New to this, some questions

[Dave T]

I did some searching but couldn’t find any definitive answers. I’m only on my first batch, bottled yesterday and am going to start a second tomorrow while waiting for the Super Bowl. Using premade extract kits, with directions, and buckets vs see through glass until I decide if I’m going to keep with it (those glass bottles cost quite a bit). Sorry for the non-technical words, still not up on the lingo.

1. What is pitching yeast? I see it a lot on the forums, no definitive description

2. What is a ‘bottle bomb’?

3. What’s the difference between the liquid malt extract and the dry malt extract, and why are there two kinds? Oh, and with the liquid, what’s the necessity of getting ALL of it out of the can? I’m a bit of a perfectionist (wife prefers the term anal...I like my description better), so I made sure it was completely empty, but in the end I think I had more on me. That stuff is tough even when warm.

4. While cooking the extract, I mixed it with water, and then waited a couple eternities for the entirety of the bucket to cool down so I could add the yeast. If I start off with really cold water to make at least one eternity go away, will that harm anything?

5. After cooking the extract and putting in the first bucket (primary fermenter?) I found out that while the room temp was 70f, the floor temp was 62f, making the bulk temp around 65f. - is the 3f a big difference? I have a stand now and used a different room

4. It seemed that the bubbling stopped after about ten days vs the 7 the instructions stated. Is that due to the temp difference?

5. Gravity readings - why do they matter and what are they really telling me?

6. When I siphoned the beer into the bottling bucket with sugar mix there was a lot of goo at the bottom of the first bucket. This is expected?

7. The kit came with pelletized hops, second one has the same - when I move from kits (probably after tomorrow’s batch), is there a major difference between pellets and just using hops?

8. When bottling - does it matter how much room is at the top of the bottle? I don’t have any half filled bottles, but some are filled to the bottom of the neck, and some midway up. My perfectionism didn’t drive me to go back and make sure each one was filled to the same level, mainly because I was out of beer and didn’t want to figure out how to equalize.

Thanks

Dave

 

[Dave T]

Oh - one more

I know it’s bad to bottle too soon - is there a limit to how long a batch can sit in a fermenter before it starts to get yuk? I.e. if it stops bubbling and I’m gone, am I at risk of a bad batch?

Thanks

Dave

 

[seabrew8]

i'll answered a few questions.

- pitching yeast just means adding yeast to your wort.
- bottle bombs are when you add to much sugar to the flat beer to carbonate
- gravity readings tell you the density of the beer so you can track the ABV and when fermentation is completed,

 

[JesseM]

Hi there, good luck with brewing!
Some of your questions answered by another rookie, hopefully, these are accurate:

1) "Pitching yeast" means the moment when you put the yeast into your wort. You probably see different temperatures and stuff as well; some beers and yeasts have ideal fermentation temperatures. You want to pitch your yeast at right temps, your wort being too hot can kill all the yeast, and that can result in no fermentation.

2) "Bottle bomb", if you bottle your beer too soon (fermentation is not over) or you use too much sugar for carbonation, your bottles might... well... explode.

First 5) Usually, cooler is better for fermentation temps. But this comes down to your yeast. Lager yeast = cold, Ale yeast can do higher (would prefer 65 over 70, though!) and some Belgian beers do like warm temps. Beer style and yeast -> fermentation temperature.

Second 4) Could be, don't worry about that too much. Also, airlock activity doesn't mean fermentation. But better to play it safe, 10 days is good. You want to rely on OG and FG before bottling, though! That way you know when the fermentation has stopped.

Second 5) OG is your original gravity, how much sugar your wort has. After you pitch the yeast, and yeast eats some of the sugar you can see your final gravity FG (once the fermentation has stopped). You can calculate how much alcohol and sugar your beer has.

6) Yes, that would be your yeast that has dropped out due to no more food.

EDIT (5 posts a day limit!):

Jesse - you said rely on the OG/FG for bottling - what does that mean? When all fermentation stops, the FG is consistent right? Meaning I should take a FG reading when I think it’s done, and then another the next day to make sure?

