Hello all. I made a newbie over-eager mistake and bottled a batch of a Gulden Draak clone too early. Followed advice from here to unbottle and return to carboy to avoid explosions. I think it's ready to bottle now (reckon 8 weeks is enough for a 10% ABV brew? Fermentation appears to be finished...), but my question is: Will the extra priming sugar I add before bottling, given that it will be the second time I've added priming sugar, make the final product too sweet? If so, can anyone offer any advice for handling this with this batch? Thanks in advance....
more sugar for second bottling attempt?
- Thread starter Dionustra
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
bourgeoisbee
Well-Known Member
The yeast will eat the sugar and won't make it sweet, but I don't see why you want to rebottle. As long as it fermented out fully you can let it age in bulk or in the bottle. If you added the right amount of sugar upon bottling the first time I'd just let it age for a while. I've made barley wines and big Belgians in the 10% range and just let them ferment for about a month and bottle as usual. They do take much longer to carb up, but I don't plan on drinking them young anyway.
Thanks for the response. I should clarify that it's been in the fermenter now for about 8 weeks. Would you recommend letting it sit there for more weeks / months before bottling? I will be bottling, eventually, since I don't have a keg system (yet), and if it will make for better beer, I can definitely leave it where it is for a while - but if not, I'd like to be able to free up the carboy it's in. How long would you age this one? And will it age better / tastier in the carboy than in bottles? Thanks again....
bourgeoisbee
Well-Known Member
I'd bottle it now just so you know there is yeast in there to let it carb up, but you can also transfer it to a secondary vessel and let it bulk age. I keg my hoppy beers, but like to bottle big beers like this as I like to let them age and so I can have one here and then and not tie up a draft line for a few years. I start trying a bottle or two of big beers like this after 4 months or so, but they usually are better after 6-8 months when the alcohol heat dies down a bit. I have a year old triple and it was great after about 6 months, but is even better now. I brew a triple and double each summer and then can do a vertical tastings a few times a year.
Ok, I looked up your old thread. You didn't measure your OG. I assume you made a 5 gallon batch. Your OG would have been around 1.114. Since it was mostly extract, we can make a reasonable guess. If you did a larger volume, the OG would be lower.
When you bottled, the SG was 1.050. That would have given you about 8 to 8.5% abv.
Questions: 1) When you poured the beer back into the fermenter, did you add more yeast? 2) What yeast did you use, and at what temperature have you kept it? 3) What is the gravity reading now?
To answer your question, the previous priming sugar you added will have been consumed. You will need to add more when you bottle. If it is finished, you can bottle. Give some more information and see if anyone has any concerns or suggestions for you.
When you bottled, the SG was 1.050. That would have given you about 8 to 8.5% abv.
Questions: 1) When you poured the beer back into the fermenter, did you add more yeast? 2) What yeast did you use, and at what temperature have you kept it? 3) What is the gravity reading now?
To answer your question, the previous priming sugar you added will have been consumed. You will need to add more when you bottle. If it is finished, you can bottle. Give some more information and see if anyone has any concerns or suggestions for you.
Similar threads
