 bottles popped. I actually had a couple piece of glass stuck into some wooden beams (not embedded, mind you...but still that sure would hurt to catch a piece in the face!) So - I had to dump it all...it was a sad, sad day.

All that to say - be careful with your bottling. Take measurements, but if the gravity seems too high, try adding a little heat or even try a higher toleranced yeast to get it down some more.

[BrewBrand]

also - the airlock doesn't tell you anything - it could be bubbling from residual CO2 in the beer. use a hydrometer!!

[PANMAN1965]

Hydrometers only take you so far by letting you know how much sugar is used up, the best way I've figured out for when a beer is ready to bottle is to taste it, if you think its perfect you can virtually stop fermentation by adding gelatin or fining agent of choice or keep it going and bottle as is for natural carbonation but make sure to keep it cold to reduce risk of explosion etc etc. If it is not to your taste then wait a week and see if it improves keep doin this until there's virtually no airlock bubbling and then it will definitly be ready to bottle unless your into the whole aging and resting period thing

IMO bad bad advice....
#1 the hydrometer is the ONLY real way to know if the yeast have stopped working. Take a hydro reading.. wait a couple of days and take another one. IF your SG is the same and close to where it should be you are good to bottle... If it has changed wait and take another hydro reading in a few days. If it is high and stopped you may have a stalled fermentation. warm up the beer a touch and swirl it around to resuspend the yeast....
#2 I don't believe there is any way to taste beer and tell if the yeast have eaten all of the fermentable sugars in it. You are risking bottle bombs and those can be very dangerous.

#3 Adding gelatin or finings does NOT stop fermentation, they are clearing agents to help drop pout suspended solids in the beer. LOTS of folks use them and then bottle carbonate beer, which means the yeast are still there.

#4 bottling as is during an active fermentation virtually guarantees bottle bombs. Bottling as is after fermentation is complete insures non carbonated beer.

#5 Putting beer in the fridge to carbonate is exactly opposite of correct. The cold temperatures will cause the yeast to go dormant and fall out of suspension. That is why most people cold crash beer before bottling to get as much "stuff" out of the beer as possible. Then they store their beer at around 70 degrees for 2-3 weeks to let the yeast eat the priming sugar to carbonate the beer.
As for the aging and resting period, it is essential to let the beer carbonate.