bottled to enjoy time?

[littled630]

Ok bottled my first batch yesterday. I fermed for 6 days and conditioned in secondary for about 12 or 13 days. Fg was right around 1.010 which is what the recipe called for. I only had a half gallon due to boil over and not compensating for evap. Got 4 bottles from it and i use northern brewers sugar calc to measure my 17g of dme and added and dissolved it into wort before bottling. With all that said how long should wait to try one of the beers minimum. I tasted the small amount of leftover that couldnt be bottled and it tasted like s warm flat beer, so everything turned now im anxious to try it after its carbinated and chilled

 

[ktblunden]

Since you only ended up with 4 bottles you want to make sure they have enough time to carb and condition before you crack one. Let them sit for 3 weeks somewhere that stays around 70°F.

 

[littled630]

Three weeks!? The beers already been ferming and conditioning for 3 weeks before bottling. That seems a little long. Does it seriously take 3 weeks to carbinate. I sure hope not cause holy man 6 weeks for a ale to be ready to enjoy i think that might be enough to make me just buy my beer like usual lol. I have my second batch in secondary now too and that one i managed to keep a full gal and it looks a lot better color wise then the first batch, which was really dark! Ill attach pics of both batches when it decides to work!

 

[littled630]

Go figure kept failing but yet still attached them lol. Thats my second batch with a camera flash but it was put into secondary conditioning yesterday. Heres a pic of the first batch noticed the difference in how full my secondary is lol.

 

[Revvy]

Yes three weeks.....

There are no carbonation problems, only patience ones.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer. Beers stored cooler than 70, take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.


Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Carbing is foolprrof. You ad the right amount of sugar, leave it at the right temp, and it will carb.

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

 

[Revvy]

Three weeks!? The beers already been ferming and conditioning for 3 weeks before bottling. That seems a little long. Does it seriously take 3 weeks to carbinate. I sure hope not cause holy man 6 weeks for a ale to be ready to enjoy i think that might be enough to make me just buy my beer like usual lol. I have my second batch in secondary now too and that one i managed to keep a full gal and it looks a lot better color wise then the first batch, which was really dark! Ill attach pics of both batches when it decides to work!

My beers are a minimum 8 weeks from grain to glass.....Even kegging, if you do the set and forget method takes three weeks to carb up. But like I said above, just being carbed doesn't necessarily mean that the beer might not mean more time for the flavors to mellow.

 

[amandabab]

Three weeks!? The beers already been ferming and conditioning for 3 weeks before bottling. That seems a little long. Does it seriously take 3 weeks to carbinate. I sure hope not cause holy man 6 weeks for a ale to be ready to enjoy i think that might be enough to make me just buy my beer like usual lol.

yes it takes that long, start your 3rd batch.
It's hard to establish a pipeline so you're not always waiting 6-8 weeks with 1 gallon batches.

 

[littled630]

Damn that sucks lol yeah i need a second carboy cause right now i can cook and place in ferm bucket but i have to wait till prior batch only has one week left in secondary otherwise i got nowhere to go with the ferming batch lol. If i had a second carboy i could have batch ferming, one batch in week one of secondary and one batch in week 2 of secondary so i could cook each week!!

 

[TrickyDick]

Some folks I've heard get a plastic soda bottle and fill one at bottling along with the rest of their glass bottles. When the soda bottle is rock hard they know its ready.
Step up to larger batches if you can. More work but can get a pipeline going.

TD

 

[littled630]

Yeah gonna go to 5 gal brews eventually but the one gal was less waste if i **** up and cheaper to get all equipment, as of right now i dont have the money for 5 gal set up so itll just be the 1 gal batches for a while. I dont drink much so once i have a flow going ill have more then enough for my self but if i go to 5 gal batches i will have enough to sell some and make some side cash lol!

 

[amandabab]

1/5/10/15 is the standard, but nothing says you cant do 2/3/4 gallon batches.

a $10 lowes 5 gallon bucket and lid, some 3/8" vinyl hose and you have a perfecty good primary fermentor for 3-4 gallon batches.

still cooking with small pots, still easy to cool. The only real upgrade cost is more ingredients per batch. At this size it's a direct scale, 2 gallon batch is twice the ingredients, 5 gallon is five times the ingredients.

 

[littled630]

My kettle and stove wouldnt be able to handle five gallon batches lol. My kettle is just big enough for one gal batches. Plus my stove has a hard time boiling a one gal batch lol would need a good burner of some kind.

