1 bubble every 10 seconds . . .

I brewed my first batch last Friday. It was a a Coopers Draught kit.

Its been in the fermenting bucket for 6 days and I was planning to bottle tomorrow after 7 as per the instructions.

I've done alot of reading on here and I know that you guys will tell me to leave it in the fermenter for another 2 weeks. But I don't want to wait since its my first batch.

This morning (day 6) I'm getting 1 bubble every 10 seconds or so in the air-lock. Is this slow enough to bottle tomorrow? Or do I have to wait until I get NO bubbles?

Thanks!

You can't based end of fermentation on amount of bubbles through the airlock. Only a stable hydrometer reading over 2-3 days will do the trick. I personally just leave everything in for a month and skip the hydrometer readings all together.

bubbles are meaningless. its just CO2 escaping your bucket. take a hydrometer reading. wait a few days and take another reading. if its changed then you still have fermentation going on. wait a few more days and take another reading. keep this up till the gravity stops falling. only then is fermentation done and you can bottle.

+1 on mosquito's advice.

However if you are in a hurry, wait a few more days, then take a hydrometer reading. take note of the reading. wait an additional 2 more days and take another hydro reading.

If the numbers are the same, go ahead and bottle. if they are not the same, you need to wait - bottling would likely create bottle bombs (bottles bursting due to excess Co2 as fermentation had not completed).

Beer-Baron said:

I brewed my first batch last Friday. It was a a Coopers Draught kit.

Its been in the fermenting bucket for 6 days and I was planning to bottle tomorrow after 7 as per the instructions.

I've done alot of reading on here and I know that you guys will tell me to leave it in the fermenter for another 2 weeks. But I don't want to wait since its my first batch.

This morning (day 6) I'm getting 1 bubble every 10 seconds or so in the air-lock. Is this slow enough to bottle tomorrow? Or do I have to wait until I get NO bubbles?

Thanks!

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You won't be happy with the way the beer turns out if you don't give it time to finish. In fact, if it's not done and you stick it in bottles too early you could end up with all the bottles breaking and not having any to drink.

It's why when everyone asks if I'm an alcoholic because I brew beer I always respond that it would be much quicker and cheaper to just buy a handle of Popov or a case of BMC.

Well I don't have a Hydrometer yet. Didn't come with my beer making kit. I guess I'll have to pick one up for next time.

How much do they usually go for?

Do you have another fermentor? You just need to get another batch going to keep you busy so you can leave this one alone.

If you don't have one then I suggest you wait a minimum 14 days before you rack to secondary. And if you choose to do what many of us do and leave your beers in primary for a month. Then you just need to wait 4 weeks then bottle.

are you sure there is no hydrometer???? i am very surprised the kit didn't come with one. it should look like a thin thermometer with a fat base. if you don't have one of those go get one.

Yes you need to pick up a hydrometer. It is the only way to tell when your beer is done. All an airlock does is provide a sanitary vent of CO2. The only way to really know if your beer is done is to check the gravity with a hydrometer.

One week is too early to bottle. In this hobby it pays to have patience and if you don't (like me) you just buy more primaries/secondaries and start a pipeline. You will be disappointed in the results if you bottle now.

Yes I'm positive I don't have one. My homebrewing kit was put together by my local home brew shop. It was $70 for a 6 Gallon Fermentor bucket with a spigot. 1 Carboy. An airlock, a racking cane, some hose, 1 beer kit including dextrose.

You think I got ripped off?

with the beer kit in there, that's about right. What are your plans come bottling time, though, without a capper, bottling wand, etc?

Beer-Baron said:

I've done alot of reading on here and I know that you guys will tell me to leave it in the fermenter for another 2 weeks.

Click to expand...

If you aren't done fermenting you could end up with bottle bombs.

For bottling I bought a bottling wand from the same shop for $3 and that hooks up to my spigot.

And I got a whole slew of used Grolsch bottles with the swinging tops from someone local. Got 75 bottles for $35.

