First bottling done!

[Poppy360]

My FG was .020. A little high compared to what the instructions said (.010-.012), but I took it over the course of 4
days and it never changed. Boiled the priming sugar. Sanitized everything and away we went!

Siphoning to bottling bucket.

Bottling first beer.

Fill 'er up!

Trish trying her hand at bottling.

 

[Poppy360]

Me.

Sprockets want to try a sip.

Capping.

 

[Poppy360]

Final tally, 46 1/2 beers!

Two weeks to go...:rockin:

 

[Poppy360]

Trish made a label. Sweet!:rockin:

 

[homebrewer_99]

What was your Original Gravity 1.080?

In general, your brew is ready when the OG drops 75%.

You said the recommended FG was supposed to be 1.010-12, then I would say you OG was between 1.040-1.048, not 1.080. Right???

I hate to tell you this, but your beer is not done fermenting. You just added more sugar to it in a closed container (capped bottle). You are going to get some great gushers and bottle grenades from the bottles within the next two weeks, not drink beer as you planned. Sorry.

The #1 thing new brewers need to learn is patience. Fermentation is a NATURAL PROCESS. You cannot rush it...you may try, but there are consequences...and now you will experience one of them.

 

[Poppy360]

That sux. Oh well. I checked it over the course of 4 days and the SG didn't change...

 

[homebrewer_99]

That sux. Oh well. I checked it over the course of 4 days and the SG didn't change...

That was good that you checked, but it should be at the FG range for a couple of days...not just steady.

What you experienced was a "stuck fermentation". You should have roused the yeast some by swirling the bucket to wake up the yeast again.

If that doesn't work you can always re-pitch new yeast.

I could tell your brew had yeast in suspension because of how cloudy is looked.

How long was it in the primary? How long in the secondary?

It should look more like this:

 

[Poppy360]

It was in primary for 12 days. No secondary.

The bottles are now under a plastic sheet in my garage.

 

[AnOldUR]

Between breathing into the bottling bucket and the dog licking the hands that are using the bottling wand, that should be some pretty interesting beer . . .

Just kidding. Good luck.

 

[homebrewer_99]

It was in primary for 12 days. No secondary.

Patience Grasshopper!!

You really should do secondaries if you are looking for clear beers.

You are bound to make mistakes. We all do. That's probably the main reason why we all hang out here.

After 13+ years I still mistakes, although little ones now.

 

[Poppy360]

Yeah, there was some breathing into the bucket, but the wand was in my right hand and the dog licked the left.

 

[Poppy360]

Patience Grasshopper!!

You really should do secondaries if you are looking for clear beers.

You are bound to make mistakes. We all do. That's probably the main reason why we all hang out here.

After 13+ years I still mistakes, although little ones now.

I understand about the clear beers, but this was my first brew. Clarity isn't too important to me right now. I just want to be able to actually drink my beer.

 

[DeathBrewer]

and you will. you MAY get gushers and your beer may be a little sweeter than you expect, but i wouldn't worry too much about it. leave it in the bottle a couple weeks and then open one up and give it a try.

Just have a glass ready over a sink and point it away from your face

 

[homebrewer_99]

I understand about the clear beers, but this was my first brew. Clarity isn't too important to me right now. I just want to be able to actually drink my beer.

And you may, but my (one of my) point(s) is you may not like it. Then you are going to ask us why? What went wrong? And we'll all tell you it was YOU went wrong.

I'm not getting on your case, I am just telling you what is going to happen.

And why isn't clarity important to you now? Anxious and impatient, I bet?

We've all been there...some prefer to stay there and don't know how to berw good beer. Tasty, yes, good? Not Necessarilty so. I know. I've sample lots of BAD HB that guys were so proud of.

Being impatient will ruin your beer. Well, maybe not ruin, but if you had done things right your brew would be a lot better than what you are going to be drinking in a week or so.

But, hey, if you taste your brew in a couple weeks and you're not satisfied that's on you.

I say these things in the interest of you not wasting your time and money making bad brews. If you learn bad habits/practices now they'll be hard to drop later. How many failed attempts at brewing are you willing to put up with?

Granted, it's your first. I understand. Just trying to help...

 

[dibby33]

Would breathing over the open bucket really contaminate the beer? ...must be really bad breath!

Poppy, I would open a bottle in a few days and check the pressure, if it nearly blows your head off then you have bottled (like we all have at some point - me included) a bit too soon. If this is the case you have some options.
1. Empty the beer back into the barrel and let it complete. This may cause more problems than it is worth.
2. Drink the beer now.
3. Put the beers into a fridge, this will stop/slow the fermentation. Drink them.

On the bright side, it could just be that you read the readings incorrectly and all is good.

One main ingrediant to making good beer is enthusiasm and I can see that you are not lacking in that department so you will make good beer. Patience is another but it is your first beer so who really cares! Just have fun and learn from mistakes.

 

[Cherry Bottom Brewing]

You may want to consider using a secondary on your next batch. We have been using the 1-2-3 method that many others on here use. 1 week in the primary, 2 weeks in the secondary, and 3 weeks in bottles.

We are brewing our third batch today, waiting for the wort to cool. As they say practice makes perfect. Why not try another batch next weekend. It seems to help take the edge off of the waiting. We will be able to tase our first batch next weeked.

Good Luck.

 

[Barley-Davidson]

Listen to Cherry Bottom and keep brewing. My fourth batch was in the primary before I was drinking my first.
If you keep brewing you'll gain experience, and even though you don't have the feedback of a finished brew, you will be able to make improvements to you procedures. You'll also fill your supply pipeline so you won't have to wait for homebrew in the future. It also makes the waiting easier and you'll be less likely to try and rush things.

If you do this just remember to take good notes. When you want to duplicate something, or see why one batch is better than another, you won't be able to remember - so write it down.

Cheers and enjoy

 

[Cherry Bottom Brewing]

Barley-Davidson makes a good point. We started a brewing notebook where we list the kit ingredients and the procedures that we followed. SWMBO has also been keeping a tasting notebbok of the beers that we buy to help identify what we like. If you don't already have The Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian, you may want to pick up a copy. There is a suggested log enty on page 120 and 121.

Also, this week we sanitized and filled a new spray bottle with sanitizer solution. It comes in handy if you drop something during the process.

One last note. I really like your lable. We are still trying to come up with a design for ours.

 

[tbulger]

1.020 is not extremely high anyways. I have bottled a few that were at that point with no gushers, plus you took it on four days and it was the same. Im positive your beer will be great, as long as you can hold it for 3+ weeks, its amazing what that last week will give you in the bottle.