Day before bottling day - Need Assistance Please

[metanoia]

Just sayin'!

It is the beginner's forum, afterall, and it's the guy's first batch. Better get into good practices early on and then decide what you want to be more lax on in the future.

 

[joshesmusica]

yes, taking a couple gravity readings two days apart is sound advice... when the thing has only been in the fermenter for like 10 days.

this one's been in the fermenter for somewhere around 3-4 weeks. it's done. it's a typical ale yeast, not one of those crazy long belgian strains. it's done. in most ales, with proper conditions, pitch rates, etc. fermentation is complete by 10 days, including the clean-up phase. everything after that is clearing and conditioning. if you leave a typical ale alone for 3 weeks, again granting you've done everything else properly, there's actually no need for a FG reading except for data purposes (aka knowing your abv, knowing how efficient you are, etc.). i know this sounds like awful advice, but it's true.

 

[Jiffster]

Well I got 'er bottled. Lots of lessons learned, things I should have done etc. I think I racked a little bit of turn into the bottling bucket. Not a lot. FG was 1.006(?) with the beer at 76 degrees.

Tasted pretty good. Looking forward to seeing how it tastes after it conditions. Thinking 3-4 weeks?

Here's some pics.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441501267.644213.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441501289.649649.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441501300.506256.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441501318.847591.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441501336.323469.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441501348.845968.jpg

 

[joshesmusica]

Well I got 'er bottled. Lots of lessons learned, things I should have done etc. I think I racked a little bit of turn into the bottling bucket. Not a lot. FG was 1.006(?) with the beer at 76 degrees.

Tasted pretty good. Looking forward to seeing how it tastes after it conditions. Thinking 3-4 weeks?

Here's some pics.

View attachment 301329View attachment 301330View attachment 301331View attachment 301332View attachment 301333View attachment 301334

looks good. did you rack into a bottling bucket or just bottle from the carboy?

what temp is your hydrometer adjusted to? if it's 60F, which it more than likely is, then your FG is actually 1.008.

 

[cannman]

Congrats! Fav pic was the 8 6-packs.

What was your priming rate if I may ask?

I bottled for years and here are some tips. 1) fight to wait a week before opening your first bottle. 2) when you do open it, open another a week later 3) continue to observe how your beer gets better 4) when you're happy with the beer, refrigerate all of it as it will keep longer.

Don't forget to decant pour your beer off the residual yeast.

Enjoy!

 

[Jiffster]

looks good. did you rack into a bottling bucket or just bottle from the carboy?



what temp is your hydrometer adjusted to? if it's 60F, which it more than likely is, then your FG is actually 1.008.

I racked to a bottling bucket. Hydrometer is adjusted to 60F.

Congrats! Fav pic was the 8 6-packs.

What was your priming rate if I may ask?

I bottled for years and here are some tips. 1) fight to wait a week before opening your first bottle. 2) when you do open it, open another a week later 3) continue to observe how your beer gets better 4) when you're happy with the beer, refrigerate all of it as it will keep longer.

Don't forget to decant pour your beer off the residual yeast.

Enjoy!

I used 4oz corn sugar.

Decant pour... Is that just pouring slow and leaving the yeast behind?

 

[Gavin C]

Decant: Yes that's right

 

[RmikeVT]

Nice work and you will be rewarded for your patience.

 

[Jiffster]

What yeast did you use? It may actually benefit from staying upstairs in the warmer temperature.

Belgian Saison III (WLP585)

 

[Jiffster]

Well, I cracked open this batch yesterday and I was a bit bummed out. It was way over carbonated. The flavor was so-so and I think the carbonation had something to do with making the flavor less than ideal.

Way to fizzy when drinking.

It maintained a very active carbonation/bubbling for quite a while.

What went wrong?

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443963715.639127.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443963731.061142.jpg

 

[Aristotelian]

Look up "gushers", that appears to be what you have here. Possible causes are 1) not done fermenting, 2) infection, 3) too much priming sugar.

 

[Jiffster]

I gave my daughter a 6 pack to take home. She just texted me and said they were not over carbonated and were hoppier than the ones we tried yesterday.

 

[singybrue]

How long were they refrigerated before opening?
Try again after sitting in the fridge for a week.
(The bottles, not you!)

 

[Jiffster]

How long were they refrigerated before opening?
Try again after sitting in the fridge for a week.
(The bottles, not you!)

Maybe 5-6 hours. I'll give it a shot.