Classic rookie mistake - did I ruin my first batch?

[boxofjibboo]

Even after the initial fermentation has been completed, your yeast can still eat up any extra off flavors for the next week. Keep the temps between 65-75 for the remainder of fermentation and leave it for 2 weeks (at least) before bottling. You wouldn't want to have exploding beer bottles cause the yeast wasn't truly finished.

 

[lowtones84]

Also, you may not be disappointed at all. All of the advice given is great advice, but many people have made the same mistakes you have and made great beer. My first beer was an extract IPA that I pitched at around 80F and fermented in a closet that was close to 70F ambient temp. I don't know how, but it really did turn out great, and everyone else I had try it agreed.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I don't think you will be disappointed. Best not to think that way, as Charlie said, nothing ruins beer more than worrying.

Ignore it for 2 -3 weeks, bottle it up and please report back 2 weeks after bottling.
Enjoy


Wilserbrewer
http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[cjens19]

I don't think you will be disappointed. Best not to think that way, as Charlie said, nothing ruins beer more than worrying.

Ignore it for 2 -3 weeks, bottle it up and please report back 2 weeks after bottling.
Enjoy


Wilserbrewer
Biabags.webs.com

Awesome, will do. Even though the instructions say 1 week to ferment and then another week in bottles, I'll ignore that and play it safe. I've always wondered though, how do we know once it's done bottling? Do we just wait a couple weeks and then just pop one open and give er the ol college try? Since I have brown bottles (doesn't everyone?) I'm not sure if there's an ocular test that we can give the beer to determine when it's finished bottling and ready for consumption.

Saw all of the "did I ruin my batch" posts in the wiki. I LOL'd. I also felt like a giant noob. Haha. This place is great, community seems pretty awesome.

 

[gregfreemyer]

I think your biggest issue is going to slowing down enough. Good beer takes time. 5 weeks from brew day to drinking I consider fast. 10 weeks for me is about optimal, but I've seen people post that it just keeps getting better and better all the way to the one year mark at least.

I had a Fort Collins Maibock recently. They say they brew it in the fall and condition it all winter for release in the spring. And that's a commercial brewery where time is money.

And if you did do something wrong that caused off-flavors, letting it sit for a couple extra months, just may clean it up enough to get rid of the off-flavor.

I know your anxious to taste the beer. After 1 week you might want to rack(siphon) a couple bottles worth, add priming sugar,etc.

Then repeat at 2 weeks and then at 3 weeks bottle all you have left.

Give it at least 2 weeks in the bottle, then drink your batch slowly over the course of a few months. The beer will continue to condition in the bottle so you will likely see the beer just get better and better with time.

 

[cjens19]

I think your biggest issue is going to slowing down enough. Good beer takes time. 5 weeks from brew day to drinking I consider fast. 10 weeks for me is about optimal, but I've seen people post that it just keeps getting better and better all the way to the one year mark at least.

I had a Fort Collins Maibock recently. They say they brew it in the fall and condition it all winter for release in the spring. And that's a commercial brewery where time is money.

And if you did do something wrong that caused off-flavors, letting it sit for a couple extra months, just may clean it up enough to get rid of the off-flavor.

I know your anxious to taste the beer. After 1 week you might want to rack(siphon) a couple bottles worth, add priming sugar,etc.

Then repeat at 2 weeks and then at 3 weeks bottle all you have left.

Give it at least 2 weeks in the bottle, then drink your batch slowly over the course of a few months. The beer will continue to condition in the bottle so you will likely see the beer just get better and better with time.

Well, now that I know that there's no limit to the amount of time it can be bottled, then I have no qualms with letting it sit for a while. If that means it'll be better beer, then heck yeah! I may have to try a bottle here and there once I hit the 2-3 week mark, just to use as a barometer of where the batch is at. Once I think it's drinkable, I'll start handing out bottles to friends and slowly drinking them myself

What I'm probably most excited about is brewing my 2nd batch right after I rack my first batch. But since it will take me a while to get all the bottles emptied again, will it hurt to leave my 2nd batch sit in the fermenter for a month or 2? Not sure if that's ideal or not...

