First brew - solo

[joshesmusica]

It's been fermenting for two weeks now. I was planning to bottle next Sunday, you think ten days instead of seven would be best?

i usually try not to dry hop longer than 7 days. i've heard of people going longer, but i've also heard that after around that 7 day mark, you can start to get the vegetal flavor developing. in fact most of the time i only dry hop for 5 days. so just test the gravity again at the end of dry hopping (when you were planning on bottling). if it has moved down, i would wait. if it has stayed the same, you should be safe to bottle.

 

[turkeyjerky214]

The only time I dry hop more than 7 days is when I'm dry hopping in the keg, and even then, they sit at room temperature for 6 days, then I chill it and put it on tap so it just dry hops throughout the life of the beer.

 

[tanktop]

Bottled today, it was a complete disaster! The hose on the siphon that came with my kit didn't fit on the bottle filler. I cut a 3" piece of tube, forced it onto the bottle filler and put it on the spigot of the bottling bucket. The bottle filler was so slow, after my third bottle and about ten minutes I removed it, went to a 10" tube and made a huge mess. For some reason I decided to use conditioning tablets instead of sugar. Noticed as I was filling (and pouring everywhere) that it was pretty sticky. I took a reading 10 days ago when I dry hopped and fermentation looked about done so I didn't bother today. Well when I noticed how sticky I took a reading...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1429129159.348564.jpg

It did taste like beer, maybe with the tablets I won't have bombs. Did 7 tablets per bottle as I'm using 22oz's. That is the size of a regular bottle right? I think bottling blows, I think I need to keg instead!!!

 

[joshesmusica]

Bottled today, it was a complete disaster! The hose on the siphon that came with my kit didn't fit on the bottle filler. I cut a 3" piece of tube, forced it onto the bottle filler and put it on the spigot of the bottling bucket. The bottle filler was so slow, after my third bottle and about ten minutes I removed it, went to a 10" tube and made a huge mess. For some reason I decided to use conditioning tablets instead of sugar. Noticed as I was filling (and pouring everywhere) that it was pretty sticky. I took a reading 10 days ago when I dry hopped and fermentation looked about done so I didn't bother today. Well when I noticed how sticky I took a reading...

It did taste like beer, maybe with the tablets I won't have bombs. Did 7 tablets per bottle as I'm using 22oz's. That is the size of a regular bottle right? I think bottling blows, I think I need to keg instead!!!

so this sg reading is without any sugar added? or it's with? if it's without, then you've got a problem with your yeast, or you bottled too early. with all those simple sugars you had in there to begin with, i can't understand such a high fg unless your yeast just got tired and quit on you. just for the future, you always want to remember to check your sg before you proceed with the bottling. in fact you should check it two days before you bottle, and then again on bottling day to ensure that the gravity isn't still moving slowly downward. but it seems from your previous pictures that the sg is higher now than before?

as far as the tablets, i don't use them, just table sugar in a small amount of boiling water, cooled, in my bottling bucket, rack on top of it. what do the instructions on the package say?

with the bottle filler, did you take the lid off the fermenter first, or at least crack the lid? if not, could explain why it was going so slow. and you could just take it down to your lhbs and find a spigot that it works on so that you don't have to ghetto rig it next time.

i think most normal size bottles are 11-12 ounces.

 

[tanktop]

I think the yeast quit on me, makes me glad I went with the tablets. I'm assuming if the yeast is caput adding sugar won't kickstart it. Also I'm guessing the difference in readings is because of the mixing that occurred when I moved the beer into the bottling bucket.

The siphon that came with my kit was one that only fits onto the carboy and you blow through a baffle to get it started [emoji107] I'm thinking blowing my germs into the beer isn't the brightest move. Also I fermented in a bucket and not a carboy. Thought about pouring into the carboy using the supplied funnel but the oxygenation would also be bad. I called the company I got everything from and explained my difficulties and issues I had, they told me not everything in the kit is straight forward and not all the pieces fit together quite right and some modifications may be needed. I asked him why they don't explain that considering this is a beginners kit and wouldn't know until I'm trying to use it and it's a little late. He said there is a learning curve with beer making... That's awesome, sell a beginners kit that needs modifications to people who have never made beer before. I told him thanks, I don't want anything else from your company, there's other places to shop (note to self, reason 62 to buy from local small businesses).

Lastly, 22oz is the standard bottle for me [emoji41]

 

[joshesmusica]

I think the yeast quit on me, makes me glad I went with the tablets. I'm assuming if the yeast is caput adding sugar won't kickstart it. Also I'm guessing the difference in readings is because of the mixing that occurred when I moved the beer into the bottling bucket.

The siphon that came with my kit was one that only fits onto the carboy and you blow through a baffle to get it started [emoji107] I'm thinking blowing my germs into the beer isn't the brightest move. Also I fermented in a bucket and not a carboy. Thought about pouring into the carboy using the supplied funnel but the oxygenation would also be bad. I called the company I got everything from and explained my difficulties and issues I had, they told me not everything in the kit is straight forward and not all the pieces fit together quite right and some modifications may be needed. I asked him why they don't explain that considering this is a beginners kit and wouldn't know until I'm trying to use it and it's a little late. He said there is a learning curve with beer making... That's awesome, sell a beginners kit that needs modifications to people who have never made beer before. I told him thanks, I don't want anything else from your company, there's other places to shop (note to self, reason 62 to buy from local small businesses).

Lastly, 22oz is the standard bottle for me [emoji41]

you have to put your yeast through some pretty extreme conditions to make them completely quit on you. if they had completely quit on you, your bottles won't carbonate. i think the point of the sugar tablets are to be able to add them straight to your bottle. i'm sure table sugar is much cheaper, and here's an online calculator to help you figure out how much:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

what do you mean by the mixing in the bottling bucket? with the sugar? if so, then that's the case. you could probably figure out what the FG was if you knew exactly how much sugar was in each tablet then figure out how many gravity points per gallon that amount of sugar would yield, and divide that by how many gallons you have. which at this point will only tell you how much alcohol you potentially have in there, and you already know about how much is there. the main reason to find the FG is to know for sure that your fermenting finished all the way. this may not be such a big deal when keggin (not sure though, i don't keg), but it is a big deal if you're bottling. could be potentially creating bottle bombs if there was a lot of sugars left, or at the least, creating gushers, which is just a huge waste of beer.

i see! i didn't catch your irony on the 22oz the first time. my standard bottle is .5L! it definitely makes it easier when you're bottling.

 

[ghhjjf]

i wouldn't bother. Seriously-follow the R part of RDWHAHB. you will enjoy the hobby much more.

 

[joshesmusica]

i wouldn't bother. Seriously-follow the R part of RDWHAHB. you will enjoy the hobby much more.

what, exactly, wouldn't you bother with?

 

[turkeyjerky214]

I don't have much experience with extract (only did two batches with extract before moving to all grain), but I've heard people talk about struggling to get below 1.020 with extract brews.

I've only used carbonation tablets once on a small batch of cider, but 7 per 22 oz bottle sounds like a lot. If I remember correctly, I only used 2 per 12 oz bottle.

I'm pretty confused as to how you actually went about bottling. Could you explain your process a little better? Also, where did you buy that starter kit from? I've never heard of a company selling a kit with parts that don't fit together and expecting a beginner to just figure it out.