I also bought one of those bottle rinsers that attaches to the faucet, and he threw in a used bottle washer (the push down spring action cup thingys) for free because he was sold out of new ones he gave me a used one he had around.

Beer-Baron said:

For bottling I bought a bottling wand from the same shop for $3 and that hooks up to my spigot.

And I got a whole slew of used Grolsch bottles with the swinging tops from someone local. Got 75 bottles for $35.

I also bought one of those bottle rinsers that attaches to the faucet, and he threw in a used bottle washer (the push down spring action cup thingys) for free because he was sold out of new ones he gave me a used one he had around.

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Is your beer in the bucket now, or the carboy? That bucket with a spigot is the bottling bucket. You use the racking cane and tuubing and siphon the beer from the carboy to the bucket, very carefully as to not splash.

I assume your beer is in the carboy. You can see it clear a bit, after fermentation stops. Instead of going by 7 days, without a hydrometer it's better to wait to see the signs of fermentation stop. Not just the airlock bubbling, but the beer will start to look more clear and darker as the spent yeast falls to the bottom. That is the very earliest you should bottle, unless you get a hydrometer and verify that it's done.

I'm amazed he put together a kit, sold you all that stuff and didn't include a hydrometer. I'll have to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he just spaced and forgot to put it in the kit because I can't see him thinking it was unnecessary.

If I were you, I'd go back and pick one up before doing anything with this batch. Waiting 2-4 weeks and bottling is PROBABLY safe, but ferments have stalled that long before.

If the Grolsch bottles are used, you might want to replace the seals on them before using them, just to be safe.

sounds like you're set beer-baron, now - you must relax, go out and buy yourself a 12 pack of good micro-brew and another beer brewing kit. In another 2 weeks, you'll be ready to bottle.

You should definitely look into purchasing a hydrometer, test cylinder, and a wine/beer thief if you're going to stick with the hobby. There is no reason to wait until the next batch.

Hydrometer
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=801

Test cylinder
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=11615

Thief
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=1227

Ya, maybe i'll ask him about the Hydrometer. Maybe I was supposed to get one.

Either way, I guess I'll just finish off the Molson Canadian thats in my garage and wait another 2 weeks to bottle. All my friends are skeptical about this brew your own beer thing.

All but 1 is saying how its going to taste like garbage and blah blah blah. I guess I should just wait a couple more weeks in the primary to prove them wrong.

More time almost always equals better beer. More time in the fermenter. More time bottle conditioning.

Not quite always, but almost.

Beer-Baron said:

All but 1 is saying how its going to taste like garbage and blah blah blah. I guess I should just wait a couple more weeks in the primary to prove them wrong.

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Garbage!? Sounds like you need new friends. My homebrews and many I have tried from other people are not even close to being garbage. I have had many homebrews that are just as good as any microbrew. You should give it a couple weeks though, you won't be disappointed. Patience is the HARDEST ingredient in homebrewing!

The problem is... no matter how good your beer is, if they're BMC drinkers, they'll think they're right.

Well we've done the brew your own beer shop in the city a couple of times. But the place we went doesn't require you to actually do anything but give them the cash and show up to bottle. They do it all for you. And to be honest the results from that place we've tried a couple of times seems to have a funny flavor.

I'm hoping that doing it myself will yield better results. I guess we'll see. But I'm only doing single stage. I'll try to hold off until the weekend of the 30th in the primary. That will give it 3 weeks in there, and then another 2 weeks in the bottle before cracking the first beer.

Sound like a plan?

Might want to plan on at least 3 weeks in the bottle to properly carbonate and condition.

3 weeks in primary should be good. I got impatient and bottled my first batch at 9 days... Every batch I've done since then has had 3 weeks +/- a day or two and the difference is night and day.

Nothing wrong with sampling your beer at 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, etc but don't go overboard. I try to keep out of my beer until week 3, or 4 in the bottle but I still haven't quite got that part down. The trick is to get more fermenters so you can start building up a pipeline.

Ok. 3 weeks in Primary, and 3 Weeks in the bottle it is.

So say I want to "sample" my beer tomorrow.