 

[SlickTX]

But since it will take me a while to get all the bottles emptied again, will it hurt to leave my 2nd batch sit in the fermenter for a month or 2? Not sure if that's ideal or not...

Your LHBS has more bottles for sale. Just sayin'.

 

[gregfreemyer]

What I'm probably most excited about is brewing my 2nd batch right after I rack my first batch. But since it will take me a while to get all the bottles emptied again, will it hurt to leave my 2nd batch sit in the fermenter for a month or 2? Not sure if that's ideal or not...

In general time is your friend. On the other hand only having one set of bottles would really cramp my style. I bought a case for my first brew. Since then I keep some of the bottles from commercial beers I buy. I really like the Sam Adams bottles. I rinse them immediately, then just take the labels off at my leisure. 2 years into this hobby I have about 8 cases worth of bottles.

If my wife has a complaint about this hobby it's the bottles I leave around waiting to accumulate enough to mess with. Last week I had almost a case of clean bottles sitting on the dining room table. When it hit 24 I got motivated to go get a empty case from the garage and fill it up.

 

[cjens19]

In general time is your friend. On the other hand only having one set of bottles would really cramp my style. I bought a case for my first brew. Since then I keep some of the bottles from commercial beers I buy. I really like the Sam Adams bottles. I rinse them immediately, then just take the labels off at my leisure. 2 years into this hobby I have about 8 cases worth of bottles.

If my wife has a complaint about this hobby it's the bottles I leave around waiting to accumulate enough to mess with. Last week I had almost a case of clean bottles sitting on the dining room table. When it hit 24 I got motivated to go get a empty case from the garage and fill it up.

LOL and the wife is basically the main reason I'm trying to keep as little equipment as possible. We're currently in a townhome and we don't have very much space in the garage for this new hobby of mine. But I'm planning on constructing some extra shelves to make better use of the corner of the garage I'm using for this. That should give me enough room to get some extra bottles on hand. Yep, my LHBS sells cases of empty brown bottles. I have about a case of Sam Adams empties from back when I used to drink that, and a case of LHBS bottles. Since the only commercial beer I buy anymore is Guiness, I'll probably just pick up another case or 2 of bottles from BeerCrazy

So to clean out the bottles prior to racking (hopefully this Sunday), do I soak them in a b-brite solution, or do I use Iodophor? Still trying to figure out what to use for what. I have a spray bottle of Iodophor for quick sanitizing, but I've read that starsan is probably the way to go since it has a longer half-life. So I'll pick up some starsan this week when I go back to beercrazy. Just wondering what the b-brite is for. Can I just soak the bottles in that, rinse them, and let them air-dry on my fast racks?

Thanks guys

 

[boydster]

My bottles get a thorough rinse when I empty them, and StarSan right before I fill them back up with more beer. If yours seem dirty or have any gunk stuck to them, use the B-Brite first.

 

[SlickTX]

My method of bottle cleaning is to put a couple of cases of bottles in the dishwasher (without soap) and run it on the 'sanitation' or whatever the longest, hottest cycle is with the longest, hottest dry. I do this the day before bottling then put the bottles in the cases upside down overnight. I also line the bottom of the cases with aluminum foil, but that is probably overkill. On bottling day I put 12 or so bottles at a time in the leftover 4.5 gal or so of StarSan that I kept from the brew day 2-3 weeks prior. After a few minutes in the bucket the bottles get hung on the bottle tree then on to bottling when all bottles have gotten their dip in the bucket.

 

[gregfreemyer]

Everything has to be cleaned and sanitized. For the brew / fermentation gear I clean it shortly after use. Then I sanitize it just before using it the next time. Most gear, like the fermentation bucket, I sanitize seconds before filling it.

For bottles I rinse them immediately after use, clean at my leisure, then sanitize shortly before filling.

That's why your kit came with both a cleaner and a sanitizer.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I know your anxious to taste the beer. After 1 week you might want to rack(siphon) a couple bottles worth, add priming sugar,etc.

Then repeat at 2 weeks and then at 3 weeks bottle all you have left.

