Bottling delay making next step unclear

[hbajwa]

I am making a 4 gal saison. I have added 110g of DME. I was planning on bottling this evening but made a few mistakes and had to leave things just after transferring the beer to the bottling bucket. Due to these mistakes, I ran out of time and had to attend a family event. I have already added the priming sugar and bottling yeast (high floc property).

All the bottles are sanitized and ready to go but I am not sure how fast the yeasts will consume the added sugar. Does anyone have suggestions on what to do? Should I bottle it early next morning after adding like 10g of DME or wait till all sugar is consumed and redo the priming sugar? I really don't want to mess this up becuase this is a beer I love the most!

 

[IslandLizard]

I think it would be A-OK to bottle it in the morning. The DME is not going to ferment out that quickly while sitting in the bottling bucket, even with the bottling yeast. That is, unless you see a thick layer of foam lying on top tomorrow morning...

I'd give it a good stir (without whipping air into it) right before you start bottling, to make sure it's all homogeneously mixed together. You may see a little foaming occur when stirring, but it should not yield into a foam layer, say over 1/8" thick.

Just for the record, you're using the 110 gram of DME as your priming sugar, yes, and nothing else?

 

[mac_1103]

Should I bottle it early next morning after adding like 10g of DME or wait till all sugar is consumed and redo the priming sugar?

So this is a time sensitive question so hopefully you've already made your decision, but ISTM that the worst thing that happens is that the carbonation is a little off. RDWHAHB.

 

[hbajwa]

I think it would be A-OK to bottle it in the morning. The DME is not going to ferment out that quickly while sitting in the bottling bucket, even with the bottling yeast. That is, unless you see a thick layer of foam lying on top tomorrow morning...

I'd give it a good stir (without whipping air into it) right before you start bottling, to make sure it's all homogeneously mixed together. You may see a little foaming occur when stirring, but it should not yield into a foam layer, say over 1/8" thick.

Just for the record, you're using the 110 gram of DME as your priming sugar, yes, and nothing else?

Yes. Just the 110g for priming sugar. I just woke up like 15min ago. I am going to bottle it now. I do see a foam layer in the bottling bucket.

 

[hbajwa]

Yes. Just the 110g for priming sugar. I just woke up like 15min ago. I am going to bottle it now. I do see a foam layer in the bottling bucket.

I have bottled it now. This is not the worst bottling day despite losing 2 gallons to spills and the fact that I couldn't find my bottle capper. I filled up all the flip top bottles and decided to dump the rest of the bottles because there was no way to put the caps on without the capper.

I think I reached my lowest point in homebrewing today when I was crying about losing the beer and drinking warm beer straight from the siphon while listening to bluegrass music. I was drunk at 730 before starting work. I guess I am an alcoholic now.

I will let you know how the bottles turn out like if they were carbonated or not. There is one concept that holds truer than ever before: RDWHAHB.

 

[IslandLizard]

Yes. Just the 110g for priming sugar. I just woke up like 15min ago. I am going to bottle it now. I do see a foam layer in the bottling bucket.

110g of DME in 4 gallons of beer targets a carbonation level of around 2 volumes. Some likely has been used up already (foaming), but how much is difficult to estimate. 10% maybe? That would be around adding the 10 grams you estimated:

Should I bottle it early next morning after adding like 10g of DME

The average 12 oz longnecks should be able to withstand up to around 3 volumes. You could add some extra DME or sugar, to target around 2.5 vols, which is the lower end for Saisons, and still safe for your bottles. Perhaps even a tad (10 grams) more, to compensate for what may have been used up overnight.

 

[IslandLizard]

and decided to dump the rest of the bottles because there was no way to put the caps on without the capper.

Dang, that sucks!

 

[hbajwa]

110g of DME in 4 gallons of beer targets a carbonation level of around 2 volumes. Some likely has been used up already (foaming), but how much is difficult to estimate. 10% maybe? That would be around adding the 10 grams you estimated:


The average 12 oz longnecks should be able to withstand up to around 3 volumes. You could add some extra DME or sugar, to target around 2.5 vols, which is the lower end for Saisons, and still safe for your bottles. Perhaps even a tad (10 grams) more, to compensate for what may have been used up overnight.

I did add 10g of sugar.

 

[hotbeer]

Thoughts for next time...

If your fermenter has a snug fitting lid and you didn't do anything that would risk it being unsanitary, you might have just transferred the beer back to it or some other clean and sanitized vessel. Beer will keep in other things besides a keg or a bottle.

As you get flip tops available or by chance bought a decent bench capper and caps, you could have then primed the beer again and bottled that remaining beer.

If all your beer was primed, then of course you'd have to deal with that CO2 produced. So airlock. Or, if a pressure fermenter or vessel of some kind then spund it to some low carbonation level and enjoy it straight from that vessel.

But a week after priming, the yeast probably have finished the priming sugar off. You could check with a hydrometer to compare to your previous FG and decide if you can add another full dose of priming sugar or should scale it back. If it was spunded to some level of Vols, then you can calculate the difference in priming sugar needed.

 

[hbajwa]

I have opened a few bottles now and the carbonation was just a bit less than ideal. It holds a good bit of foam on top. I will remember these things for the next batch.

 

[day_trippr]

Here's something else to remember: include a 12 oz soda bottle with the glass and you can use that to monitor the conditioning and avoid prematurely opening bottles. When the soda bottle becomes almost too hard to squeeze, the glass should be carbonated nicely...

Cheers!