Can I bottle early?

[1stTimer]

I am brewing a few batches for a friends wedding on April 21st. I brewed a Belgian Strong on the 25th of January. The gravity has held steady now for sometime at 1.015. That puts the abv around 8.7%. I know it takes longer for high gravity beers to carb so I was wondering if it would be safe to bottle now. That would give it about 2 months to condition. Or is this too early to take it out of the carboy? I would love some feedback. The other brew is a stout so I’m not worried about it as much. Although it came out around 6% so it will need a good 6 weeks or so I’m sure. Look forward to people’s personal experiences and input. CHEERS!

 

[Revvy]

Can you give it another week to let everything come together? I figure if you bottle next week it would give you 8 weeks in the bottle really. 7 if you wanted to check on stuff the week before. You could ALSO add half a pack of dry yeast into your bottling bucket at bottling time. That will help speed up the carbing process, so the rest of the time can actually be devoted to bottle conditioning.....Rathr than having the slightly tired yeast slowly churn through the sugars to carb, the fresher yeast would jumpstart the process. And you'd be ahead of the game.

 

[1stTimer]

Revvy to the rescue again. So if I add half of a smack pack to the bottling bucket that will help? It won’t cause any off flavors or bottle bombs? And would I be fine with the stout and just do this for the Belgian? How much priming sugar would you recommend with the half pack of yeast? It’s about 6 gallons of brew total. Probably 5.5 after I transfer.

 

[onthekeg]

I wouldn't add any liquid yeast to the bottling bucket, a cheap dry yeast would be fine. The cheapest stuff out there is all you need for bottling. Don't waste a smack pack on it.

 

[Revvy]

I wouldn't add any liquid yeast to the bottling bucket, a cheap dry yeast would be fine. The cheapest stuff out there is all you need for bottling. Don't waste a smack pack on it.

I agree, just get a cheap pack of 05, and use that.

 

[1stTimer]

Oh no. I wouldnt add liquid. Especially after my two beer explosions. So what type of yeast is that? Im currently really tryingt o educate myself on yeast. The LHBS only sells the Safale brand for dry yeast.

 

[1stTimer]

http://xtremebrew.readyhosting.com/store/beer_yeast.html This is the website for the lhbs. Can you point me in the right direction? I really appreciate the details guys. I normally dont worry this much but I want these batches to be the best Ive done. Lots of folks are going to be trying my brew that never have before.

 

[onthekeg]

Use the Nottingham. They need to update their website. S-05 used to be US56 but that was about 6 years ago it was changed.

 

[1stTimer]

So the us56 is now s-05? Ok, I can pick some of that up no problem. So Im going to leave it on the yeast cake for another week and then bottle using a half pack of the S-05. Thanks everyone. Life savers, all of you.:rockin:

 

[beergolf]

If you can give it another week that would help. I would also suggest getting the temp up if you can. Sometimes Belgian yeasts can take a long time to get the last few points.

The only time I had waaay overcarbed beer was when I thought a Belgian was done and bottled it a little too early. Obviously it was not quite done. They were not bottle bombs but definitely overcarbed.

Some advice I got from Brew Like a Monk......"Let the fermentation finish, perhaps at a higher temperature. I can take as long to get the last few points of attenuation as it does for the first 80%"

 

[C-Rider]

So the us56 is now s-05? Ok, I can pick some of that up no problem. So Im going to leave it on the yeast cake for another week and then bottle using a half pack of the S-05. Thanks everyone. Life savers, all of you.:rockin:

Check the date on the yeast. If it's still labled as 56 it's way old

 

[1stTimer]

Will do. Thanks for all the input everyone. This is a HUGE help.

 

[Rbeckett]

In a word, NO. You are tempting the fates of creating Bottle bombs if youre not very carefull. Nothing would suck worse than blowing your beer on the brides gozillion dollar dress. Best to wait as long as possible and take your chances in some other area. Now keep in mind I am a noob too, so my advice is worth exactly what you paid for it. But I have spent a good bit of time studying the whole procedure and the actual chemistry and biological functions. If you bottle early it usually ends poorly, and you really want your freinds to help you drink your beer don't you? Just some thoughts from the fringe.
Bob

 

[1stTimer]

So I plan on bottling this brew in the next few days. Both the Belgian Strong and the Double Choco. So I just want to make sure I am doing this right. I am going to empty half a pack of dry safale 05 yeast into the bottling bucket for the Belgian? Then put in the amount of dextrose as usual. Don’t make a starter, just dump the half pack strait in. Say 4 oz or so.

Can and should I do this for the double choco stout as well? If so which yeast would you recommend? Beer needs to be carbed by the 2nd week of April. Both beers that is.

Thanks as always everyone.

 

[BradleyBrew]

I wouldn't use any yeast that has a higher attenuation rating then the yeast you used to ferment your beer with when adding strictly for bottling. Nottingham is extremely attenuative and could consume additional sugars your original yeast did not, and potentially could over carb your beer.

 

[1stTimer]

Ive never had to do something like this because I've never been crunched for time. What you're saying makes sense as far as using the same yeast I fermeneted with. But again, this is my first time every doing this. Im just worried that since both brews have a high abv for the style (belgian 8.8, stout 6) they wont carb in time.

 

[1stTimer]

bump