Waited 9 months to bottle:(

OK, so I got busy... Umm lazy.. No that's not it either, I just neglected my first brew and now I feel terrible. I brewed on 17 Nov, 2007 from a Coopers Bitter malt concentrate and 3 LBs of Malt extract syrup from the LBS. Initial SG was 1.040. On 2 Dec it was 1.012 after a week at that SG so I moved it to the secondary in my dark pantry. Now heres the terrible part, on 21 Aug, 2008 I bottled it after a reading of 1.010 and adding my dextrose to the mix. I probably know the answer but did I ruin this batch? I'm waiting the recommended 10 days for the carbonation and then I will open my first bottle. It smelled good when I was bottling it, well it smelled a little sweet but still smelled like beer and there was a ton of sediment on the bottom of the carboy but I transfered it to another carboy before syphoning it into a bucket with my dextrose mix before bottling. Thoughts?

cvav8or

My only thought is that it will probably undercarb by a bit. the yeast had probably settled fairly well in that time, and you might not get enough in the bottles.

Other than that, your beer should be fine. I would keep it at room temp for 3-4 weeks before popping the first one.

It's better to have bottled and lost then never to have bottled at all.

Is my garage ok? I am in Washington so its a steady 60-65 in there this time of the year.

Zach

cvav8or said:

Is my garage ok? I am in Washington so its a steady 60-65 in there this time of the year.

Zach

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Yup. Sounds fine to me.

I'm thinking since it was in the secondary, and not the primary, there wasn't much yeast in there anyway, so autolysis would be of very little concern. You said it was in a dark pantry, so light shouldn't be an issue. Sounds like your temps were good. I think you'll be pleasently surprised, and will have a good beer on your hands. The only thing I would have done differently would be to add more yeast when bottling, but you might even be ok as far as that goes too (might take a little longer to carb though......I'd check it at 3 weeks and see if it's showing any signs of carbonation, if not then give it another 3 weeks)

cvav8or said:

O I'm waiting the recommended 10 days for the carbonation and then I will open my first bottle.
cvav8or

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The "recommended," at least around here is 21 days @ 70 degrees.

Read this https://www.homebrewtalk.com/558191-post101.html

You're beer will probably be fine. There was some discussion about natural carbonation recently...about the amount of co2 that would come during carbonation if you didn't prime and waited several months in the bottle...So as long as the yeast was viable, even if it wasn't too active, it should carb up eventually with patience.

I personally would ignore the beer for at least a month, let the yeast wake up and do their job...What I WOULD do, is that once a week for the next couple weeks, take each beer and roll it on the table back and forth a couple times (or quickly just upend them once) this will keep the yeast from flocculating to the bottom. If they stay awake, they will eat the sugars you provided for them at priming...and release some co2.

edit if your temps are under 70, count on it taking longer, like 6 weeks or so..you might want to flip the bottles for the first three then.

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the knowledge and for putting me at ease. I'm excited about this brew and now that I have done it I'm no longer intimidated about bottling. I was really dreading cleaning all the bottles but it was easier than I thought and syphoning it into the bottles was much easier than I anticipated. I know I know... I must sound crazy but the kitchen really isn't my place. now if I could brew and bottle out on the deck next to the BBQ it would be different. Already planning on doing a heffe as my next brew, possibly starting it this weekend. Thanks again.

Zach

cvav8or said:

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the knowledge and for putting me at ease. I'm excited about this brew and now that I have done it I'm no longer intimidated about bottling. I was really dreading cleaning all the bottles but it was easier than I thought and syphoning it into the bottles was much easier than I anticipated. I know I know... I must sound crazy but the kitchen really isn't my place. now if I could brew and bottle out on the deck next to the BBQ it would be different. Already planning on doing a heffe as my next brew, possibly starting it this weekend. Thanks again.

Zach

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You CAN bottle outdoors. There's no reason not to. Just keep your lid on while bottling and it'd be fine.

cvav8or said:

Already planning on doing a heffe as my next brew, possibly starting it this weekend. Thanks again.

Zach

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Zach...I can promise you that Heffes definitely DON'T need as long a primary

I still am having a hard time contemplating that someone let their first beer sit so long...usually we have to talk them down from wanting to stick a long straw in the primary and sucking away.

Well, in my own defense I fly for the Navy and my platform is being phased out. I moved from Jacksonville, FL to Whidbey Island, WA to begin training in my new platform. when I first got here I was bored and thats when I started to brew, long story short the training finally picked up and I found I had fewer days off just as I should have been bottling. I recently finished my training and am now with my fleet squadron, hence I finally came back to my brew and got off my butt to bottle it.

OK, that was a sad story....... Bottom line= I was lazy but I can assure you I wont ever do this again, Looking at my brew now in bottles that I can actually drink from is killing me. The wife is happy to get some more floor space in her pantry though. Wonder how happy she will be when I brew my next batch here. Thanks again.

cvav8or

So I did as a few of you recommended and flipped my bottles every few days or so and waited about 2 weeks to open my first bottle and all I can say is wow! It is just as carbonated as any store bought brew and is as tasty if not more than some. I had my doubts but I absolutely love my first brew. So in my eyes, my first brew is a huge success. Thanks for the advice all, can't wait to brew my next batch which I think will be a heffe. Oh, and I definately won't be waiting 9 months to bottle

cvav8or

Awesome, glad to hear it.

Nice job, now grab the brew pot and get started on that next one. I was glad to see it was a success.

Congrats