Few questions

My Weizenbier is fermenting in the closet since 1.24.13 and the CO2 release has been slowing down every time I check.. The kit that I bought came with a carboy and a fermentation bucket.. I see some videos out there that they use either or to ferment the beer.. What's my next step and when do I do it? I know I have to move the beer to bottling and add the sugar but I purchased the keg along with carbon dioxide kit.. Help!!

What container is the beer in now? Leave it alone for another 2 1/2 weeks and check the gravity every day for about three days. If it stays the same it's ready to bottle. Does the bucket have a spigot on it? When you say CO2 kit what exactly do you mean - a corny keg and tank?

motoxer311 said:

My Weizenbier is fermenting in the closet since 1.24.13 and the CO2 release has been slowing down every time I check.. The kit that I bought came with a carboy and a fermentation bucket.. I see some videos out there that they use either or to ferment the beer.. What's my next step and when do I do it? I know I have to move the beer to bottling and add the sugar but I purchased the keg along with carbon dioxide kit.. Help!!

Click to expand...

It hasn't even been a week and airlock activity tells you nothing more that gas is escaping.

You need to take a gravity reading around day 7-10. If its final gravity,give it a day or two and check again and taste it! If its the same and tastes good add a week to allow the beer to clear.

If it has some off flavors then leave it go longer to clean up.

IMO it's a beer style that doesn't need secondary so when it's good to go just package it!

Atonk said:

What container is the beer in now? Leave it alone for another 2 1/2 weeks and check the gravity every day for about three days. If it stays the same it's ready to bottle. Does the bucket have a spigot on it? When you say CO2 kit what exactly do you mean - a corny keg and tank?

Click to expand...

It's in a bucket similar to the one below and yes it does have a spigot at the bottom..


I never did gravity readings when I had the small Mr Beer kits.. I'll have to head back to the brew shop and get an upright glass thing.. (forget the name)lol

duboman said:

It hasn't even been a week and airlock activity tells you nothing more that gas is escaping.

You need to take a gravity reading around day 7-10. If its final gravity,give it a day or two and check again and taste it! If its the same and tastes good add a week to allow the beer to clear.

If it has some off flavors then leave it go longer to clean up.

IMO it's a beer style that doesn't need secondary so when it's good to go just package it!

Click to expand...

You definitely don't need to transfer this one to the carboy.

Secondary fermentation vessels are used for either clarifying, addition of more fermentables (like fruits), or long term aging.

Weizenbeirs (wheats) in particular have a high percentage of wheat malt, so they are supposed to have wheat protein in suspension and should not be clear. They should be hazy, as it is that wheat protein that contributes most to the proper taste of most wheat-based beers.

Also, as opposed to most ales, that wheat protein actually makes it so the beer is best served at a younger age.

I do a ton of wheat-based beers. I would recommend you keep this one in primary for 7-10 days, then go ahead and bottle. Leave it in the bottle at room temp for 2 weeks to carbonate. After two weeks, put them in the fridge for AT LEAST 48 hours, then serve. It'll take that full 48 hours at fridge temps for all of the carbonation to absorb into the solution.

Just remember, that this abbreviated schedule is for beers with over 50% wheat malt as the base ONLY. A typical ale really should be more like 2 weeks in primary, 2 weeks to carb/condition in bottles, 1-2 weeks in the fridge, then serve.

Good luck!

Thank you for the info!

As for bottling part.. I bought a keg, do you know how to properly put the beer in the keg and then apply the carbon dioxide?

I agree with Topher on the sub 2-week primary and then straight to bottle. I'd also add that weizens seem to carbonate much faster too, possibly because of more yeast in suspension. I've had perfectly carbonated weizens in 4 days in the bottle, and I thought it was best extremely young. I did carb it to roughly 3.2 volumes though. Not familiar with kegging procedure.

You're beer is in your bottling bucket now, so when it's ready sanitize some hose and attach it to the spigot (clean the spigot as well and spray some sanitizer in/on it). Use gravity to fill your cleaned and sanitized keg.

Do you have a regulator and set of hoses and connections for the CO2 tank? If not you will need to pick some up. It's not a bad idea to purge the keg with CO2 before transferring your beer in, but it's not necessary. Once the beer is transferred in and your CO2 hooked up turn on the gas and pull up on the release valve a few times to help get the oxygen out. Then you can turn it on full and shake it like crazy for about 15 minutes, or leave it on a lower pressure for a few days. The latter is usually the preferred method.

This is my current CO2 tank with regulator.. There is already CO2 in the tank when I bought it, I'm guessing it's pre purged.. I'm guessing I will have to clean this tank up as I did everything else right? Shake the keg like crazy?

I found this on here some time ago and use it for carbonating my kegs. No issues so far and seems to work very well. Hope this helps.

1. After the fermentation process is complete, clean and sanitize you corny keg.

2. Siphon the fermented wort into your Cornelius keg and install the cap. Try to keep any contaminates out of the finished wort. Some beers may need to be lagered before the charging of the corny keg takes place. Check your recipe for this step.

3. Take a screw driver and set the low pressure gage to about 30 psi. Turn the gas out valve on the regulator to the off position. Connect the pin lock or ball lock fitting to the proper valve on the Cornelius keg.

4. Turn the valve quickly to the on position. This will help seal the cap to the corny keg. Check the valve stems and cap for any possible leaks with a soapy water solution or glass cleaner. Look for bubbles to appear around these places especially around the cap.

5. If you see any bubbles remove the gas line to the Cornelius keg and drain the pressure in the keg by pushing down on the center of the gas (IN) stem with a small screw driver or a pocket knife to relieve the pressure. Adjust the cap by breaking it loose with the palm of your hand or a rubber mallet. Re-center the cap. At the same time pull up on the cap while locking it in place with the safety locking bar. Repeat step 4 after you reseal the cap on the Cornelius keg.

6. After the cap is sealed leave the pressure on @ 30 psi. Sit down in a chair, lay the keg across your knees and rock it back and forth for about 5 - 7 minutes. This will help the Co2 to absorb into the beer at fast rate by creating more surface area for the Co2 to come in contact with.

7. Now its time to put it in the refrigerator and let the Co2 super saturate the beer. You might think that’s it, but there is still a little more to it. After about a week, hook the gas back up to the corny keg for about 3 - 4 days @ 10 psi. This will complete the saturation of the beer.

8. While in storage leave the Co2 attached to the Cornelius keg. This will insure your beer will always be ready to drink. Before serving remove the Co2 hose from the keg. Bleed off the pressure as in step 5. Reset the pressure on the regulator to between 3 & 5 psi. This will allow you to have nicely carbonated beer without a lot of foam.


*** I forget who actually wrote the instructions from here, and can't seem to find the post at the moment, but thanks go out to the original poster.

Good find, thank you sir!