Just my opinion here, but I wouldn't advise staggering the bottling over several weeks, but rather would bottle it all up at once. Exposing your beer to the air several times as well as leaving it in a partially filled fermenter that has repeatedly been opened is just asking for problems in my simple opinion. For me, the less you muck about with the beer the better.
Cheers!
wilser

 

[cjens19]

Just my opinion here, but I wouldn't advise staggering the bottling over several weeks, but rather would bottle it all up at once. Exposing your beer to the air several times as well as leaving it in a partially filled fermenter that has repeatedly been opened is just asking for problems in my simple opinion. For me, the less you muck about with the beer the better.
Cheers!
wilser

Thanks. Yeah, I was hoping to just bottle it all at once so I can get all my equipment cleaned and ready for brew day numero dos

There still seemed to be a little activity in the fermenter this morning. I could see the airlock cap moving a tiny bit. So hopefully by Sunday it'll be ready for bottling. Or should I do a hyrdometer reading Sunday, and then again Tues or Wed?? To make sure the gravity has not changed.

 

[boydster]

Best to do 2 readings over 3 days to be sure it is done.

 

[cjens19]

Best to do 2 readings over 3 days to be sure it is done.

Cool. Heading back to beercrazy probably Friday to get a Hydrometer (surprised my kit didn't come with one), a longer metal spoon (the wooden spoon I used on brew day was a bit too short) and some starsan.

I'll do a reading Friday and see where I'm sitting. Then another on Wednesday. If the gravity changes even just a little bit, should I do another reading on Saturday and compare it to Wednesday's reading?

Thanks man

 

[gregfreemyer]

Best to do 2 readings over 3 days to be sure it is done.

Don't you let the beer clarify before you bottle? I always wait at least 3 weeks from brew day to bottle day to give it time to clarify. Even then it isn't always clear yet so I give it another week or two.

I brewed a Maibock a couple months ago. After a week in a bucket I racked it to a carboy to clarify. After 5 weeks in the carboy it was still cloudy as could be, I tried a cold crash. Still cloudy. I then tried to use gelatin finings, still cloudy.

I gave up and bottled 3 weeks ago. Still cloudy this last weekend, so I decided to try lagering it for a few weeks. I just looked and it is finally starting to clarify.

Having this experience I read some about how commercial breweries handle maibock. They typically say they brew in the fall, condition over the winter and release in the spring.

I'm guessing something about the style just takes forever to clarify.

 

[boydster]

A maibock is a lager, and so doing a lagering period with that kind of beer makes sense. For a typical ale (APA, IPA, AAA, etc) you don't need to do that. I regularly bottle my blondes, pale ales, IPAs, and other types of beer in 14 days. Sometimes less. The beers always settle nice and clear by the time they are done carbonating. I also no-chill (another no-no to some folks that say you need a fast cold break for clear beer). Once the yeast starts flocculating out and you are at a stable FG, there's not much more to wait on. Especially with hop-forward beers, you want those in the bottle ASAP so they don't lose the hop flavor and aroma that you worked so hard to put into the beer before they are ready to enjoy.

This picture is taken in a dim room with my crappy old cell phone with a scuffed up camera lens... but here's an example of the clarity I get. You can see my baby daughter sleeping on the couch through the glass.

 

[Komodo]

FYI - don't use water in your airlock. It can (and will) get sucked into your beer for various reasons.

Use vodka.

 

[cjens19]

FYI - don't use water in your airlock. It can (and will) get sucked into your beer for various reasons.

Use vodka.

I did read about that, but it was too late. Ill go buy a little bottle of hawkeye next time im at a liquor store


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[boydster]

StarSan in the airlock works, too. I use whichever is closest.

 

[wilserbrewer]

So hopefully by Sunday it'll be ready for bottling. Or should I do a hyrdometer reading Sunday, and then again Tues or Wed?? To make sure the gravity has not changed.

Sunday? That will only be 8 days after brewing, a little quick IMHO.

 

[cjens19]

Sunday? That will only be 8 days after brewing, a little quick IMHO.

Just going by the recipe instructions. Keep forgetting that I may need to ignore those. Would it hurt to do my initial FG reading on Sunday, and a 2nd reading on Wednesday? So possibly looking at bottling a week from tomorrow. Assuming the gravity reading doesn't change from Sun to Wed

 

[JimRausch]

I've always wondered though, how do we know once it's done bottling? Do we just wait a couple weeks and then just pop one open and give er the ol college try? Since I have brown bottles (doesn't everyone?) I'm not sure if there's an ocular test that we can give the beer to determine when it's finished bottling and ready for consumption.

