Bottling Questions

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pava

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I have a couple of questions about bottling.

First, my first batch of AG yielded 4 gallons of wort (due to more boil off than expected) I hesitated in adding water to top it off and by the time I decided maybe I should fermentation had already begun. So I have 4 gallons of wort about 1/2 a week into fermentation. Recently someone mentioned using extra water at bottling time when using corn sugar to carb the beer, what is everyones view on this, could I add a 1/2 gallon, or a gallon of water at this point to disolve the corn sugar in or would this result in a rather watered down flavor. Just to add more details here, it is a Belgian Wit AG (the NB kit) and my OG was 1.054 instead of 1.044.

Second question is. . .I always thought that I would add the water and corn sugar to the bottling bucket and rack on top of it so that it would mix during the racking process, thus minimizing the amount of mixing after racking resulting in less of a risk of oxidizing my beer. I have been reading lately where folks rack first to determine the final amount of beer they have and then add the corn sugar and water so they can assure that they are using the proper amounts of corn sugar. . .how does everyone here do it and why?

As always thanks in advance for your replies and insight. .. this site got me successfully through my first brew day with really no problems at all other than having a higher than expected boil off.
 
I don't see why you couldn't add water at bottling. You won't be able to measure the alcohol content but who cares really. As far as how to add the corn sugar, I do it the way you were going to, add it to the bottling bucket and then rack on top of it so it mixes good. I don't have as many batches behind me as a lot of the people here but I've never gotten that technical with how much sugar to add and most of mine have carbed fine.
 
You risk oxidation by adding water at bottling. Now, if you boil that water first, let it cool, and then siphon into your bucket to reach a target volume, you should minimize that risk to virtually nil.

Also, those that add the priming solution to the bucket first usually have a pretty good idea of what volume they have. Either they've maked volumes on their fermenters or they've just done it enough times to know.


TL
 
I generally rack first, then add sugar. Unless you've done it a bunch of times, it's hard to know exactly what volume of beer you're going to end up with. I like being able to carb exactly to what I'm going for, so it's nice to know total volume first. As for mixing, I sanitize a long spoon, and stir gently for a minute or two. I have not had any problems with even carbing across batches.
 
What were the OG and FG of your brew? Adding the water is going to thow that off and you may end up with 5 gal of water-down beer. :mad: If your FG and your target are pretty close, then I wouldn't add it. Just take the 4 gallons and call it a learning experience.

As far as the priming sugar goes, I have always been pretty close to the 5 gallon mark that I have on my carboys so I just use the standard 3/4 cup of corn sugar, with the 1.5 c of boiled water. Chill the sugar solution, add to bottling bucket and then rack the beer on top of it.

Let us know how it turns out.
 
My OG was 1.054 . . . I was shooting for 1.044 and I think I would have been somewhat close to that had the extra gallon+ of water not been boiled off. I am only a little over 3 days into fermentation and have not checked the gravity since fermentation started, but I am estimating (assuming I am doing the calculations correctly) that the final gravity should end up somewhere between 1.013 and 1.015 (the attenuation range for wyeast 3944 is 72-76%)

My thought of adding during bottling is because that seemed like the only real possibility of a time to do it with the least amount of risk. I figured I would be boiling water anyway in order to disolve the corn sugar and hopefully kill off bacteria, at that point I may be able to add a more in hopes of increasing the volume.

My main concern is the quality of the beer, quite honestly I would rather have 4 gallons of good beer than 5 that are watered down. My other fear is that the 4 will be out of balance due to the higher gravity, and while I enjoy a stronger brew, I would rather have 5 gallons of a nice wit then have 4 at a higher ABV.

Thanks for the insight so far, any additional thoughts are appreciated.
 
Looking at the numbers and the logic, it does make sense to do that. The other thing you could do too, is before you bottle it, take an 8 ounce sample from your 4 gal, and add 1 ounce of water to it. See how it is. If my math is correct, with your original 4 gal (512oz) and adding 1/2 gal (64 oz) of boiled water, you should have an 8:1 ratio. Just see if it's tastes waterdown or not.... Just a thought....
 
My thought of adding during bottling is because that seemed like the only real possibility of a time to do it with the least amount of risk. I figured I would be boiling water anyway in order to disolve the corn sugar and hopefully kill off bacteria, at that point I may be able to add a more in hopes of increasing the volume.

My main concern is the quality of the beer, quite honestly I would rather have 4 gallons of good beer than 5 that are watered down. My other fear is that the 4 will be out of balance due to the higher gravity, and while I enjoy a stronger brew, I would rather have 5 gallons of a nice wit then have 4 at a higher ABV.

Thanks for the insight so far, any additional thoughts are appreciated.


I did the exact same thing you did with my current batch. It's still in the primary but I know I'll be coming up at least a 1/2 gallon short of 5 gallons. Personally, I'm just priming based off the 4- 4 1/2 gallons that I am going to end up with. Another poster on here gave me good advice in that when you top off your primary, add another 1/2 gallon which will take into account what you lose during transfers etc.

Good luck.
 
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