Time to bottle?

Hi everyone. I've been posting like a madman though my first batch here and I think it's starting to wrap up fermentation.

So my question is this: Is it time to bottle? The beer is at 70 degrees, and I'm getting one bubble a minute in the airlock. Is it time? Does it need a few more days?

Also, how long can it sit in the primary fermenter in it's present state. I'm going out of town this weekend and if I don't bottle until tomorrow, I won't get a chance until next week.

A bit of information: Brewday was two weeks ago this evening. Ferment started in earnest 13 days ago. It's been bubbling every 5-15 secconds for the past two weeks until yesterday when it had dropped to once every 20 seconds and this evening, once every minute.

Thanks, Sages of the Foam!

I wouldn't bottle yet. If it's still bubbling once a minute, the chances are better than good that you'll get bottle grenades.
If you have a secondary carboy, you can rack it over into that until next week. Otherwise, it won't hurt it at all to stay right where it is until next week.

Yes, wait until next week.

Man, get a carboy to do a secondary! You won't be disappointed.

PS it's "dunkel" not "dunkle". (not judging, just trying to help)...and WELCOME!!!

Yeah, my wife would get pretty mad at me if I made beer bombs. Very well then. Bottling will wait until after this weekend.

homebrewer_99, I plan to have a secondary for my next batch, the Irish Red. But I figured that the dunkel (thanks for the spell check ) is supposed to be cloudy anyhow.

But as long as we are on the subject of secondarys, how do you know when to rack to your secondary? Is it all about airlock activity? Also, does the benefit of moving the beer off the trub outweigh the risk of contamination?

I am going to tell you MY take on brewing. This may or may not start another "debate" over the use of a hydrometer. (If you've been here for any period you will know what I mean).

Some people don't use them. I use mine.

Periodically, I take gravity readings to see the progress of my brews.

Your brew is ready to rack to the secondary once its dropped by about 75% of the original gravity (from 1.050 down to 1.020 is a good scale to use). One of the main reasons for racking is to get your new beer off of the "dead" yeast so it doesn't contribute to any "off-flavors". Secondly, to try to achieve a clearer brew.

Beer bombs? Well, that has to do with your priming sugar. You can get beer bombs by over-priming, but most commonly they happen when you bottle too soon and add the priming sugar. If you make sure your brew is within the FG for the style, you prime accordingly, and bottle condition right, you should not get grenades.

Dunkels are NOT cloudy. They are dark, but never cloudy. You may accept them as cloudy, but IMO that's just lowering your standards.

homebrewer_99 said:

Dunkels are NOT cloudy. They are dark, but never cloudy. You may accept them as cloudy, but IMO that's just lowering your standards.

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I think you were expecting a hydrometer debate--but you stepped into BJCP territory here bud....

Dunkels can be cloudy. Dunkels are cloudy. Its a wheat beer dude, there is no way the yeast or the wheat will settle completely without filtering it, and dunkels are not filtered.

homebrewer_99 said:

I am going to tell you MY take on brewing. This may or may not start another "debate" over the use of a hydrometer. (If you've been here for any period you will know what I mean).

Some people don't use them. I use mine.

Periodically, I take gravity readings to see the progress of my brews.

Your brew is ready to rack to the secondary once its dropped by about 75% of the original gravity (from 1.050 down to 1.020 is a good scale to use). One of the main reasons for racking is to get your new beer off of the "dead" yeast so it doesn't contribute to any "off-flavors". Secondly, to try to achieve a clearer brew.

Click to expand...

I'm one of the folks that doesn't use a hydrometer. I have one, but have never used it. Not even sure where it is...*scratches head*. Oh well. The way I do it, and I'm not saying by any means that this is the "right" way or the "best" way. It's just the way that works for me...I wait until the bubbles in the air lock are coming at less than one per minute. Then I wait 2 - 4 more days, then rack to secondary and leave for a week or two. Then I bottle.

OK, today was bottling day.

My final gravity was 1.012. With an OG of 1.061 that makes a whopping 6.5% ABV !!

The beer tasted alright I think, though I did not get much of the bananna or clove flavor promised by the yeast. Or much in the way of sweetness that I thought weissbiers were supposed to have. Well, I guess in one to two weeks, we'll see.

I am not trying to sound like a beer snob, but while I was staying in Munich over this past summer I had a chance to try every Weiss und Dunkel Weiss I could get my hands on. As long as you followed the recipe and it still tasted similar to a Dunkelweiss I wouldn't worry too much about this batch.