I am new to brewing and I am currently drinking my fourth batch of beer. This batch is a nut brown ale. I buy True Brew all malt ingredeants for my beer. This batch taste great but everytime I open a beer it overflows like a volcano. I have read a lot of info about this and it sounds like a priming surgar issue. So my question is it ok to cut down on the amount of priming sugar that is pre messured for the batch of beer? And also from what I have read it is ok to stur the batch of beer before bottling after placing the priming sugar in the beer?
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- Thread starter KramHam
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blueseamonkey
Well-Known Member
Sounds more like you bottled too early. I'm pretty new to beer brewing myself, but if you only put the pre-measured amount of priming sugar in the beer it shouldn't have caused gushing like that. If you bottled too early though before fermentation was finished that is much more likely to leave you with gushing bottles.
Have you got a hydrometer? Check that the readings are stable for at least 48 hours before you bottle. If not, its probably best to get one as different yeasts ferment at different speeds, also affected lots by the temperature... It can be very hard to be sure fermentation is finished without one.
The advice I am following about priming sugar is to boil it first with a little water, allow it to cool, then put it in the bottling bucket BEFORE you transfer over the beer. That way you shouldn't need to stir. Having a little liquid in the bottling bucket means you can keep you siphon end under the fluid which helps reduce aeration too.
Have you got a hydrometer? Check that the readings are stable for at least 48 hours before you bottle. If not, its probably best to get one as different yeasts ferment at different speeds, also affected lots by the temperature... It can be very hard to be sure fermentation is finished without one.
The advice I am following about priming sugar is to boil it first with a little water, allow it to cool, then put it in the bottling bucket BEFORE you transfer over the beer. That way you shouldn't need to stir. Having a little liquid in the bottling bucket means you can keep you siphon end under the fluid which helps reduce aeration too.
I think I bottled a day early so that maybe an issue. I did a hydrometer reading before and after brewing and before bottling and it seemed fine. I am not totally sure how the hydrometer works however or if I am reading it properly. I also do not remember if I let the priming sugar cool down before I added it to the beer. I will do that this time.
How long was your batch in the fermenter before you bottled? Many factors affect the rate of fermentation, so the only way to be sure fermentation is over is to take hydrometer readings and confirm the gravity of the beer is stable.
That said, there's no harm in letting your beer sit in the fermenter an extra week or two. I don't like wasting so much wort with daily hydrometer readings, so I've been fermenting 4-5 weeks before bottling. I know there's no guarantee fermentation is done, but as long as the final gravity reading is around where I expect, this has worked fine for the batches I've been doing.
That said, there's no harm in letting your beer sit in the fermenter an extra week or two. I don't like wasting so much wort with daily hydrometer readings, so I've been fermenting 4-5 weeks before bottling. I know there's no guarantee fermentation is done, but as long as the final gravity reading is around where I expect, this has worked fine for the batches I've been doing.
No...in fact, that is most likely the reason that you're having problems. I personally let my "normal" beers go for about 4 weeks in primary. Heavier beers I've left for as long as 8 weeks.
I am planning on brewing a new batch of beer this weekend, I will allow for it to stay longer in the fermentation barrel this time and see what happens! Not sure what kind of beer I will be making this time, was thinking a California common or some type of wheat beer!
