First bottle time...some questions

[Home Brewski]

Well I just took a hydrometer reading after my first batch had been in the primary for 2 weeks and with the temp conversion is sitting right around 1.013 which means it should be go time to bottle.

First question is what steps can I take to ensure that I will get enough yeast included in the bottle to pretty much guarantee that it will carb up nicely?

Also I will me moving it over to a bottling bucket and I take it you add the priming sugar once its in the transfer bucket rather than adding it before syphoning? Also any good techniques on when to add the sugar and how much stirring or any other method to disperse the sugar?

Sorry if these questions seem low brow but this is my first batch.

BTW I took a quick sip of the liquid taken for the reading...and Im glad to say I didnt taste any off flavors and it tasted delicious.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Welcome! Congrats for learning how to use and using a hydrometer.

By "go time" are you still guessing? What was your OG? Generally speaking your FG should be approximately 25% of your OG. At 1.013, or just 13, your OG should have been 1.052 (52 divided by 4 = 13, simple, huh?)

A couple of questions come to mind:

1. What type of beer is it? Light/dark?

2. Are you wanting to bottle straight from a primary? IMO, it's still too early. Bottling too soon allows you to transfer too much yeast into the bottles.

3. How clear is your brew? Are you going to use a secondary? You really should use a secondary. It's real purpose is to allow your brew to clear and mature a bit before bottling.

Don't worry, you'll still have plenty of yeast in there.

As for priming, most people will boil 1-2 C water and add 2/3 C or 4 oz of Corn Sugar for 5 mins. Add it to a sanitized bottling bucket and rack (transfer/syphon) your brew on top of that. The flowing brew will mix the sugars in for you just fine.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

hb99's got it. Boil up your priming sugar and add it to your bottling bucket once it's cooled. Siphon right into it. The motion the beer takes while siphoning will adequately mix the priming sugar.

 

[Home Brewski]

Welcome! Congrats for learning how to use and using a hydrometer.

By "go time" are you still guessing? What was your OG? Generally speaking your FG should be approximately 25% of your OG. At 1.013, or just 13, your OG should have been 1.052 (52 divided by 4 = 13, simple, huh?)

A couple of questions come to mind:

1. What type of beer is it? Light/dark?

2. Are you wanting to bottle straight from a primary? IMO, it's still too early. Bottling too soon allows you to transfer too much yeast into the bottles.

3. How clear is your brew? Are you going to use a secondary? You really should use a secondary. It's real purpose is to allow your brew to clear and mature a bit before bottling.

Don't worry, you'll still have plenty of yeast in there.

As for priming, most people will boil 1-2 C water and add 2/3 C or 4 oz of Corn Sugar for 5 mins. Add it to a sanitized bottling bucket and rack (transfer/syphon) your brew on top of that. The flowing brew will mix the sugars in for you just fine.

Thanks for the info, its a west coast pale ale and it is probably the color of an IPA. At this time I only have a primary in which I am looking to buy a carboy in the future for a secondary but this is all I have to work with this time.

The OG was around 1.048 and it was down to 1.013 yesterday, and Ill be giving it 3-4 more days before I bottle it.

Thanks for the priming tips.

 

[Steiner]

Ok, I'm going to transfer my beer from the spigot and just wanted to clarify that I do NOT need to stir in the priming sugar, right? It will be equally mixed simply from the flowing beer from the tubing into the bottling bucket?

 

[RLinNH]

Ok, I'm going to transfer my beer from the spigot and just wanted to clarify that I do NOT need to stir in the priming sugar, right? It will be equally mixed simply from the flowing beer from the tubing into the bottling bucket?

You got it. At least that's how I have been doing it for over 13 years now, and knock on wood, never a Carbonation problem. Like stated above, just pour your priming solution into the bottom of your bottling bucket and rack your beer on top of it. It'll mix by itself.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Ok, I'm going to transfer my beer from the spigot and just wanted to clarify that I do NOT need to stir in the priming sugar, right? It will be equally mixed simply from the flowing beer from the tubing into the bottling bucket?

Transfer from the spigot??? Are you fermenting in a bottling bucket? If so, then you'll have to rack your brew into another bucket, clean and sanitize the bottling bucket, add priming sugar and re-rack into the bottling bucket.

 

[Steiner]

Ok folks, the damage is done. I've finally bottled the beer. The buckets my LHBS had for sale were plastic 6.5 gal buckets with pre-drilled holes for the spigot and airlocks. I got two- one for fermenting, one for bottling. If this is considered a bottling bucket, then yes, I was fermenting in a bottling bucket. That's what the owner of the LHBS told me to use. He said to transfer from the fermenter using the spigot. I got some extra plastic tubing and did what the man said. Since the holes are drilled slightly high, none of the trub gets sucked in supposedly. We'll see.

So I racked it from that bucket into my bottling bucket and bottled as planned. Everything went well, except for a few unexpected messes. The pressure from the tubing discharged a tubeful of beer all over the cabinets while I was disconnecting. I figured holding both disconnected ends upward was a safe idea. My tubing was still rather curvy from the spool at the hardware store, despite my straightening attempts.

Thanks for the assistance everyone. So far so good.