 

[Rosvineer]

My LHBS has 2 gallon buckets w/lids. I need to punch holes for a blow off tube, but I picked them up for $8 a piece for small test batches

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

My kettle and stove wouldnt be able to handle five gallon batches lol. My kettle is just big enough for one gal batches. Plus my stove has a hard time boiling a one gal batch lol would need a good burner of some kind.

I got a 7.5gallon turkey fryer and burner from walmart last year for $35 works well 20+ batches later still going strong.

 

[littled630]

Nice thanks for the info is that electric or gas?

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Nice thanks for the info is that electric or gas?

I use my electric stove indoors the burner that came with the pot is propane

 

[littled630]

I use my electric stove indoors the burner that came with the pot is propane

Your stove can get 5 gallons boiling i dont think mine could but i could be wrong. It might be able to

 

[billpaustin]

My first batch was a Belgian Wit (5 gal). It fermented for 3 weeks, and then I bottled. Let sit for a week at room temp (high 60's). I started drinking them within the first week. I'd put one in the fridge, for "testing" purposes only Then another ....

I gave a few away, and within two weeks, they were all gone. They carbed up quickly, but the Wit is a very light beer. I was shocked at how good they were, so now I bought 6 kegs, a kegerator, 2 more carboys, two co2 bottles with dual gauges and lines, a stainless dual tower .....

I'm hooked.

 

[ktblunden]

My first batch was a Belgian Wit (5 gal). It fermented for 3 weeks, and then I bottled. Let sit for a week at room temp (high 60's). I started drinking them within the first week. I'd put one in the fridge, for "testing" purposes only Then another ....

A lot of people go the impatient route like that, but with only 4 bottles to work with it would be better for him to wait until they are all properly conditioned.

 

[billpaustin]

A lot of people go the impatient route like that, but with only 4 bottles to work with it would be better for him to wait until they are all properly conditioned.

I agree, I had 48 bottles, so I told myself "it's just one bottle, just to see what it tastes like". And it was my first batch, so I couldn't wait.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Your stove can get 5 gallons boiling i dont think mine could but i could be wrong. It might be able to

Yeah I've been lucky there as it doesn't appear to be the norm from reading other people's posts on here.

 

[hehawbrew]

My lhbs has two gallon fermentor buckets for 8$ too. I did two, one gallon batches and found it was too much work for 10 bottles. I just bottled my first two gallon batch and right away brewed another. I think when I bottle the current batch and start my next, I should have a small pipeline.

I also do cider in one gallon carboys. Keeps me busy enough and helps mix it up.

 

[littled630]

Well i can say i do agree with needing to wait but i have another batch ready in two weeks and one i just brewed today that will be ready in 3 weeks atleast to get bottled, and both of those are full gallons so i may chill and crack one at a week to a week and a half just to see hehe!

 

[DSorenson]

I love your one gallon batch brewing. That's how I started brewing (except with wine) and it's very convenient. The problem is patience with those batches though. I find it helps to think about them like very rare beers. Save them for a good occasion!

 

[littled630]

Shouldnt be too bad in two weeks ill have a pipeline of ten beers each week coming ready. I dont drink much more then 2-4 beers a week so its more then enough for me and ill have extra to sell for side cash and that cash can pay for my 5 gal set up and then ill have more each week to be able to sell.

 

[Gaylord]

Seems like alot of work for 4 beers. To each their own, hope you enjoy!

 

[littled630]

Seems like alot of work for 4 beers. To each their own, hope you enjoy!

Only got four bottles cause it wasnt even a half gal. It was my first batch it boiled over really bad and i started with 1 gal of water. Now i start with 1.25 ish gal and now i know how to avoid boil overs with stirring and heat regulation. My second batch is a full gal almost so it should be about 10 bottles

 

[doby]

Some folks I've heard get a plastic soda bottle and fill one at bottling along with the rest of their glass bottles. When the soda bottle is rock hard they know its ready.
Step up to larger batches if you can. More work but can get a pipeline going.

TD

I do this because it is a good test, what I have found with most beers is after 2 weeks its rock hard and the beer has head BUT not alot of co2 bubbles rising thru the beer. I think this is because that extra week lets the co2 in the headspace settle down into the beer, so its atleast 3 weeks for me

 

[littled630]

brewed that as my first batch and had the same issue,

The photo wont load what was the same issue you had