A wise brewer(Nighthawk I think) posted a neat trick to monitor bottle carbonation. You bottle one in a clean, sanitized plastic soda bottle. Squeeze the excess air out before capping with the regular screwon cap. As it carbonates the bottle will get hard. When it's rockhard, you're done.
Since I read that post I've done this with every batch. Eliminates the guesswork.

 

[cjens19]

A wise brewer(Nighthawk I think) posted a neat trick to monitor bottle carbonation. You bottle one in a clean, sanitized plastic soda bottle. Squeeze the excess air out before capping with the regular screwon cap. As it carbonates the bottle will get hard. When it's rockhard, you're done.
Since I read that post I've done this with every batch. Eliminates the guesswork.

That's brilliant. Thanks for sharing

 

[troy2000]

A wise brewer(Nighthawk I think) posted a neat trick to monitor bottle carbonation. You bottle one in a clean, sanitized plastic soda bottle. Squeeze the excess air out before capping with the regular screwon cap. As it carbonates the bottle will get hard. When it's rockhard, you're done.
Since I read that post I've done this with every batch. Eliminates the guesswork.

A few days ago I found a 12-pack of the second batch I ever brewed, stashed in the freezer compartment of the old non-working fridge where I stack my beer to bottle-condition. It was half grain and half Mr. Beer farmhouse ale kit, and I remember thinking at the time the batch had gone pretty fast....

I'm drinking it now, and it's not bad for a beginner's effort. But it over-carbed somewhere down the line. One of the 12 bottle-bombed, and destroyed a bottle beside it. And when I pour one of the remaining ten it's a long, drawn-out process, because I get more head than beer.

I think these must have been the last ones bottled of the batch. I primed it just by stirring simple syrup into my primary carboy before bottling, and I'm guessing the syrup settled down towards the bottom instead of mixing evenly.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Just going by the recipe instructions. Keep forgetting that I may need to ignore those. Would it hurt to do my initial FG reading on Sunday, and a 2nd reading on Wednesday? So possibly looking at bottling a week from tomorrow. Assuming the gravity reading doesn't change from Sun to Wed

I guess you must have missed my previous post that said the best thing you can do for your beer at this point is to ignore it for 2-3 weeks....

I know your anxious, and extremely curious, so if you want to get it bottled up and try it in a week I understand...

But very often a noob realizes how good his beer is when there is only a handful of bottles left....due to rushing the process.

cheers!

 

[cjens19]

I guess you must have missed my previous post that said the best thing you can do for your beer at this point is to ignore it for 2-3 weeks....

I know your anxious, and extremely curious, so if you want to get it bottled up and try it in a week I understand...

But very often a noob realizes how good his beer is when there is only a handful of bottles left....due to rushing the process.

cheers!

Ok i can wait. But am i understanding the gravity readings? Or is there benefit to leaving it sit for a longer time past when the FG has leveled off?


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[gregfreemyer]

There seems to be 2 minds. Those that bottle/keg as soon as the fg is stable for 3 days and those that wait at least 3 weeks.

I've been a 3 week minimum guy so far. I may have to do a split batch and compare.

 

[Semitone]

FYI - don't use water in your airlock. It can (and will) get sucked into your beer for various reasons.

Use vodka.

I'm a noob. I used sanitizer in my airlock and that got sucked in when I moved the carboy and it flexed. Personally, I think I feel better about water getting sucked in. Perhaps Vodka is a better choice. Think I might use bourbon, though.

 

[cjens19]

Been 8 days since brew day, and did a gravity reading tonight. 1.015 or 16. Hard to tell exactly. The recipe states a FG of 1.010 to 12. So i guess its pretty close!! I think ill give it another week or 2 in the bucket and take another reading. Im tempted to read it again in 3 days, but i dont want to open the bucket again when i know im not going to bottle for a while. Also got some starsan, a gal of distilled, an oral syringe for measuring, and a spray bottle. Man, how convenient thats going to be for sanitizing! Sanitizing the thief and hydrometer was a snap.

