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Two weeks after bottling and I've tried my first beer....... It's not bad!! I know I should wait another week so I will try again then. I have noticed that it seems VERY fizzy!! I didn't have any problems like a foam volcano and it poured fine but it does seem very fizzy. I must confess that when I was priming, the amount of sugar in the instructions and the amount on the calculators were VERY different and I followed the instructions instead, I wonder if this might explain the extra fizz.

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How much beer did you bottle, and how much priming sugar did you use? Most people use 5 ounces or 3/4 cup (I think...) of corn sugar for bottling with decent results. It's a good number for the average beer. I don't usually bother with other amounts unless I'm brewing a barleywine or RIS or some other beer that calls for a much different carbonation level.

Next step? Get some clear glasses for drinking your beer from! ;)
 
Two weeks after bottling and I've tried my first beer....... It's not bad!! I know I should wait another week so I will try again then. I have noticed that it seems VERY fizzy!! I didn't have any problems like a foam volcano and it poured fine but it does seem very fizzy. I must confess that when I was priming, the amount of sugar in the instructions and the amount on the calculators were VERY different and I followed the instructions instead, I wonder if this might explain the extra fizz.

I've experienced that in beers before. Usually letting it sit helps settle the carbonation a bit. I'm not explaining it right I'm sure. But for example my Winter Ale I tasted it after exactly a week and there was no green apple taste, but there was what I'd describe as almost a fountain soda effervescence, but even just 3 days later it was better and by the end of the following week it was even better. I had one just the other day (been about 3 months since bottling) and it was still perfect. I drank many of them at Christmas when the 3 week period would have occurred.
 
Hi everyone.

I thought I'd let you all know how I'm getting on! My first batch is now done and bottled, now for the hard part, waiting!
There have been a couple of things I have noticed that I will try to change when I do my next batch that I was hoping to get some advice on. I planned for 34 bottles but in reality I only got 27 due to the amount of sediment at the bottom. As I planned for 34 bottles I added enough priming sugar for 34 bottles so I'm hoping I don't get bombs! How do you guys figure this in to your priming sugar calculations? Also, can you go straight from fermenting bucket to bottle? I have a bottling bucket which I transferred to but I figure it would make sense to just ferment straight into that, wouldn't cause a problem would it or is it better to rack it anyway?
Any who, thanks for all the advice and help, I think I will have to go and get some more bottles as there is no way I will be able to wait upto a month before getting another brew on ! :)

All the best,

J

Your yield will vary. My last batch I got 48 out of because of lots of straining to get nearly all the hops and proteins out of the fermenter. Batch before that I got about 40 or 42 (I forget) because I didn't do those things. Letting your beer sit longer compresses the trub and being careful with handling also helps.

As far as fermenting or rackign it really depends. If you're priming in bottle or priming in a keg then it doesn't make too much of a difference as long as you know your trub level will be well below the spigot line (flowing beer will disturb the trub)

Personally I will always rack to secondary or keg because I think it's the best way to get clear beer. I've been good at getting clear beers without fining agents or anything. Racking only takes about 10 minutes and it's the best way to evenly distribute priming sugar.
 
Ive just had a thought, I will need to check my notes at home but there is 4g per teaspoon of table sugar, half of that per bottle (34 bottles) would make for 68g which is about right on the calculator, I'm sure I used WAY more than that. I'm wondering if I forgot to half the amount, I'm sure I used over 100g. Plus I only bottled 27 as I hadn't accounted for the trub at the bottom of the fermenter (I will bear this in mind for next time)
 
hoppyhoppyhippo said:
Your yield will vary. My last batch I got 48 out of because of lots of straining to get nearly all the hops and proteins out of the fermenter. Batch before that I got about 40 or 42 (I forget) because I didn't do those things. Letting your beer sit longer compresses the trub and being careful with handling also helps.

As far as fermenting or rackign it really depends. If you're priming in bottle or priming in a keg then it doesn't make too much of a difference as long as you know your trub level will be well below the spigot line (flowing beer will disturb the trub)

Personally I will always rack to secondary or keg because I think it's the best way to get clear beer. I've been good at getting clear beers without fining agents or anything. Racking only takes about 10 minutes and it's the best way to evenly distribute priming sugar.

Do you strain it just through racking? At what stage do you do that? I thought I should let it settle and disturb it as little as possible?
 
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