Something is on the bottom of my bottle

My 2nd brew ever isn't like my first :-(. I bottled the beer last week and I may have bottled it early. I didn't take a SG but took a FG of 1.030. My first brew was at the same gravity and it tastes great. When I looked at the bottles recently I saw a yellowish film on the bottom. I opened one of the bottles and there was barely any carbonation, so the pressure is fine I assume? Will this effect my final product? Should I leave it bottled for longer?

The bottle of your bottle?

The layer at the bottom is just yeast settling out. This is perfectly normal for bottle conditioned beer, and once it's carbonated and been chilling in the fridge for a week+, it should complact nice and tight so that you don't end up with too much of it in your glass when you pour it.

As far as the FG goes, 1.030 is really really high. If your first beer had the same FG reading and doesn't taste syrupy sweet, then your hydrometer is likely off. Have you calibrated your hydrometer recently? What kind of beer is it, and do you have the recipe? Have you tasted it? If you didn't bottle early, and you added the priming sugar, it will carb up fine if you wait long enough, a minimum of 3 weeks at 70°. If you did bottle too early, you might have ticking time bombs on your hands.

A FG of 1.030 is way too high. Something is not right here. Generally the minimum waiting time after bottling is two weeks, 3-4 is better. There probably isnt any carbonation because you just bottled them.

I'd be very worried about them exploding since you bottled at 1.030. What was your expected SG on the recipe? Did you prime the bottles with sugar or just cap them?

JuanMoore said:

The bottle of your bottle?

The layer at the bottom is just yeast settling out. This is perfectly normal for bottle conditioned beer, and once it's carbonated and been chilling in the fridge for a week+, it should complact nice and tight so that you don't end up with too much of it in your glass when you pour it.

As far as the FG goes, 1.030 is really really high. If your first beer had the same FG reading and doesn't taste syrupy sweet, then your hydrometer is likely off. Have you calibrated your hydrometer recently? .

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I have not calibrate it. It's the glass one I thought it would be ready out of box. My first beer didnt taste syrupy at all, quite smooth actually and refreshing. This is the first time I'm seeing a big settling of stuff on the bottom of the bottle.

I am worried about the explosions so I checked a bottle. Finger crossed nothing goes wrong because I suck at reading my hydrometer.

kblankenship11 said:

A FG of 1.030 is way too high. Something is not right here. Generally the minimum waiting time after bottling is two weeks, 3-4 is better. There probably isnt any carbonation because you just bottled them.

I'd be very worried about them exploding since you bottled at 1.030. What was your expected SG on the recipe? Did you prime the bottles with sugar or just cap them?

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The recipe came in a kit, not sure of the exact ingredients:

Grains
Fuggle and cascade hops
Cinnamon stick, ginger, nutmeg
Priming sugar
1.5 liters of amber (dark,amber)

SG was at 1.062-068 but I didn't take the reading because I forgot and its supposed to be at 1.012-018? I know I'm very far off and plan on remaking this recipe with my own ingredients with the attached ingredients. Lemme know what you think?

Thanks for the feedback. I know I need to check the gravity reading more. What if the reading isn't where it should be after the boil?

The sg is usually only far off when mashing grain. If it was an extract brew it was probably pretty close. Check those brews every few days until the carbonation is where you want it and put them in the fridge. This should prevent bombs. But dont take them back out or they could explode. I did that with one of my first batches and swmbo was not happy about when 2 swing top 32oz exploded in a cabinet above the kitchen sink.

6 lbs of dark extract, 3.3 lbs of amber extract, and 5 lbs of C80???? No wonder it finished at 1.030!

Don't take this the wrong way, but it might be better to stick to recipe kits at this point and focus on the process. As you brew more you'll start to become more familiar with the ingredients, and then you can start reading up on recipe formulation.

zachattack said:

6 lbs of dark extract, 3.3 lbs of amber extract, and 5 lbs of C80???? No wonder it finished at 1.030!

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I didn't make that recipe With C80. The 6 lbs and 3.3 lbs of malt was for the recipe kit i purchased. So I was going to copy some pieces of the recipe and mix some of my own grains

I would like to second zachattack in sticking to proven recipes. Also recommend reading How to brew and or some of the stickies on this forum.

This is the newest reading from the hydrometer. Still strong at 1.030 and I'm hearing a fizz of carbonation. Even in the sampling container bubbles are rising. I tasted it and it does have a bit to much carbon at first taste. What's going on their?

We need details. What was the exact recipe you used(weight of extract and grains)?How long and how much water did you boil(at what time in the boil and how much extract did you use)?What was the starting gravity and how long ago was this batch started?

NativeSun said:

This is the newest reading from the hydrometer. Still strong at 1.030 and I'm hearing a fizz of carbonation. Even in the sampling container bubbles are rising. I tasted it and it does have a bit to much carbon at first taste. What's going on their?

