New Brewer. Question on when I can bottle.

[SlitheryDee]

So I just put my first beer in the fermenter the day before yesterday. It's an extract based Cream ale that was apparently made in-house at a local homebrew supply store. Everything went swimmingly and there's a healthy looking krausen with lots of airlock activity currently. I take that to mean that I'm mostly in the clear in terms of infection assuming I don't introduce a microbe between now and bottling time. If I'm wrong on that point I'd like to know though.

Now I've done a lot of reading and research leading into this, and it's my understanding that ales can sometimes finish fermenting very quickly. The signs of a finishing fermentation are the krausen falling back into the beer accompanied by a cessation in airlock activity for a period of time. My plan is to look for these signs and then begin taking periodic gravity readings to see if I can determine when the beer has reached final gravity, and then proceed to bottling.

My question has to do with exactly when I should bottle though. I understand that some "cleaning up" of off-flavors by the yeast happens even after apparent activity has ceased. Varying sources seem to hold that cleaning up period to be of varying amounts of importance, from "not at all" to "absolutely crucial". I've seen reports of people kegging or bottling just a couple of days after reaching final gravity and seeming to come up with fine looking beer, while others seem to want to leave the beer alone for a couple more weeks, and they also seem to come up with fine looking beer. Assuming I'm able to determine the final gravity somewhere short of two weeks, what should I do? Should I leave it in for another period of time, or can I bottle it? Will that "cleaning" still happen in the bottles during the bottle conditioning phase? Do I run the risk of making bottle bombs? Are there other considerations I need to be aware of? Thanks for any help!

Edit: On a side note. I have yet to take an OG reading due to every hydrometer I've ordered thus far coming in broken. That's one from Midwest Supplies (being replaced), and two from amazon (refunded). Either these things don't ship well or I'm just having a run of horrible luck with them. I had the foresight to save a bit of the pre-pitch wort for testing when I later acquire a working hydrometer. It's sitting it the fridge currently. Am I going to get an accurate reading off of that sample?

 

[bleme]

There is a lot of debate on this so you are only going to get opinions here, but my belief is that the beer will clean up in the bottle eventually, but it does it faster in the primary and that bottling before 2 weeks is counterproductive. Personally, I will keg at 2 weeks but usually wait 3 weeks if I am bottling.

To avoid bottle bombs, make sure you have the same gravity reading 3 days apart. Be aware that even that isn't fool-proof as I had one batch that apparently was just napping. My 12oz bottles were all foamy and my 22's exploded.

 

[Sailingeric]

The cleaning up are part can happen in the bottle. The first few weeks it can have an off taste, which is called green beer. Best bet to be safe is to give it at least two before you bottle. But once you bottle those get another batch going so you can start a pipeline of beer. Then the wait wont seem so long.

 

[Mainer]

The hydrometer advice above is spot-on.

I'll also add my thoughts on "clean-up" time. In general, I think beers with high alcohol or dark malts or crystal malts take longer to clean up. Same for beers made with lager yeast. The lighter the malt bill (both in color and in initial gravity), the more quickly it'll be ready to drink. A standard cream ale won't test your patience *too* much.

 

[jrgtr42]

If you're brewing from a kit, the instructions probably say something like transfer to secondary after a week, and bottle a week after that.
Personally, I don't bother with secondary unless I'm bulk aging for a long time, on wood, fruit or souring.
I generally leave my beers in primary for 3 weeks, This takes care of any clean up that may or may not need to be done. When I brew, I'll check on the fermenter for the first few days, make sure things are going all right, then leave it alone for about 2 weeks. yeah, I'll take a peek if I happen be walking past the closet I keep it in, but no touching it. 3 days before projected bottling, I'll check gravity, then again the morning of the bottling. Presuming gravity is identical (I think it hasn't been maybe once in all my brews) I'll proceed bottling.

 

[mattdee1]

I'd encourage you to not overthink this. I know what I'm about to say goes against the grain a bit (no pun intended), but unless you're doing some really big beer, using some oddball yeast, or using some wild experimental recipe, so long as you pitch an appropriate amount of yeast you can be 99% sure most beers are done fermenting by a) giving them 2-3 weeks in the fermenter at appropriate temperatures, and b) visually verifying the krausen has dropped.

I think there is definitely value to doing the textbook "gravity readings a few days apart" thing when you're just starting out so that you can see with your own eyes what is happening, but it won't be long before this step starts to feel akin to looking down in the morning to check that you still have feet. At that point you can just do a single FG reading 3 or so weeks after brew day, on the day you decide to bottle.

If you want the comfort level of verifying you still have feet you can do the dual measurements, but in any case, unless you're really impatient and are trying to fast track the hell out of things, it should be extremely rare to ever have to do more than 2 readings. Keep in mind that doing hydrometer samples not only wastes beer (hey, a bottle or two worth is significant if you do really small batches) but it creates opportunities to introduce unwelcome oxygen and/or infections to the fermenter.

My advice would be the following:

- pitch the yeast and let it do its thing for 3 weeks (that means completely leave it alone!)
- at that time, if krausen appears to have dropped, pull a hydro sample, record result
- decide on a day at least 2 days later that you want to bottle
- on that day, verify the reading hasn't changed
- bottle the beer, store at room temperature for a week
- start loading them in the fridge, upright, so they can start to clear up and condition
- sample a few at 1-2 weeks in bottle if you must (try to resist)
- at 3+ weeks in bottle, go nuts

 

[SlitheryDee]

If you're brewing from a kit, the instructions probably say something like transfer to secondary after a week, and bottle a week after that.
Personally, I don't bother with secondary unless I'm bulk aging for a long time, on wood, fruit or souring.
I generally leave my beers in primary for 3 weeks, This takes care of any clean up that may or may not need to be done. When I brew, I'll check on the fermenter for the first few days, make sure things are going all right, then leave it alone for about 2 weeks. yeah, I'll take a peek if I happen be walking past the closet I keep it in, but no touching it. 3 days before projected bottling, I'll check gravity, then again the morning of the bottling. Presuming gravity is identical (I think it hasn't been maybe once in all my brews) I'll proceed bottling.

