Big mistake???

Last night I bottled an ESB that was brewed w/ Wyeast 1968 London ESB yeast. OG was 1.054. Last night it was 1.020. It had been at almost 1.022 when I racked it a week ago, which reactivated it somewhat. It has been fairly inactive for about 3-4 days, so I figured it was done now and went ahead and bottled. Temperature was pretty darned good (around 68) almost all of the time, although it got down around 64 once or twice. I had read that agitation and/or aeration are often necessary with this yeast so I did give the fermenter a gentle swirl every 1-2 days when fermentationm slowed. I thought the TG would be closer to a few points lower based on the 67-71% attenuation predicted by Wyeast. I got 62% attenuation.

Did I make bottle bombs? Did I just need to be more patient? Should I have re-pitched yeast? The beer seemed to taste very good at racking and bottling time - will that change a lot???

Thanks in advance for any input...newbie j

How long in primary? How long in secondary? I'm assuming this is an extract batch?

I doubt they'll be bottle bombs, but will most likely be a bit more carbonated than you are hoping. I would not think there is any need to repitch on a 1.054 beer.

I agree that you probably should have been able to get a little below 1.022, but I don't think you've built bombs. It's hard to say without knowing the recipe -- did you perhaps have a lot of unfermentables in there? If it tasted good, then you're probably fine.

7 days in primary. 10 days in secondary. It is an extract batch. Thanks...j

I didn't appear to have much in the way of unfermentables in there. Thanks...j

i think you might have jumped the gun on transferring off the primary yeast cake... 7 days IMHO isn't enough time... but live and learn.

android said:

i think you might have jumped the gun on transferring off the primary yeast cake... 7 days IMHO isn't enough time... but live and learn.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I only transferred it because it seemed to have nearly stopped fermenting. What is the general rule of thumb for when to transfer??? Thanks in advance...

Unless you are adding something ie fruit dry hopping ect. you really have no reason to transfer. I normally keep mine in primary for 3-5 weeks before I go to bottle or transfer to secondary. If you leave it on the yeast cake longer it will give the yeast more time to clean up after themselves which should cut down on an off flavors they may have produced.

Benjibbad and android are correct in that you may have transferred a bit quickly. Yes, your fermentation may have stopped, but the fermentation process can create by-products that you don't want, such as diacetyl. I typically like to leave my beer in the primary at least a couple days after fermentation appears to be complete.

Having said that, I still think you will be fine.

Just wanted to say THANKS to y'all for the advice and insights!!! I'll let ya know how it turns out in another 10 days or so...