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Shake that CO2 out of suspension. Measure again at 60F.

The CO2 bubbles will push the hydrometer up, giving a false high reading.

Whats going on? ehhm you brewed beerbombs. bottelt it with to much sugar. Keep them cool and drink as fast as you can, otherwise you end up with beer dripping from the celling every time you open one. Or exploding bottles in the middel of the night

BrewerBear said:

We need details. What was the exact recipe you used(weight of extract and grains)?How long and how much water did you boil(at what time in the boil and how much extract did you use)?What was the starting gravity and how long ago was this batch started?

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Too lazy to type it.

Had 5lbs of grains
6lbs dark malt (quart)
3.3lbs amber malt (pint)
Vanguard and cascade hops
Ginger cinnamon stick and nutmeg
Dry yeast

There is an update that may be a deciding factor. My girlfriend just told me she bought and stored it away for a while bc it was a gift. The yeast inside may have ran its course by the time I added it. I read around and I should just keep it bottled longer

Doubtful. Dry yeast has a shelf life of 2 years when stored properly.

Did you retake the gravity with shaking out the bubbles? That's going to tell us what we need to know to help you.

NativeSun said:

Too lazy to type it.

Had 5lbs of grains
6lbs dark malt (quart)
3.3lbs amber malt (pint)
Vanguard and cascade hops
Ginger cinnamon stick and nutmeg
Dry yeast

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You want us to take time to answer your question so you have to help us. Was this an all grain or extract recipe--earlier it sounded like extract but none is mentioned here.

Is this 5 lbs of pale malt?
What kind of dark malt?
What strain of yeast?
What is the batch volume?
How long was the boil?
Did you boil the whole batch or boil part and top it off?
Did you mash, partial mash or steep adjuncts?
At what temperature did you do these?
Did you aerate? How long?

thadius856 said:

Shake that CO2 out of suspension. Measure again at 60F.

The CO2 bubbles will push the hydrometer up, giving a false high reading.

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After shaking out the carbonation the beer is at 1.024 which I hope is a bit more respectable with its FG at 1.018. When I tasted it, it was quite carbonated like a soda. What's going on their?

Looks like 1.026 to me. Let it completely degas (wait an hour or so), give it a spin and try again. Also make sure it's calibrated in distilled water.

NativeSun said:

I didn't make that recipe With C80. The 6 lbs and 3.3 lbs of malt was for the recipe kit i purchased. So I was going to copy some pieces of the recipe and mix some of my own grains

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The critical information is the 5 lbs of grain you used. Which grains did you use?

On your handwritten paper it stated 5 lbs of Crystal 80. This would leave your beer EXTREMELY sweet as it's just an enormous amount of crystal for a 5 gallon recipe. If so, I could easily see your beer finishing well above 1.020 as there are more unfermentable sugars. You would likely not have an issue with bottle bombs, but rather just have a very sweet beer. 1 lb of C80 would be a lot for most beers.

If you used 5 lbs of pale or 2row or something that gives easily fermentable sugars, then I think you are in danger of bottle bombs. Refridge all of your beer until you can drink it.

solbes said:

The critical information is the 5 lbs of grain you used. Which grains did you use?

On your handwritten paper it stated 5 lbs of Crystal 80. This would leave your beer EXTREMELY sweet as it's just an enormous amount of crystal for a 5 gallon recipe. If so, I could easily see your beer finishing well above 1.020 as there are more unfermentable sugars. You would likely not have an issue with bottle bombs, but rather just have a very sweet beer. 1 lb of C80 would be a lot for most beers.

If you used 5 lbs of pale or 2row or something that gives easily fermentable sugars, then I think you are in danger of bottle bombs. Refridge all of your beer until you can drink it.

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The hand written recipe was a future thought. The grain that came with the kit were unmarked so I don't know what type of grains Midwest used. It was a happy holiday ale. Spicy and all that non sense. One of the other pictures of this thread shows the recipe on the printer paper.

Midwest Brewing Supplies said:

Once a year folks eat, drink and are merry. We think this is a great time to impress your friends and relatives with homemade beer. This spiced ale will make egg nog a thing of the past.

Our ingredients for this recipe include:
6 lb. Dark liquid malt extract
3.3 lb. Amber liquid malt extract
8 oz. Caramel 60L
8 oz. Special B specialty grains
2 oz. of hops
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ginger
yeast
priming sugar
and a grain bag.

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First hit on Google, right on the front of the product page...

AG version: swap LME/DME for 12.5 lbs. Domestic 2-Row barley, 6 oz. Roasted barley

thadius856 said:

First hit on Google, right on the front of the product page...

