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bigbopper · 04-23-2012, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by homebrewdad

Bottled the Leffe last night, with less than spectacular results. Forgot to purchase priming sugar, no big deal, just adjusted and went with table sugar.

Auto siphon decided to be dumb once, gave me some bubbles, had to add a litle sanitized water to recreate my seal.

Big issue was that, despite my best efforts, I picked up some trub when racking to the bottling bucket. As a result, the last of my bucket just had too much sediment in it for me to keep the stupid bottling wand clear enough to bottle. I ended up with 43 2/3 bottles instead of 48... and I poured that 2/3, since it had lived through several nasty bubble issues AND had some trub in it. Really sucked, as I defintiely had enough volume for a full two cases of beer, but it became abundantly clear that the only way I'd get those last bottles would have been by removing the bottling tip, letting the junk flow, and dealing with a few oxidized bottles. I sadly poured the remainder.

To add insult to injury, this took far too long, I ended up in bed late again.

I know that it's fashionable to avoid secondaries unless you are doing fruit or wood, but I feel like I'd have avoided this issue had I racked to secondary first, then let that tiny bit of leftover trub settle before bottling.

On the bright side, I have enogh bottles now for my imperial nut brown.

Ah well. I should have 43 excellent beers, right?

I'll post a full blog entry with details and pics, if you care to read such.

keg the next one

homebrewdad · 04-23-2012, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigbopper

keg the next one

Shucks, why didn't I think of that? Let me go grab my kegging stuff...

Oh, wait.

Maybe one day for kegging, but I'd rather focus on getting the gear I need to move to all grain first. I don't mind bottling itself, and I like the portability of bottles.

I simply had a sucky experience last night.

thirstyutahn · 04-26-2012, 08:21 PM

Oh mmmmyyy, I brewed this monday morning and pitched my nice big starter at 67-68 degrees. It was bubbling in about 3 hours. Wooooow, up until wed it was absolutely spewing out the blowoff tube. I had to change the blowoff 3 times. I have never seen krausen rise that much! I could have harvested some grade A yeast had I been prepared. I had what looked like a beautiful big starter in my blowoff jug. Today fermentation seems to have slowed way down. Should I raise the temp or just let it ride out at 68?

Looking forward to this beer. It's my first Belgian and I'm pretty excited about it.

Thanks Revy!

homebrewdad · 04-26-2012, 08:22 PM

I'd say to let it ride at 68.

**Revvy** · 04-26-2012, 08:26 PM

Wow. Sounds like you've had a rocking fermentation. Man, I've never had this beer go that nuts that I can recall. But you prove the importance of a big healthy starter for sure!

bigbopper · 04-27-2012, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thirstyutahn

Oh mmmmyyy, I brewed this monday morning and pitched my nice big starter at 67-68 degrees. It was bubbling in about 3 hours. Wooooow, up until wed it was absolutely spewing out the blowoff tube. I had to change the blowoff 3 times. I have never seen krausen rise that much! I could have harvested some grade A yeast had I been prepared. I had what looked like a beautiful big starter in my blowoff jug. Today fermentation seems to have slowed way down. Should I raise the temp or just let it ride out at 68?

Looking forward to this beer. It's my first Belgian and I'm pretty excited about it.

Thanks Revy!

had the same type of fermentation,10 gal. batch with a 1.5 ltr starter.

**starman** · 04-27-2012, 03:14 AM

68 is good for the Leffe, its not over the top estery but it certainly asserts itself as a Belgian.

HBDad - you know you have to drink what's left in the bottom of the bottling bucket for luck. That and make a pick up tube for your bucket so very little doesn't end up in a bottle. A 1/2" MPT fitting and a 90 elbow can save you the trouble of tippy bucket and a fair amount of brew.

Also, in my house the half filled bottles and hydrometer flasks now get the DIY carbonator cap treatment so no beer is ever dumped. It was a fun $30 DIY project that lets us bottlers force carb too.

thirstyutahn · 04-27-2012, 05:54 AM

Awesome thanks guys, 68 it is.

Its good to know I wasn't the only one with a wild fermentation. Ive learned my lesson and next time ill ferment in my carboy and shove some big tubing in the top. The stuff I had on the 3 piece stem was too small and was getting clogged easily with that thick krausen.

Ill post back in a few weeks and let ya know how it turned out.

homebrewdad · 04-27-2012, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starman

68 is good for the Leffe, its not over the top estery but it certainly asserts itself as a Belgian.

HBDad - you know you have to drink what's left in the bottom of the bottling bucket for luck. That and make a pick up tube for your bucket so very little doesn't end up in a bottle. A 1/2" MPT fitting and a 90 elbow can save you the trouble of tippy bucket and a fair amount of brew.

Also, in my house the half filled bottles and hydrometer flasks now get the DIY carbonator cap treatment so no beer is ever dumped. It was a fun $30 DIY project that lets us bottlers force carb too.

Dip tube is on my to do list. Yeah, I'm sure my wife wants me to chug five beers worth of trub-filled flat beer. I'm a lightweight anyway... I can see it now. Drunk, gassy me. Not a pretty picture.

I loved the way this yeast took off. Didn't like that the cake wasn't as hard as the last couple I did, but still was a cool experience.

homebrewdad · 05-04-2012, 03:47 PM

Almost to the two week mark in bottles. The wait seems to be killing me.

I plan to pick up a "make your own six pack" this weekend, and one or two of those bottles will be the real, commercial Leffe. I want to see just how close this comes, and exactly how it compares - better, worse, different.