Bottling

[Lvhomebrewdad]

So I'm pretty sure my fermentation has stopped though I wish it was higher I'll accept the 5% its at. Do I have to have a bottling bucket and or want or is it possible to make do with just the auto siphon?

 

[Dixon9717]

I have always auto siphoned with a bottling wand. Just haven't got around to putting a spigot on my bottling bucket. Haven't had any issues so far.

 

[Lvhomebrewdad]

Problem is I don't have a wand heh. So as long as I'm carful I should be able to make it work?

 

[Cyclman]

Your beer is at 1.040 gravity, which is pretty high. What was it supposed to finish at?

You well could have bottle bombs at that gravity.

 

[chickypad]

Agreed - DO NOT BOTTLE YET. Your first picture is showing the potential alcohol scale. You would subtract the current reading from your original reading to get the approximate alcohol content, usually used with wine. For beer you typically use the specific gravity scale, and as mentioned yours appears to be reading about 1.040. That looks like a stuck fermentation (assuming this wasn't some huge barleywine or something). What was your recipe, fermentation schedule, etc? Did you take an OG?

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

yep.. what was the OG ... what was the projected FG? as was stated 40 is high... if you bottle it and it is just stuck and the bottling kicks it back up, it is a recipe for bottle bombs.

 

[Yooper]

Turn the hydrometer and look at the actual reading. It looks like it's at 1.040 or so- if so, do NOT bottle.

Ignore the colors, sort of, but never bottle anything that isn't in the "green" unless you know why it's not.

This beer seems to be stuck.

What SG did it start at?

Be mindful that brewers don't use the "5%" scale, as that's the "potential alcohol scale" and doesn't work well for brewers. It doesn't mean your beer is at 5%- it means that if it fully ferments from here that there is a potential 5% alcohol to be had.

Depending on where your beer started, you could be darn near 0% at this point- as it's not fermented.

 

[duboman]

Problem is I don't have a wand heh. So as long as I'm carful I should be able to make it work?

I would not bottle at 1.040, you need to figure out why its stuck and get it to finish first.

As for bottling, without a bottling bucket to mix the priming sugar and a wand, how exactly do you plan to bottle?

 

[Lvhomebrewdad]

iforgot to take og . The the recipe that i got was for a chocolate milk stout and was for 5 gallons. there was not a fermentation schedule with it as i was taken off of brewtoad. But from what i gather from all the comments its looking like my fermentation is stuck and that would mean that i need to repitch my yeast?

and inlight of all the recent information I will not be bottling lol. so i have a bit to aquire a wand and a bucket

 

[antony]

How much lactose did you add? 1.040 seems way to high, but if you added too much milk sugar that may the reason...

 

[Lvhomebrewdad]

the recipe is a double choc milk stout for 5 gal i reduced it to 1 gal just to try it and so 1 pound of milk sugar for 5 gal to 3.2 oz for 1 gal.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

you don't necessarily have to repitch... try this ( if you determine it is stuck and not just a lot of milk sugar) warm it up a few degrees and GENTLY swirl the fermenter around. Don't slosh and splash just a gentle swirl to kick up some of the yeast back into suspension

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

the recipe is a double choc milk stout for 5 gal i reduced it to 1 gal just to try it and so 1 pound of milk sugar for 5 gal to 3.2 oz for 1 gal.

never mind..mis read

 

[MattyIce]

Do you want to post your recipe and process?

 

[Lvhomebrewdad]

1.6 ozs of brit black patent
1.6 oz maltodextrine
3.2 oz bairds chocolate malt
28.8 oz golden light lme
3.2 british crystal 50-60L
northern brewer hop
ale yeast wlp005
irish moss
bakers chocolate .8 oz
3.2 lactose

i steeped the grain for about 30 mins then removed from heat and added the LME lactose and malto. boiled for 60 mins. in the last 10 mins i added the moss and last 5 added the chocolate. this is my second attempt at any kind of brewing and being a culinary student i know my weights and that timing is key

 

[duboman]

1.6 ozs of brit black patent
1.6 oz maltodextrine
3.2 oz bairds chocolate malt
28.8 oz golden light lme
3.2 british crystal 50-60L
northern brewer hop
ale yeast wlp005
irish moss
bakers chocolate .8 oz
3.2 lactose

i steeped the grain for about 30 mins then removed from heat and added the LME lactose and malto. boiled for 60 mins. in the last 10 mins i added the moss and last 5 added the chocolate. this is my second attempt at any kind of brewing and being a culinary student i know my weights and that timing is key

Give or take a few points for the steeping grains your starting gravity should have been about 1.063 taking only the LME into account. The Maltodextrine and lactose are not fermentable and account for close to 18% of the recipe which is a lot. The beer is only at 37% apparent attenuation which is not even close to being done.

Try and do a force fermentation test on it and see if it goes lower. based on that test's results will determine whether the beer is done or stuck

 

[Lvhomebrewdad]

Being a newb at brewing. What's force fermentation?

 

[number40fan]

Warm it up and give it a swirl.

 

[duboman]

https://www.wyeastlab.com/he-brew-qc.cfm

 

[Lvhomebrewdad]

Fantastic thank you

 

[C-Rider]

How long has it been fermenting and at what temp?

 

[Lvhomebrewdad]

3 weeks today and stayed at a consistent temp of 73-74 F