Bottling & Timing Question...

Soo, Kinda a multi-part question here..

1) I have a brew thats been in my primary for 2 weeks... I'm traveling next week for 10 days... So, my question is, do I bottle now or leave in my bucket for another potential 2 weeks? My plan all along was to leave in the bucket for 3 weeks, that's now shot... I'm really just wondering if 4 weeks is too long in the primary?

2) If I were to bottle this weekend, I need some general bottling advice... My fermenter is in my basement. Whats the best way to get the beer upstairs into my Kitchen for bottling? A) Rack to bottling bucket and move upstairs? B) Move primary upstairs, then rack to Bottling bucket? C) Do it all in the basement?

2a) I'm guessing B is the better choice for me... Would moving the primary upstairs 24 hours before racking be enough time to let things settle back down a bit?

2b) Lastly, I used a Brewers Best kit for the first time... In the kit they included a 5oz pack of priming sugar. Is that sufficient to bottle the whole lot? Should I follow some of the advice i've seen here and boil the priming sugar with some water, let it cool then rack from primary into the bottling bucket, then bottle?


Thanks

Personally, I would say that if you have a carboy, rack it to there for the ten days, just to get it off of the trub.

When you bottle, I would move the bucket/carboy as little as possible. The more you move it, the longer I would let it settle.

When I bottle, I ALWAYS disolve the sugar in hot water (I read somewhere NOT to let it boil) and then let it cool down to room temp. I put the sugar water in the bucket first, THEN the brew, so that it all mixes better. And, yes, use the whole pack of priming sugar.

I'm sure there are other opinions, from people who have been doing this a LOT longer than I have, but that's what has worked for me.

1. Leave it in bucket for 2 more weeks. 4 > 2, especially if you aren't transferring to secondary.

2. I have the same setup and move it to the basement. Although that gets things moving so it will probably be ideal to transfer downstairs.

2a) yes, should be plenty of time.

2b) I've yet to get consistent results bottle conditioning. But, check out this site:
The Beer Recipator - Carbonation

1) - just leave it - always remember - homebrewing is the procrastinate's best hobby. You will only HELP your beer by forgetting about it.

2) - I carry the 700lb carboy upstairs and let it sit for a few hours and then rack into the bottling bucket - THEN move the bottling bucket over the dishwasher and open the DW's door to catch drips.



2a) - 24 hours would be fine unless you trip going up the stairs and it rolls down and mixes everything.

2b) - 5oz could be too much actually go here

The Beer Recipator - Carbonation

to get the correct amount. Just pour the cooled liquid into the bottom of the bottling bucket as you rack the wort into the bucket. The syphone should be swirling enough to mix it up good.

Grinder12000 said:

1) - just leave it - always remember - homebrewing is the procrastinate's best hobby. You will only HELP your beer by forgetting about it.

2) - I carry the 700lb carboy upstairs and let it sit for a few hours and then rack into the bottling bucket - THEN move the bottling bucket over the dishwasher and open the DW's door to catch drips.

2a) - 24 hours would be fine unless you trip going up the stairs and it rolls down and mixes everything.

2b) - 5oz could be too much actually go here

The Beer Recipator - Carbonation

to get the correct amount. Just pour the cooled liquid into the bottom of the bottling bucket as you rack the wort into the bucket. The syphone should be swirling enough to mix it up good.

Click to expand...

Ah, yes... That's the exact picture I stumbled on somewhere else in this forum and got the idea to bottle upstairs... It just make sooo much sense to bottle over the dishwasher

So when I look at the carbonation link, it asks me the desired CO2 volume? Not sure I know how to answer this...

You should be fine leaving it another 2 weeks, I routinely leave beers a month in the primary. As for moving things around, personally I like to bottle in my kitchen so I would say bring the fermenter upstairs a few hours before bottling and then do all your racking there.

What kind of beer are you brewing - there is a pull down menu that has the recommendations.

For example an American Amber is 2.2 to 2.8 - I'll use 2.6ish.


TheJadedDog - hope you are feeling better.

I'm brewing a English style Pale Ale...