First Bottling Day!

[Vedexent]

Put my first batch in bottles with priming sugar. 17 x 500 ml bottles - which is just about exactly what I'd figured as final volume.

Put it in the PET bottles - just in case I screw up something in carbonation; don't want glass shattering.

Tasted the last little bit after done bottling. I think I understand "green" now

It was pretty raw stuff - the problems I detected earlier with "hot" alcohol and astringency from running the fermenter too warm, I think are definitely there.

Fortunately it's successor batch is socked away in a climate controlled box, and sitting dead steady on 66F for Wyeast #1028

But - we'll see how the bottle conditioning works over the next 3 weeks.

 

[Mothman]

Congrats on getting the first batch packaged! I'm at about one and a half weeks into batch #1 fermentation, telling myself everyday that patience pays off. Lol

 

[BeginnerBebeBrewer]

Congratulations and welcome to the bottling experience! I found the bath to be the best place for bottling....the mess is easily cleaned up. I just wondered did you add your priming sugar to each individual bottle or did you add it directly to your beer before bottling? I've found adding to the beer before bottling has given a good even carbonation but its always great to hear other peoples experiences!

 

[SlitheryDee]

I'm less than a week from my first bottling. I sampled a couple today and they're already tasting quite nice. Really, they're as good as the commercial examples I tried in order to prepare myself for evaluating my own brew. I'll be bottling the second batch this weekend.

 

[Vedexent]

Congratulations and welcome to the bottling experience! I found the bath to be the best place for bottling....the mess is easily cleaned up. I just wondered did you add your priming sugar to each individual bottle or did you add it directly to your beer before bottling? I've found adding to the beer before bottling has given a good even carbonation but its always great to hear other peoples experiences!

I went with batch carbonating. It's a SMaSH so I went for 2.5 volumes of CO2, used one of the online calculators for figuring sugar, (and treating it as an Ale) boiled it in some water for sterilization, cooled it to room temperature before adding it to the bottling bucket, and siphoned the beer out of the fermenter into the bucket.

From them it was just use the wand, fill the bottle, squeeze the bottle to remove the headspace (can only do that with the PET bottles, and the carbonation should pop 'em back out again), and screw the cap down.

We'll see how it goes.

 

[Vedexent]

Congrats on getting the first batch packaged! I'm at about one and a half weeks into batch #1 fermentation, telling myself everyday that patience pays off. Lol

Patience, diligence, attention to detail, sanitation, and temperature control.

I think the last one is what got me on this batch; but we'll see how the bottle conditioning goes.

 

[Vedexent]

I'm less than a week from my first bottling. I sampled a couple today and they're already tasting quite nice. Really, they're as good as the commercial examples I tried in order to prepare myself for evaluating my own brew. I'll be bottling the second batch this weekend.

Very cool

Did you taste it at the time of bottling? If so - how did it compare between then and now?

 

[Brownalemikie]

From them it was just use the wand, fill the bottle, squeeze the bottle to remove the headspace (can only do that with the PET bottles, and the carbonation should pop 'em back out again), and screw the cap down.

We'll see how it goes.

Hmmm, I'm thinking you might want some space. Doesn't the yeast use the air in head space to carbonate the beer?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Hmmm, I'm thinking you might want some space. Doesn't the yeast use the air in head space to carbonate the beer?

Yeast can carbonate aerobically (with oxygen - respiration) or anaerobically (without oxygen - fermentation). Using glucose as the sugar.....
C6H12O6 + 6O2 --> 6CO2 + 6H2O .............. (respiration)
C6H12O6 --> 2C2H6O + 2CO2 ................. (fermentation)
Thus, more oxygen = more carbonation (6 molecules per molecule of sugar vs 2 molecules per molecule of sugar) and less alcohol.

This, combined with the CO2 needed to fill out the PET bottle, could result in a slightly under-carbonated beer. It will still have carbonation though, and will probably still be very good!

 

[Brownalemikie]

Yeast can carbonate aerobically (with oxygen - respiration) or anaerobically (without oxygen - fermentation). Using glucose as the sugar.....
C6H12O6 + 6O2 --> 6CO2 + 6H2O .............. (respiration)
C6H12O6 --> 2C2H6O + 2CO2 ................. (fermentation)
Thus, more oxygen = more carbonation (6 molecules per molecule of sugar vs 2 molecules per molecule of sugar) and less alcohol.

This, combined with the CO2 needed to fill out the PET bottle, could result in a slightly under-carbonated beer. It will still have carbonation though, and will probably still be very good!

I don't have a degree in chemistry so are you saying no headspace is required for good carbonation? Tia

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I don't have a degree in chemistry so are you saying no headspace is required for good carbonation? Tia

No headspace is required. Less oxygen (headspace) will mean less carbonation from the same amount of sugar, thus more sugar for the same level of carbonation.

 

[Brownalemikie]

No headspace is required. Less oxygen (headspace) will mean less carbonation from the same amount of sugar, thus more sugar for the same level of carbonation.

So, it would be better if OP didn't squeeze bottle to remove the headspace? He would get more carbonation with more air in the bottle....right?

 

[Vedexent]

No headspace is required. Less oxygen (headspace) will mean less carbonation from the same amount of sugar, thus more sugar for the same level of carbonation.

I'm am shocked that I can't trust all brewing/bottling advice I see on Youtube!

OK - I'm relieved to know I haven't killed carbonation completely, and that there will still be some, if not as much as planned.

For the most part, I do have swing top glass bottles which I can't squeeze - but I have some PET bottles that I decided to uses on this small batch. It being my first time, I wanted to mitigate the repercussions if I over-carbonated (ironically).

 

[SlitheryDee]

Very cool



Did you taste it at the time of bottling? If so - how did it compare between then and now?

Yes I tasted it when I bottled it. It didn't seem to have any sharp off flavors at the time. On the contrary, I thought it tasted a bit bland. It kind of worried me, actually. Since then the flavor has seemed to resolve into a more defined hop and malt character. I know that I enjoyed the bottle I drank last night much more than the sampling I took at bottling time. It's hard to say how much of that is maturation and how much of it is a result of the increased carbonation.

 

[kh54s10]

I find that tasting a sample before bottle conditioning only gives you an idea of what the finished beer will be like. Sometimes it just tastes like flat beer. Other times it does not taste too good. After conditioning that not too good beer turns out to be very good. I have only had one or two that didn't taste better when conditioned and those were still quite good.

Other than 2 extreme experiments. One was a very high ABV attempt - super sweet and used for cooking. The other stayed extremely cloudy and I dumped it.

 

[Vedexent]

I find that tasting a sample before bottle conditioning only gives you an idea of what the finished beer will be like. Sometimes it just tastes like flat beer. Other times it does not taste too good. After conditioning that not too good beer turns out to be very good. I have only had one or two that didn't taste better when conditioned and those were still quite good.

I really know better - wait and see - but I'm fretting over this one more than I should as it's my first batch ever.

I'll know in 3 weeks.

"Yeah yeah yeah, patience. How long will that take?" - Ed Gruberman, Frantics, Boot to the head.