first post and question

Quick, and I hope simple, question - When bottling, will the SG drop at all after the addition of priming sugar and bottling during the conditioning process? I'm guessing it might by a point or less, but I don't know. I'm trying to get a handle on determining an accurate ABV for the finished beer.
Thanks for any thoughts on this!

Take your first reading (OG) and subtract your reading right before bottling from your secondary (FG) and multiply that by 131.

1.050 - 1.008 = 0.042

0.042 * 131 = 5.5%

I don't think priming sugar really does anything for alcohol. I think it's such a small amount of change, that there is no reason to account for it.

Thanks, I didn't think so either but was curious. I had bottled my first batch before it had actually bottomed out (gravity ) I think, and was wondering if it would continue to ferment in the bottles.

redpale said:

Thanks, I didn't think so either but was curious. I had bottled my first batch before it had actually bottomed out (gravity ) I think, and was wondering if it would continue to ferment in the bottles.

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Yes it will. The problem with that is you will have bottle bombs. When bottling, you want to make sure it has done fermenting before adding priming sugar and bottling.

They're already a week into conditioning and no explosions yet (knock wood)! - The gravity had dropped from 046 to 022 and seemed to stall there for a couple of days, but if I watched the airlock long enough it'd pop a bubble every couple of mins. or so.
I'm hoping if it wasn't done it was close enough to to not blow the bottles - but if they do start blowing I'll post and take the heat.

Thanks for the warning.

I would have let it go longer. That's gonna be some really weak beer if it was done fermenting. I've had active fermentation stop and the gravity will still drop over the next few days. A general rule is to do 1wk primary, 2wk secondary, and 3wks in the bottle.

Could you post your recipe?

It <i>is</i> a very low ABV, not by design... I opened one the other day - it's good, I think , but it is <i>light</i> - almost too much so. Nice Red color though, which was intentional.

Here's the recipe - I think next time I may pitch more yeast than just one pkg. It seemed that the yeast gave out before I would have liked.

Single stage, 10days, gravity was the same the last three.

"14/11" Red

Malt Extract
2 lbs Laaglander Light DME
1 lbs Laaglander Amber DME
3.3 lbs Munton & Fison Light LME
Grain (Steep)
1/2 lb Simpson's Golden Promise
1/2 lb Carared
1/4 lb Dark Crystal
2 oz Peat Smoked Malt
Hops
1 oz Pearle (60 mins)
1/2 oz Pearle (30 min)
1/2 oz Cluster (10 min)
Yeast
1 Pkg Windsor (Danstar) Yeast-Ale (Dry)

Hard to say man, but with all of that malt, I would have expected that you should have had an og of atleast 50 for that recipe if not a little more. I have never used Windsor, only Nottingham. I would like to try it though. I heard that it leaves the beer not as dry. I might try 2 batches and just switch the yeast. Hmmmm.

I use a small boil volume, about 2 gal. - and the can of Munton's was verrry old - maybe that kept the OG down?

It's very clean tasting, almost "spritzy"? Kind of "lager-ish" to my taste. It worked, but not as I meant it to. Next batch I want to try a Safale yeast and double it up.
The Windsor gave it a slightly fruity sweetness and the ferment took off in only a few hrs - fast out of the gate, but didn't quite finish the race I think.

Thanks for the input!

I use Windsor, and I do like it. The first time I used it, it finished out what seemed high.

Best thing to do, let a bottle go for maybe 5 days and open it. If you hear only a little "hiss", recap (with a sterile cap) and then try another bottle in another week. If you hear a louder "Pssst" sound, keep an eye on it, and test another in a few days. If you hear a "Pop", then you are on your way to overcarbonation. This can be remedied (painfully, but better than losing beer or having to clean up a mess!) by opening them to relieve the pressure and then recapping to allow carbonation to continue.

redpale said:

It worked, but not as I meant it to. Next batch I want to try a Safale yeast and double it up.

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You can do this if you don't feel confident in the health of your yeast. But if you have a fresh package of yeast, you really only need one 10-11 gm packet to pitch into a 5 gallon batch. Anything more is overkill unless you are fermenting a batch over say 65 SG or so (yeast dependent of course, some are better at it). So save the extra pack unless fermentation doesn't start well or is really, really weak.

zoebisch01 said:

I use Windsor, and I do like it. The first time I used it, it finished out what seemed high.

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I'd read that the Windsor left a higher FG, but was hoping to get lower than it did.
On the upside, at just over 3% ABV you can drink a couple of 'em w/o any um... effects!

The carbonation is good so far - I don't think I'm gonna' run into problems with 'bottle bombs' with this one.

you should be ok
i have gleaned from many other posts that laaglander does not ferment as fully as other malt extracts and so beers made with it finish with a higher than expected gravity see below


Home &#187; Beer Brewing &#187; Malts &#187; Laaglander &#187; Laaglander Plain Extra Light



Laaglander Plain Extra Light


Description

Made with 100% Barley. This spray dried malt is unique in that because only malt is used, the dextrine count is higher than other brands, resulting in a higher final specific gravity. The results are a full bodied, maltier flavor.

rod said:

you should be ok
i have gleaned from many other posts that laaglander does not ferment as fully as other malt extracts and so beers made with it finish with a higher than expected gravity

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Thnx Rod, I had not read that about Laaglander, specifically. It seems to bear out in this batch though. There is a residual sweetness that could be attributable to characteristics of the malt (and the yeast) that were not expected, but are not really unpleasant. At the end of the day (or weeks?) it turned out to be a good drink - though not what was targeted.

10 years ago I made a couple of simple extract beers - for some reason never caught the bug, and this is my first batch since then. I had to drag out all my old books and refresh the little understanding I'd acquired at that point. This time, I think I've gotten bit a little harder! Batch #2 is in bottles and batch #3 is on deck for early this week.

Rod is correct. Laaglander isn't a very fermentable malt compared to most of the rest. Though I haven't used it personally,I have heard on the various boards I'm on that it was the case.