AG version: swap LME/DME for 12.5 lbs. Domestic 2-Row barley, 6 oz. Roasted barley

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What does AG mean? And when I try and recreate this recipe I should be DME (dry malt) called domestic 2-row barley? How my much, 12.5lbs of it?

NativeSun said:

What does AG mean? And when I try and recreate this recipe I should be DME (dry malt) called domestic 2-row barley? How my much, 12.5lbs of it?

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If you have to ask what AG is, you're definitely not making that version.

Stick to the LME/DME.

So did you use that recipe (with nothing else) that thadius posted?
Were I'm getting confused is you keep saying you had 5# of grain, not the 1# that the recipe should of had?

I never had an extract brew hit 5# of steeping grain. My oatmeal stout got close, though. Took two steeping backs to hold it all.

I seriously doubt he had 5# of grain. Midwest packs those kits like 100 at a time.

I read and followed the directions to the tee. Steeped the grains for 60 mins. Added the malt and dissolved it before boiling. After the first hops for 45 mins and the aroma hops for the last 3 mins. Added the cinnamon stick nutmeg and ginger 10 mins before the boil was over. I cooled it in 45 mins. Aerated it for by pouring it back and forth from the boiling pot and primary fermentation bucket. Added the yeast and let it sit for 2 weeks. Then I primed the sugar, added it as bottles the beer.

Dangit. My post disappeared.

If you bottled at 1.024 and you used 6 oz of dextrose, then you should have bottle bombs, not a lack of carbonation. If you'd let fermentation finish and gotten no warmer than 68F, you'd only need 4.4 oz to carbonate the whole batch to 2.5 volumes, which is about right for this style.

Your primary was 2 weeks, so your yeast can't be dormant yet. That narrows it down greatly.

How long have they been conditioning? At what temperature?

[fixed thread title]

thadius856 said:

Dangit. My post disappeared.

If you bottled at 1.024 and you used 6 oz of dextrose, then you should have bottle bombs, not a lack of carbonation. If you'd let fermentation finish and gotten no warmer than 68F, you'd only need 4.4 oz to carbonate the whole batch to 2.5 volumes, which is about right for this style.

Your primary was 2 weeks, so your yeast can't be dormant yet. That narrows it down greatly.

How long have they been conditioning? At what temperature?

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I used 5 ounces of priming sugar. Two weeks was the standard for fermentation and kept them between 59-63 degrees.

I would err on the side of caution here and refridge all of your bottles (less than 40F preferrably). Bottle bombs are nothing to mess around with. The 59 - 63F fermentation temps will make great beer, but it may not have had enough time to finish properly. Next time you know to take gravity readings to assure its finished.

Time to get another one going. Happy brewin!

Personally, I think you're way too cold for bottle conditioning in two weeks. You should be in the 62-70F range IMO if you want 2-3 week carbonation. Otherwise, be prepared to let them sit for a while.

5 oz seems more reasonable, but I'm still worried about the 1.024. I'd recommend putting them in a cooler or crate you don't care about, then putting something heavy on the lid, and let them carbonate at room temps for a week or two. Don't leave them exposed to the air. We'd hate to see you take a bottle bomb to the face, just in case.

With all this talk of exploding bottles I wound up buying a 18 gallon plastic bin and stuck all the bottles in it.

I'm still optimistic that this batch will not explode, although I'm thinking that I will have to keep them in the bottle longer for optimal taste. I have plenty of bottles and will try them though week 6-12

Yea...Bottle Bombs Suck... I had it happen with an orange beer i made. Had to mop the basement floor like 10 times to get the sticky feeling to go away.

NativeSun when you were taking the FG readings had the beer already been bottled and your was pouring some to take a reading?

BrewerBear said:

NativeSun when you were taking the FG readings had the beer already been bottled and your was pouring some to take a reading?

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Correct I opened up three Beers so far. The last reading I had was between 1.024-26.

D'oh. Then you measured the carbing sugar, and carbing hasn't finished yet. :\

You take a gravity reading right before pitching yeast,then again before bottling to ensure it is at final gravity.It is recommended to take final gravity readings 2 or 3 days apart and make sure they are the same before bottling,but if I am where the recipe says I should be I usually go ahead and bottle. After bottling leave bottles at 70 degrees for around 3 weeks before sampling.

thadius856 said:

D'oh. Then you measured the carbing sugar, and carbing hasn't finished yet. :\

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Before I added the sugar, while the wort was still in the fermentation bucket, I took gravity readings two days in a row. They were at 1.030. I primed the sugar and bottled and waited a week and checked the gravity again even tho its carbonation now and it's at 1.024-26.

Clearly I'm still learning the hard way. I'm going to order another recipe perhaps the same one to see if I can do it correctly this time.

Getting a little late in the year for spice ales (at least here, in sunny CA).

Might want to start thinking forward to St. Patty's day.