Ah sorry, OG doesn't really matter. Basically, you want to keep an eye on FG. When it's stable for a few days, it should be safe to bottle. When it's stable, you know the yeast isn't active anymore = no more food.

 

[seabrew8]

Oh - one more

I know it’s bad to bottle too soon - is there a limit to how long a batch can sit in a fermenter before it starts to get yuk? I.e. if it stops bubbling and I’m gone, am I at risk of a bad batch?

Thanks

Dave

Personally, if i was using a bucket i wouldn't go over 4 weeks - 2 weeks is a good number. But glass or SS - months.

 

[Dave T]

Awesome, thanks a lot for the responses, I really appreciate it.

I was hoping ‘bottle bomb’ wasn’t that...I should get my bottles off of the carpet then. My wife doesn’t like the smell of stale beer...I can’t imagine she would like the look of a whole bottle of porter on her carpet either.

Jesse - you said rely on the OG/FG for bottling - what does that mean? When all fermentation stops, the FG is consistent right? Meaning I should take a FG reading when I think it’s done, and then another the next day to make sure?

Thanks

Dave

 

[C-Rider]

Personally, if i was using a bucket i wouldn't go over 4 weeks - 2 weeks is a good number. But glass or SS - months.

What's wrong w/leaving it in a bucket over 4 weeks? I have an Imperial Stout I'm not even gonna begin checking FG for 5 weeks. Hope you not refering to that old wife's tale about sitting on the yeast cake to long.

 

[stieg000]

I would suggest buying a copy of the 4th ed. of John Palmer's How to Brew. I've read the 3rd edition, very good info, not too heavy reading but it will answer all of those questions.

Personally I like buckets. I've been brewing for 7 years. They stack and they're cheap so you can have 4 or 5 and toss them out if they get scratched too bad. I only use soft sponges on my buckets. I've never had a contamination issue using oxiclean (cleaner) and star san (sanitizer). If your not using star San get some. I keep a 32oz spray bottle on hand always, just use distilled or RO water to make it.

 

[seabrew8]

What's wrong w/leaving it in a bucket over 4 weeks? I have an Imperial Stout I'm not even gonna begin checking FG for 5 weeks. Hope you not refering to that old wife's tale about sitting on the yeast cake to long.

Yeah something that strong would be an exception. More worried about oxygen actually not the yeast cake.

 

[RM-MN]

I did some searching but couldn’t find any definitive answers. I’m only on my first batch, bottled yesterday and am going to start a second tomorrow while waiting for the Super Bowl. Using premade extract kits, with directions, and buckets vs see through glass until I decide if I’m going to keep with it (those glass bottles cost quite a bit). Sorry for the non-technical words, still not up on the lingo.

1. What is pitching yeast? I see it a lot on the forums, no definitive description

2. What is a ‘bottle bomb’?

3. What’s the difference between the liquid malt extract and the dry malt extract, and why are there two kinds? Oh, and with the liquid, what’s the necessity of getting ALL of it out of the can? I’m a bit of a perfectionist (wife prefers the term anal...I like my description better), so I made sure it was completely empty, but in the end I think I had more on me. That stuff is tough even when warm.

4. While cooking the extract, I mixed it with water, and then waited a couple eternities for the entirety of the bucket to cool down so I could add the yeast. If I start off with really cold water to make at least one eternity go away, will that harm anything?

5. After cooking the extract and putting in the first bucket (primary fermenter?) I found out that while the room temp was 70f, the floor temp was 62f, making the bulk temp around 65f. - is the 3f a big difference? I have a stand now and used a different room

4. It seemed that the bubbling stopped after about ten days vs the 7 the instructions stated. Is that due to the temp difference?

5. Gravity readings - why do they matter and what are they really telling me?

6. When I siphoned the beer into the bottling bucket with sugar mix there was a lot of goo at the bottom of the first bucket. This is expected?

7. The kit came with pelletized hops, second one has the same - when I move from kits (probably after tomorrow’s batch), is there a major difference between pellets and just using hops?

