Bottling for the first time.. question

So Saturday will be 2 weeks for my first batch. Its Weissbier.. Im guessing it should be ready to bottle.

Should I place my carboy in a cold area to make the yeast settle to the bottom more?

The beer is currently kind of dark.. almost like an Ale color.. it doesn't look light like a weiss should be. Is there something wrong?

syd138 said:

So Saturday will be 2 weeks for my first batch. Its Weissbier.. Im guessing it should be ready to bottle.

Click to expand...

Don't guess. Know. Test your gravity to make sure.
2 weeks in primary should be OK, but only the hydrometer knows.

syd138 said:

The beer is currently kind of dark.. almost like an Ale color.. it doesn't look light like a weiss should be. Is there something wrong?

Click to expand...

I'm guessing this was an extract recipe? You can expect an extract recipe to be darker than AG

Yeah it was an extract kit.

Will it still taste lighter like a normal Weiss?

Have you heard of chilling your carboy for a little while to let the yeast settle before bottling?

+1 on the hydrometer.

Placing it in a cold area is a good idea. Preferably just above freezing, but if not that's ok. That's called cold crashing and it makes for a nice compact yeast cake that won't stir up as easily. Leave it there for a few days to let it all cool off. If you do this, remember that colder beer will have more CO2 in solution and requires less priming sugar for the same amount of carbonation.

Here's a decent tool for calculating priming sugar
KotMF: Priming Sugar Calculator

I use beersmith, and highly recommend it.

I don't mean to threadjack but I believe this falls under the same topic. When bottling how full do you normally fill the bottles? Do you fill to the same levels as a beer you would buy or slightly lower to allow for carbonation?

I put the fill stick in and go to the top. This leaves the perfect amount of space when you take the stick out.

To the OP....call it a Dunkel

Using a bottling wand fill it as high as you possibly can, and when you pull the bottling wand out it will leave the perfect headspace.

Great advice, thank you!