Bottled Larger, is it doing its thing properly?

[MrCat]

Hi folks,

I'm very new to the homebrew thing but have a few brews on the go now.

My question: I bottled up some Coopers Australian Larger on the 3rd of this month, I syphoned it from the fermenter into a pressure barrel with my priming sugar in it and left it overnight before bottling the next morning.

The bottles have been 18 to 24 degrees C, tho occasionally maybe 16 in the night. I thought that should be warm enough but being new I thought they wouldn't clear so quick as they have. I have some of the batch in PET bottles and they are firming up a bit but not solid, and some of the batch in clear glass so I can see what's going on (the PET's are brown). I'm wondering as they are so clear whether I should gently stir up the sediment again, will this aid the second fermenting, or should I just leave them to it and comtinue my plan which was to leave them a few weeks in the warm before moving them to the porch where they'll get more like 5 to 10 degrees C conditioning...

I hope that makes sense, yes I'm new
Any advice most welcome!
Cheers folks.

 

[Subdivisions]

Its only been 5 days. Let them go for another week and a half at least. Being clear isn't a problem. There is microscopic stuff going on in the bottle. If you want to rouse them then go ahead, it won't hurt.

When you want to try them AFTER your 2 weeks put one or two in the fridge for a day or two so that the CO2 dissolves into the beer. You'll be able to tell if they are ready for cold conditioning at that point. You want to make sure the beer is carbonated correctly before putting it in cold storage.

On a side note after looking at your process: You may have wanted to give the beer a light stir before bottling since leaving it overnight may have allowed a lot of your priming sugar to separate and fall out of the mixture. I'm speculating here so don't get too worried. If you have some undercarbed and some overcarbed bottles then that's what may have happened.

 

[MrCat]

That's great! Thanks, handy tip trying a few in the fridge. Yes I was worried about my priming sugar maybe not being mixed properly but I only thought about that after the last bottle of course I'll remember next time!

I also opened the lid of the pressure barrel so I could get a good tap flow, an amazing amount of pressure build up from just over night so I hope I didn't loose some of my carbonation...If I find it's not carbonating properly should I leave it longer in the warm?

 

[Gavin C]

Hi folks,

I'm very new to the homebrew thing but have a few brews on the go now.

My question: I bottled up some Coopers Australian Larger on the 3rd of this month, I syphoned it from the fermenter into a pressure barrel with my priming sugar in it and left it overnight before bottling the next morning.

Cheers folks.

Once you add the priming sugar to the beer you should bottle immediately. Do not wait. The yeat will have munched on the sugar and produced C02, hence the pressure when you open it. Means less CO2 will be retained in the beer-flat beer.

What's a pressure barrel BTW?

 

[MrCat]

Cheers Gavin, I kind of suspected that but remain optimistic it couldn't go that fast over 12 hours...time will tell now

A pressure barrel / keg / I guess they have different names? - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=p...rbv48m3yAIVxTgUCh2ssA5z#imgrc=ZAr4GEzPiVhYhM:

My friend said he kegged his first as just like me he doesn't have posh no-suck syphon nor a tap on the fermenter so it's just a bit less messy and easier! But I won't wait next time! Got a brew to bottle today or tomorrow - Woodfordes Nog Porter!

 

[MrCat]

Thanks Gavin, I did wonder and I'll not wait next time. My friend said he used a pressure barrel first as it makes bottling easier if you don't have a fancy no-suck syphon or a tap on your fermenter...

Maybe pressure barrels have different names ... just a keg with a tap on the bottom and a co2 injection system on top if you're lucky. Ooops double post! I can't find the delete button

 

[RM-MN]

Once you add the priming sugar to the beer you should bottle immediately. Do not wait. The yeat will have munched on the sugar and produced C02, hence the pressure when you open it. Means less CO2 will be retained in the beer-flat beer.

What's a pressure barrel BTW?

The yeast in the beer will eat the priming sugar very quickly. I've bottled in plastic bottles to see how long it took to get carbonation as the plastic bottle will get pretty hard when the beer is carbonated. When I bottled in the mid morning, by the next morning the plastic bottles were rock hard, proof that the yeast ate most of the priming sugar within 24 hours.

When you left your beer primed and in the pressure barrel overnight, there would be little sugar left to carbonate in the bottles. I know that people bottle from a pressurized keg but that means keeping the carbonation in the beer during the process. If the beer was very cold (nearly frozen) it will retain much more of the carbon dioxide.

 

[MrCat]

Thanks RM,

Hmmm I'm less optimistic now but the plastic bottles have hardened now, not rock hard sadly but seems not bad, I'm hoping another week in the warm will see to that but we'll see...

Thanks for all the tips, going to bottle my Porter today so I'll get it straight in there via the keg and some pre-dissolved sugar in a little water - my friend suggested this also helps for even distribution of the priming sugar if you don't have any fancy bottle drops or anything