Just Bottled My First Batch! Questions...

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project_dc1

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I forgot to take my initial gravity. My final gravity was around 1.010. A little high, by the book. But I'm going with the quick start directions, and they called for 7 days. Would waiting longer get it down into the 1.003 - 1.009 range?

Bottling went smooth. A little monotonous, but that's to be expected. Beer looks a little cloudy, but I'm guessing that's normal. We left just under a half-gallon on the bottom of the fermenting bucket to avoid sediment.

I added a boiled mixture of 2/3 cup priming sugar in 1 cup water. I left about a good 1.5 - 2 inches on top of the bottles. Should I worry about bursting bottles due to my higher gravity?

I only had 48 bottles. So we had about a half gallon, little less, left in the bottling bucket. Sad to leave men behind, but such is.

Anyway, for my next batch, I'm going for the ultimate in hoppy aroma and flavor. Can anyone offer any tips on how to achieve this?

Thanks a bunch guys. Cheerz. :mug:
 
7 days. What about 7 days? Are you talkin' 7 days since brew day, and you already bottled it? What style of beer is it? If it was a super-active fermentation from say a hefeweizen or something similar, you may be OK, but I think a week of primary fermentation and then right into the bottle is jumping the gun a bit for most beers. Did you get multiple hydro readings toward the end to verify it wasn't still fermenting?

1.010 is actually not too high of a final gravity for most beers, so you may be alright. R, DW, HAHB. :D

Did you say HOPS? Brew an IPA--nuff said! :rockin:
 
I forgot to take my initial gravity. My final gravity was around 1.010. A little high, by the book. But I'm going with the quick start directions, and they called for 7 days. Would waiting longer get it down into the 1.003 - 1.009 range?
Click to expand...
If your final reading was the same for several days in a rows...then the beer was done.
Bottling went smooth. A little monotonous, but that's to be expected. Beer looks a little cloudy, but I'm guessing that's normal. We left just under a half-gallon on the bottom of the fermenting bucket to avoid sediment.
Click to expand...
A little coudy is normal but next time, if you didn't use a secondary, you might want to consider it to allow the beer to clarify more. The beer will clear in the bottles as the stuff settles, but you may end up with a little extra sediment than normal.
I added a boiled mixture of 2/3 cup priming sugar in 1 cup water. I left about a good 1.5 - 2 inches on top of the bottles. Should I worry about bursting bottles due to my higher gravity?
Click to expand...
High gravity beers don't cause bottle troubles...excessive unfermented sugars do. This is the reason you want to make sure your gravity has stopped moving and all fermentables have been consumed by the yeast.
I only had 48 bottles. So we had about a half gallon, little less, left in the bottling bucket. Sad to leave men behind, but such is.

Anyway, for my next batch, I'm going for the ultimate in hoppy aroma and flavor. Can anyone offer any tips on how to achieve this?
Click to expand...
Read up on the technique of dry hopping. Late additions of hops to the boil will not give you more bitterness, but will increase the flavor and aroma. Dry hopping is basically just adding hops to the secondary fermenter and letting the beer soak up additonal aroma characteristics.
 
project_dc1 said:
I forgot to take my initial gravity. My final gravity was around 1.010. A little high, by the book. But I'm going with the quick start directions, and they called for 7 days. Would waiting longer get it down into the 1.003 - 1.009 range?

This FG should be fine. using a secondary fermenter for a couple weeks might make it a bit lower, but 1.010 is fairly low, depending on the style of beer. I wouldn't worry about the hydrometer readings, personally I haven't used a hydrometer in over a year

Bottling went smooth. A little monotonous, but that's to be expected. Beer looks a little cloudy, but I'm guessing that's normal. We left just under a half-gallon on the bottom of the fermenting bucket to avoid sediment.

I added a boiled mixture of 2/3 cup priming sugar in 1 cup water. I left about a good 1.5 - 2 inches on top of the bottles. Should I worry about bursting bottles due to my higher gravity?

no, I wouldn't. that's plenty of headroom. I generally fill the bottles up all the way, and then when I pull the bottling wand out, the displacement from the bottling wand leaves the perfect amount of head room. a general rule of thumb is 3/4 cup of corn sugar for a 5 gallon batch, so you'll probably be a little less carbonated than average (nothing to worry about though)


I only had 48 bottles. So we had about a half gallon, little less, left in the bottling bucket. Sad to leave men behind, but such is.

Anyway, for my next batch, I'm going for the ultimate in hoppy aroma and flavor. Can anyone offer any tips on how to achieve this?

I've got a decent recipe for a really hoppy IPA. you might also take a look at Walker's and the bird's IPA recipes, I've brewed them both and they were both good.

8 oz victory
1 lb crystal 40

8 lbs LME
8 oz maltodextrine powder

1.5 oz N Brewer 60- min
.5 oz amarillo 30
.5 oz simcoe 30
.5 oz amarillo 20
.5 oz simcoe 20
.5 oz amarillo 15
.5 oz simcoe 15
.5 oz amarillo 10
.5 oz simcoe 10
.5 oz amarillo 5
.5 oz simcoe 5
.5 oz amarillo Flameout
.5 oz simcoe Flameout

Safale s-05 Ale yeast
Click to expand...
 
Wow. Thank you all for the input! An IPA is actually what my first batch kit was supposed to be. It has a hop aroma, but it was all in the extract. I didn't do any additional hopping of my own.

Do you guys usually use the liquid extracts or the dry?

The whole secondary fermenter thing... how long after it has been in the primary until you move it into the secondary? And then how long do you generally keep it in there?

I'll be sure to use 3/4 cup of priming sugar instead of 2/3 next time. Just going with my kit's directions this time.

I have Papazian's book, but after the beginners chapter, it seems to take quite a leap in complexity and I'm still trying to digest it all. Sorry for all of the questions.
 
i usually use the dry extract. it stores better, it won't darken the beer as much as the liquid, and it's more fermentable.

secondaries are not necessary, but if you want a clearer beer you can use one. you should always use glass (or better bottles) for secondary. never transfer to secondary until you've reached your target final gravity and the beer has finished its primary fermentation. then you can transfer to get the beer of the trub and into a clean vessel so the yeast can clean up after themselves.

most beers will do fine with the 1-2-3 method (1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, and 3 weeks in bottles) but i highly recommend the use of a hydrometer. no matter what, you should never rush it. if you have more patience, you'll generally have a better beer ;)
 
Good call! I didn't even think of that. Thanks.

DeathBrewer, when you say "better bottles" for my secondary, what do you mean exactly? I think I'm a little confused on the secondary fermentation process.
 
Better Bottle is a name brand of PET plastic carboy's. They're not oxygen permeable like other types of plastic, but they're lighter and easier to deal with then glass carboys. Personally, I have both a glass carboy and a better bottle, and I prefer the better bottle greatly. But there are also people who swear by glass also, so either way you want to go you'll be fine.
 

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