Brooklyn Brew Shop Bottling Questions

[Tkeonce]

Brewed my first BBS 2 weeks ago and now have a couple of questions. 1) I can still see a a little bit of action in the fermenter. Am I hurting anything waiting an extra week to bottle? 2) do most people bottle straight from the fermenter as shown on BBS website? 3) if so then how do you thoroughly mix in your priming sugar?

 

[deadphish]

If its still going, wait to bottle or it could blow.

 

[flars]

Let your beer go until FG is determined. Give the beer a little more time to clear, then you're ready to bottle. Clearing the beer in the primary is necessary if you bottle directly from the primary.
Bottling from the primary will require adding the priming solution to each bottle, PITA. You will also have to fill the bottles with a siphon, PITA.
It is more efficient to rack the beer to a bottling bucket, bulk prime, and fill the bottles with a wand attached to the buckets spigot.

All my beers are in the primary for at least three weeks. By that time the beer is clear and the trub layer is compacted.

 

[ncbrewer]

In the interest of safety, I firmly believe it's best to check gravity 2 - 3 days before you plan to bottle. Check again on bottling day. If the gravity is stable and the beer is clear to slightly mist, it's OK to bottle. If not, wait and check the gravity again later. Make sure the gravity is corrected for temperature.

 

[teleplucker]

Wait at least three weeks. Use a bottling bucket. Don't use as much honey as they suggest when bottling - check Northern Brewer's calculator for one gallon amounts.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Brewed my first BBS 2 weeks ago and now have a couple of questions. 1) I can still see a a little bit of action in the fermenter. Am I hurting anything waiting an extra week to bottle? 2) do most people bottle straight from the fermenter as shown on BBS website? 3) if so then how do you thoroughly mix in your priming sugar?

I just completed my first BBS brew (Chocolate Maple Porter). You can read about it and the things that I learned by clicking this link:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/brooklyn-brew-shops-chocolate-maple-porter-tips-advice-492568/

To answer your questions:

a) Waiting an extra week is fine - in fact, it is a good idea. That way you know all fermentation is finished. I checked with Stephen and Erica at BBS and they said this was just fine.

b) The BBS website and instructions recommend that you mix your priming sugar (usually honey, maple syrup or brown sugar) with a little hot water in a separate pot/kettle. Then you siphon the beer from the fermenter to the pot. Then you gently mix the beer with the priming sugar/water mixture and bottle the beer from the pot. This is what I did and it worked very well.

b1) The mini auto-siphon is your best friend for this:

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/accessories/mini-auto-siphon

b2) From reading here, I learned that you might consider 2 or 2.5 tablespoons of honey/maple syrup/whatever instead of three. 3 tablespoons seems to result in slightly-over-carbonated beer (but no danger of bottle bombs as long as fermentation is complete - see point "a").

3) Thorough mixing of the priming sugar is achieved by siphoning from fermenter to pot/kettle (with priming sugar/water mixture), then gently stirring the whole thing together.

Ths worked for me - results were very good:

Hope this helps - please ask if you have any other questions.

Ron

 

[rupert130]

To save on equipment I have bottled several times straight from the primary fermentor. It is just a Brew Bucket with the spigot at the bottom. About 24 hrs prior to bottling I prop up the spigot end to let trub/yeast settle away from it, then I add the priming sugar dissolved in water and stir as gently as possible. I then wait about 5 to 10 min to let everything settle and diffuse. Last I bottle straight off the spigot. No problem with inconsistent CO2 pressure or anything else. It may not be ideal, but it can be done quite successfully.

 

[brewerJase]

You should definitely rack to a bottling bucket. So much easier to prime in one shot. Also I would not use honey, brown sugar or maple syrup. Unless the recipe specifically calls for this. Use dextrose (corn sugar) for bottle priming. It will work great and not add any unwanted flavours.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Beyonde Blonde instructions here:

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/directions/Brooklyn_Brew_Shop_Beyond_Blonde_Instructions.pdf

They clearly call for honey....