Will report back in a week or 2 after another reading.

Also, how important is FG reading compared to recipe? I didnt measure OG so maybe i have no point of reference anymore? I realize that a great many brewers have never even used a hydrometer before, so i know its not necessary. Just curious about how FG will impact the end result. Thanks for all the helpful replies. You guys have made this easier than it would have been without ya


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[JimRausch]

The yeast didn't read the recipe and they ferment on their own schedule, depending on food supply, temperature, initial pitching rate, initial O2 supply. So, in other words, the recipe FG is a guideline, not written in stone. If everything went well, you will be close within a couple points.
Good plan on giving her some more time- the intial active fermentation is over, but now the slower, less active fermentation will happen to drop the sg down a couple more points and cleanup some of the byproducts.
You're doing well!

 

[Komodo]

The yeast didn't read the recipe and they ferment on their own schedule, depending on food supply, temperature, initial pitching rate, initial O2 supply. So, in other words, the recipe FG is a guideline, not written in stone. If everything went well, you will be close within a couple points.
Good plan on giving her some more time- the intial active fermentation is over, but now the slower, less active fermentation will happen to drop the sg down a couple more points and cleanup some of the byproducts.
You're doing well!

Jim's last point is spot on. My argument over not transferring to a "secondary fermenter" as the ferment is just continuing at a slower pace.

On the first point, while the yeast will do what they do, I would say your OG reading may actually be your most important, with FG close behind. OG will tell you your potential alcohol, your mash efficiency and extraction, what your yeast are soon to eat, and should give you a good idea of the window you are looking for of when they might be done. If they stop before this, it can give you clues on how to diagnose this, and most of all your FG can tell you if you should or should not put it in the bottle yet to avoid bottle bombs.

If there is ONE thing you may want to gather on brew day, it would be your OG. If I drank 15 beers and mashed Grape Nuts for the hell of it, and woke up on the garage floor . . . my first thought when I looked at the mucky bucket would be "I wonder what the OG was?".

 

[cjens19]

Jim's last point is spot on. My argument over not transferring to a "secondary fermenter" as the ferment is just continuing at a slower pace.



On the first point, while the yeast will do what they do, I would say your OG reading may actually be your most important, with FG close behind. OG will tell you your potential alcohol, your mash efficiency and extraction, what your yeast are soon to eat, and should give you a good idea of the window you are looking for of when they might be done. If they stop before this, it can give you clues on how to diagnose this, and most of all your FG can tell you if you should or should not put it in the bottle yet to avoid bottle bombs.



If there is ONE thing you may want to gather on brew day, it would be your OG. If I drank 15 beers and mashed Grape Nuts for the hell of it, and woke up on the garage floor . . . my first thought when I looked at the mucky bucket would be "I wonder what the OG was?".

Noted on the importance of OG. I didn't take it for this batch because I falsely assumed that my homebrew kit would have included a hydrometer. It did not so I picked one up, along with a thief, a few days after brewday.

The airlock has been very dormant for a few days now (no movement or even condensation), so I'm thinking of taking another reading tomorrow. If it matches reading taken Monday, then i may bottle on Sunday. That would put it at 2 weeks in the fermenter. And i will probably plan on conditioning for 2 weeks. That is essentially doubling the length that the recipe called for, (1 wk to ferment, 1 wk to bottle) but id rather be more patient rather than rush it and regret it.

Does anyone have any bottle cleaning/sanitizing rituals they would like to share? Half my bottles are Sam Adams empties that i saved up and cleaned out, and the other half are empties that I bought from LHBS. Im thinking that a soak in some BBrite solution, followed by a dunk in a starsan bucket just prior to bottling is the way to go. But maybe the case of new bottles don't need a BBrite cleaning? Is the cleaner mainly to clean off old residue from prior batches? Ill definitely sanitize each bottle inside with starsan prior to racking, but was curious about the BBrite.