8. When bottling - does it matter how much room is at the top of the bottle? I don’t have any half filled bottles, but some are filled to the bottom of the neck, and some midway up. My perfectionism didn’t drive me to go back and make sure each one was filled to the same level, mainly because I was out of beer and didn’t want to figure out how to equalize.

Thanks

Dave

2. Bottle bombs don't just spill beer, they are like hand grenades except instead of steel shards they throw broken glass up at least 30 ft if not contained. While your wife will be upset with the stale beer smell, the broken glass scattered throughout the room will really set her off.
3. Dry extract has had all the liquid removed. That's more expensive to do so liquid extract is sold as a cheaper alternative. I put some warm water in the container to get most of the malt extract out. Then I learned to do all grain BIAB and forgot all about liquid malt extract.
4. Set your boiling pot into a tub of cold water and add ice or snow to help chill it. The ice requires more energy to get it from solid to liquid than to heat an equivalent amount of water several degrees. If that isn't possible, use the tub of water and dump it out when it gets warm and start over with cold.
5. Your hydrometer is a way to measure the amount of sugar in a water based solution. The OG (original gravity) tells you a bit about the amount of alcohol that the wort can possibly produce. The FG (final gravity) tells you how much of that original sugar cannot be fermented by the yeast you are using. The formula for calculating the alcohol by volume (ABV) is (OG-FG)*.131.
6. That goo is a mixture of proteins, hop debris, and yeast. You can save that and use the yeast to ferment the next 4 batches of beer as there will be plenty of yeast for that. You can also eliminate much of the unwanted part of the goo. Search for yeast washing.
7. Whole leaf hops take up a lot more room, plus they float. The pellets break apart and settle to the bottom. I've used both and prefer pellets.
8. Get a bottle wand. It will have a valve at the bottom so when you put it to the bottom of the bottle the valve opens and lets beer in. When the beer reaches the top of the bottle, pull the wand up and the beer stops flowing. As you remove the wand, the space it took up is replaced with air, leaving you with the perfect amount of space above the beer.

 

[RM-MN]

Yeah something that strong would be an exception. More worried about oxygen actually not the yeast cake.

Nope. No exceptions. The lid on the fermenter bucket plus the airlock keeps the oxygen separated from the CO2 quite nicely. I've left a beer with OG of about 1.050 for 9 weeks and it came out really good. No rush to move beer from the primary bucket.

 

[ShutTheFermenter]

#8

Usually I fill my bottles right up to the brim so that when I remove my bottle filler there is about an inch of head space left. I always get good carbonation and minimal if any oxidation with this method.

 

[PADave]

I would suggest buying a copy of the 4th ed. of John Palmer's How to Brew. I've read the 3rd edition, very good info, not too heavy reading but it will answer all of those questions.

^^ couldn't agree more.

 

[C-Rider]

Yeah something that strong would be an exception. More worried about oxygen actually not the yeast cake.

since I do 2 gallon batches in 2 gallon buckets there is really little room for Oxygen in my fermenters. My IPA's usually sit for 3-4 weeks before I think about bottling them. I try to squeeze about 1.9 gallons into each bucket.

 

[ericbw]

Plastic is permeable v

 

[stosh]

I would suggest buying a copy of the 4th ed. of John Palmer's How to Brew. I've read the 3rd edition, very good info, not too heavy reading but it will answer all of those questions.[/QUOTE

I remember when I was new to this too (I still am and always will be).

I had all the same questions and the book above answered them all. Being a fellow perfectionist I kept reading and doing research with much of it done on this website.

A note of caution on the book...I only read the parts that would get me thru my first batch. Palmer is in a completely different league and now I study that book. You don't have to understand everything yet just the basics.

I brew extract right now but will move on to all grain soon. In my minds eye I will always be a "beginner" because there will always be someone who has more experience than me.

Such great questions for such a great lifelong hobby. Keep asking, keep reading, most of all keep brewing. The techniques and ingredients are ever changing, evolving and the help and support this place will give you is unreal.

My advice is brew basic for now. Learn the basics so you can make good beer reliably. Then start making small tweaks as you learn more technical, sophisticated things and always enjoy the process.