Bottled my first brew!

[Leggoma]

I bottled my first batch of beer this last Sunday. I just had a few questions. Just to be sure, for an ale, the beer needs to sit for 3 weeks in the bottle to build up the carbonation from the sugar primer. Does the alcohol content raise a little during this process? Do I keep the bottles in the same temperature the beer fermented in? The beer was a tiny on the sweet side, does the carbonation processes cut some of that sweetness?

 

[lazarus0530]

Yes.... Eh not really..yes...yes

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

it will increase just a tad, nothing noticeable. keep the bottles at 70 or so degrees for three weeks. and yes, carbonation will help the flavor develop, and cut some of the sweetness. was the sweetness after adding priming sugar or before?

 

[Dynachrome]

Three weeks is a good start.

Carbonating increases the alcohol content ever so slightly.

Bottle conditioning - basement temp by my standards.

Others will have differing opinions.

Look into the threads at the bottom of your page BTW.

 

[Leggoma]

The sweetness was before I added the priming sugar. It wasn't incredibly sweet, but just a little bit more than I expected.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

what was the FG?

 

[Leggoma]

what was the FG?

The FG was 1.020. But I think I may have an "off" hydrometer. The recipe said the OG was supposed to be 1.057 and the FG was supposed to be 1.011. However, the OG was actually 1.066 and the FG was like I said before, 1.020. So the FG is less by the same amount that it was supposed to be, .046, which is just above 6%, which is what the recipe said it would be.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

well, many extract brews, especially those with LME and darker extracts will finish around 1.02. not a biggie, it'll be good and the carbonation will cut that sweeteness, so no worries.

 

[Leggoma]

Great to hear! I can't wait to try it.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Great to hear! I can't wait to try it.

patience young jedi. your best friend it will be. give it a few weeks and you'll be enjoying it. now get to brewing the next batch! :rockin:

 

[Leggoma]

Yeah, I travel half the time with work, so that will help with the patience. Usually travel for 2-3 weeks at a time. I've already got the ingredients for my second batch. I put it together with Beersmith and hope it turns out ok. I was going to do a Pilsner, but that was before I realized the actual lager process was a little too ambitious for me right now with no spare fridge in the garage. So, the brew store let me just swap out the yeast so I could convert it into more of a Pale Ale. I wanted kind of a "baseline" beer that I could experiment with and tweak in the future.


Batch size 5 gallons
Boil size 6.1 gallons
Boil time 60 minutes
Grain weight 8.6 pounds
Efficiency 75%

Original gravity 1.055
Final gravity 1.014
Alcohol (by volume) 5.4%
Bitterness (IBU) 40
Color (SRM) 8.2°L
Yeast
2 liquid packs
Wyeast
1056 American Ale

Grains/Extracts/Sugars
8.6 pounds
Liquid Malt - Pilsen
34ppg, 3°L 6.6 pounds
76.7%
Crystal 20L
35ppg, 20°L 2 pounds
23.3%

Hops
3 ounces
Crystal hops
3.3%, Pellet 1 ounce
Northern Brewer hops
9.8%, Pellet 1 ounce
Liberty hops
3%, Pellet 1 ounce


Mash
60 minutes, 6.3 gallons
Strike
Target 152°F 3 quarts
163°F
60 minutes (+0)
Sparge
Target 170°F 5.6 gallons
175°F

Boil
60 minutes, 6.1 gallons
Northern Brewer hops
9.8%, Pellet 1 ounce
60 minutes (+0)
Crystal hops
3.3%, Pellet 1 ounce
15 minutes (+45)
Wort chiller 15 minutes (+45)
Liberty hops
3%, Pellet 1 ounce
5 minutes (+55)

Ferment
14 days @ 60-72°F