Is it safe to just pull the airlock off, and open the spigot into a glass and take a bit? As long as I put the airlock back on after I'm done, my protective blanket of C02 should still be sitting on top of my beer right?

Or should I just fight the urge and drink store bought for the next few weeks?

Take a reading bro....don't worry about the time or bubbles.

Beer-Baron said:

All but 1 is saying how its going to taste like garbage and blah blah blah. I guess I should just wait a couple more weeks in the primary to prove them wrong.

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If they say, and/or it does, taste like garbage, chalk it up to learning and don't give up. My first couple brews weren't Fantastic, but were "decent for Homebrew" I thought. After 2 years of brewing, my beers are now (providing a good recipe to start with) on par with craft brew in flavors and presentation. Don't worry. It's seems very complex now, but hang out here, keep brewing and your beer will get to a level of quality that your friends won't know the difference between yours an store bought. Except maybe that yours has more flavor

Beer-Baron said:

Or should I just fight the urge and drink store bought for the next few weeks?

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Yes. It's difficult, take the advice and get another kit or two going. Brewer's Best makes good kits too. I'd move away fro the Cooper's no boil cans unless your goal is just to make "beer".

Beer-Baron said:

Ok. 3 weeks in Primary, and 3 Weeks in the bottle it is.

So say I want to "sample" my beer tomorrow.

Is it safe to just pull the airlock off, and open the spigot into a glass and take a bit? As long as I put the airlock back on after I'm done, my protective blanket of C02 should still be sitting on top of my beer right?

Or should I just fight the urge and drink store bought for the next few weeks?

Click to expand...

That's the hidden benefit of using a hydrometer. After you take your reading, you have a couple ounces of beer that needs to be disposed of since you don't want to pour it back into the fermenter. There really is only one proper way to deal with it.

If your friends are anything like mine, everything tastes funny, because it actually has a taste. We were getting FREE samples of Sleeman's IPA special reserve stuff, quite a hoppy beer for Canadian stuff. I got to drink all the sample bottles because it tasted funny, and they went back to the Coors Light. They still will not go out of Bud, Lab Lite, Coors Lite. Then Bud came out with the lime juice, and that was the best thing they EVER had. Amateurs.

lurker18 said:

Then Bud came out with the lime juice, and that was the best thing they EVER had. Amateurs.

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Blahhh. That Bud Lite Lime tastes like they filtered the bottle through a wetnap!

Beer-Baron said:

Blahhh. That Bud Lite Lime tastes like they filtered the bottle through a wetnap!

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Couldn't agree more. Can't wait until next summers fad beer comes out. Bets on what BMC will do to fancy up their beer next year.

Having an og reading helps a lot in these cases. Yeast will only attenuate so far. If you knew what the estimated final gravity should be you'd have a good idea on whether it was done or not.

Bubbles lie.

Waiting though is better allthough I have bottled a couple beers after only a week and drank them 10 days later. One was a hefe the other a very simple apa.

That being said. Both were much better after 3 weeks.

+1 to pipeline

The instructions for my brew kit said that leaving the primary longer than 14 days can result in off flavors from the yeast? Is that true?

ajl said:

The instructions for my brew kit said that leaving the primary longer than 14 days can result in off flavors from the yeast? Is that true?

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No, that's old school thinking. Thoughts about that have shifted over the last few years, now we have found that leaving the beer in primary for a month improves the flavor of beer by cleaning up the byprodicuts of fermentation...THere is about 1,000,000 threads about it, including at least 5 threads active today alone in the beginners section...look for threads about secondary, long primary, no secondary, long primary, autolysis, and you will see our answers, over and over and over again.

All my beers stay in primary for a month, been doing it for 3 years now, and have won awards for my beers doing so....

I concur with most people's posts here.

If I'm lucky, I might still see the bubbler trickle CO2 out even right before I'm about to bottle. A previous hydrometer reading reveals that fermentation isn't happening anymore and the gravity is steady. Escaping CO2 can take a while sometimes, and cannot be trusted to guess when to bottle.