I'm also planning on racking 1 bottle into a clear plastic water bottle, so I can monitor the conditioning process. I'm not too sad about losing 1 beer, since it's in the name of science


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[cjens19]

Well I bottled yesterday. It was a long process but I'm having fun learning new tips and methods that will improve it next time. Like, yesterday, I had the bottling bucket on a kitchen countertop, but also had about 5' of rubber hosting connecting the spigot and the racking cane. It didn't take me more than 2 bottles to determine that was NOT a good solution. So I ended up racking 54 bottles whilst sitting on my kitchen floor like a homeless person But, I think for next time, I'll try to get the bottling bucket up even higher, perhaps setting on top of my then-empty fermenter bucket, supported by a solid 1'x1' piece of wood. And then get rid of the 5' of excess hose and just attach the racking cane right to the spigot (maybe with a small hose coupler of sorts), and then use a clamp to secure the cane to the fermenter bucket. This should allow me to rack the beer by simply pressing up with a bottle in hand. I saw this trick in some other site somewhere, and it looks genius!

Now, onto the beer. I assume [hope] that I'm encountering stuff that's 'normal', but since I don't know, I'd like to ask. So, here's my beer just prior to taking FG reading and siphoning.

I assume the material on top is normal? Also, after siphoning, I noticed a beautiful sludge on the bottom of the fermenter. Almost like very find sand or sediment. Is this the accumulation of yeast and the by-product of yeast reproduction?

Stuff cleaned up easy enough, glad I went with a bucket instead of a carboy to start.

Now I just sit and wait, and hope that every little creak or noise I hear while I'm at home isn't a bottle going off Haha. I did do gravity readings about 6 days apart, and both times it was right around 15 or 16. It's hard to get an accurate reading with the tiny bit of foam at the top. And also my thief is sort of skinny so I'm wondering if my hydrometer is clinging to the sides too much. I may have to shell out the 5 bucks and get a wider, shorter test tube for reading purposes.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I don't bottle anymore, but when I did, I did it how you described. About a 2" piece of tube, basically right off the spigot of my bottling bucket.

Your finished bucket looks normal too. Take it from me, don't delay cleaning that too long. It gets nastier and funkier as time progresses . . .

You did remember priming sugar, right? I've racked to the bottling bucket only to remember that I forgot the sugar.

 

[cjens19]

I don't bottle anymore, but when I did, I did it how you described. About a 2" piece of tube, basically right off the spigot of my bottling bucket.

Your finished bucket looks normal too. Take it from me, don't delay cleaning that too long. It gets nastier and funkier as time progresses . . .

You did remember priming sugar, right? I've racked to the bottling bucket only to remember that I forgot the sugar.

Lol thanks. Yes i did add the sugar/water mixture throughout the siphon process. I cleaned out both buckets in my driveway as soon as I had everything racked. Garden sprayer on stream setting ftw! And a gallon of b-brite solution got the sediment stain off quite effortlessly. Ill be picking up a huge tub of oxi clean my next trip to Costco. I hear its much more cost-effective than bbrtie, and does about the same thing.


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[JimRausch]

Looking good cjens!
Next time, definitely cut off a small piece of the tubing to use as a coupler between the spigot and the bottling wand. It'll make it much easier. I put my bucket on the counter above my dishwasher, and bottle over the open door. That way any spills go in the dishwasher instead of on the floor! I also sanitize my already cleaned bottles by running them through a cycle with no soap including the 'heated dry' option. Has worked very well for going on 40 batches, without any infections. As you figured out, the sediment on the bottom of the bucket is yeast- some dead, but mostly live. A somewhat advanced(but not difficult) technique is saving and reusing that yeast. But that's a topic for another day.
You done good, hope you enjoy the results!

 

[gregfreemyer]

If anything the amount of sediment / trub / yeast cake at the bottom of your fermenter looks small.

I carry my fermenter from the storage area to the racking location very gently. The goal is to leave as much of the yeast cake in place as possible. Then when I rack I keep the end of the siphon well above the yeast cake as long as I can.

If you did get too much sediment in the bottles, it's not a big deal. Just be sure to condition and carbonate them standing up. Then pour the finished beer into a glass to drink. Leave as much of the sediment as you can in the bottle.

I do have a friend that thinks the sediment adds flavor on occasion, so he tastes the beer both with the sediment in the bottle left behind and with it mixed. Based on that he decides how to treat that batch.

 

[cjens19]

I was bored at work today so decided to make a label. Haha