It was a kit, but it didn't include any instructions. All it had were the vacuum sealed packets of fermentables (two roughly 3 pound bags of liquid malt extract and one 1 pound bag of rice syrup solids), 60 bottle caps, one packet of safale US-05, and two hops packets labeled "60 mins" and "1 min". Luckily I came into this with a head full of the material I've been reading on the subject and knew what to do with it all. I also happen to know that racking to a secondary is technically optional, though I do have a 5 gallon carboy to do it with should I choose to. I had planned to just leave it in the primary this time and maybe experiment with a secondary on a future batch to see if I like it that way.

I've got to say that I'm feeling rather impatient with this first batch. I think I'm going to shoot for bottling at two weeks assuming conditions appear right and the gravity readings check out. I know that's on the low end of what everyone is recommending, but I want it to be ready already!

 

[PADave]

I generally leave my beers in primary for 3 weeks, This takes care of any clean up that may or may not need to be done. When I brew, I'll check on the fermenter for the first few days, make sure things are going all right, then leave it alone for about 2 weeks. yeah, I'll take a peek if I happen be walking past the closet I keep it in, but no touching it. 3 days before projected bottling, I'll check gravity, then again the morning of the bottling. Presuming gravity is identical (I think it hasn't been maybe once in all my brews) I'll proceed bottling.

This is what I do, except for taking FG readings. I take one reading, and that's as I'm bottling. I'm not a fan of opening up the fermenter, and sticking things in it. Every time is exposure to oxygen, and a risk of infection. If a normal gravity brew isn't done in 3 weeks, something went wrong.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Ok so here's where I'm at. Today is the 10th day in the fermenter for my cream ale. I took a gravity measurement and got a surprising 1.006 specific gravity. The og was 1.048, so we're looking at a pretty high 87% attenuation. I was expecting it to finish somewhere in the 1.008 to 1.010 range. With this information I'm seriously considering bottling tomorrow provided I get the same measurement again. It would be hella convenient to get on a cycle where I'm always bottling/brewing on sundays assuming a 2 week fermentation time. You guys think I'm good or what?

 

[Horseflesh]

I suggest you taste all the samples you take. Your gravity is probably low enough to bottle, but at least 2 weeks in the fermenter is a good idea for most beers. If you do bottle tomorrow you still have a couple of weeks to wait for it to carb up, so you aren't done waiting yet.

(I find it really interesting to taste throughout the fermentation, so I can tell what is going on, and learn how things change over time.)

Look into kegging... the impatient brewer's best friend.

 

[Moose_MI]

1). I just want to applaud the fact that you did some reading before brewing. I salute u sir
2) I just want to salute the fact that u did not try to put rubarb, cherries, oysters, coffee, or snake venom into your first batch. Well done, sir
3). Your on a role...don't f' this up. Do not think about this beer for 2 weeks.
4). After a couple weeks take a gravity and if it's ~1.012 or lower then bottle. If it's not then let us know
5) it's a cream ale...2 weeks of bottle conditioning at ~70f.....3 days in fridge...drink
6). The longer this cream ale lagers in fridge the better it will be

 

[SlitheryDee]

Ok so I guess you guys were right. I took a gravity reading today to confirm that I could bottle, this time with a different hydrometer. The reading I got was 1.012. I verified that the hydrometer was accurate with tap water and tried still another hydrometer with the same result. So I guess my first hydrometer was just inaccurate.

Not to be put off completely, I decided to rack that batch to a secondary fermenter and make today a brew day. I'll give it till next Sunday and check it again. I wouldn't have bothered with a secondary except that I need the big carboy for my next batch. Meanwhile I'll put an American wheat in the primary. Thanks for all your wise words folks. I'll not doubt you again!

 

[dnslater]

One of the biggest mistakes new brewers make is rushing the beer. Wait a minimum of 2 weeks before bottling, 3-4 is better.

After the bottles carb for 3 weeks a cream ale will improve with a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Also, many of us gave up on secondaries long ago unless doing a specialty beer. Most beers just don't need it and it will only risk oxidation or infection.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Today was two weeks officially, so I took another gravity reading. 1.012 again. I'm kinda puzzled by it finishing a bit high, but I suppose that must be my FG. I'm including some pics of the measurement because I'm questioning whether I'm reading my hydrometer correctly or not. Notice how clear the beer is as well as the reading.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1491398114.867895.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1491398133.738526.jpg

 

[Horseflesh]

IMHO, for normal ale, when FG stabilizes, it's fine as long as it's a stone's throw from the prediction. You can go mad worrying about attenuation and hitting the predicted values.

BTW, make sure you are applying a hydrometer temperature correction.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

 

[wolfej50]

As a general rule, darker beers can benefit from more aging. Although there's no reason that aging couldn't happen in the bottle. While those external signs (krausen fall-off, lack of air-lock activity) may indicate that fermentation is falling off, there still might be a fair amount of fermentation left to do, albeit slower. It's best to measure the gravity. You're looking for a stable gravity reading, not necessarily a match to your predicted OG. If the measured OG is stable but well short of that predicted, you may have a stuck fermentation, i.e., the yeast died off or went dormant for some reason. In that case, add another packet of yeast to get the fermentation going again.
I typically ferment for a minimum of two weeks. I may allow my beer to age longer in the fermenter (or in a secondary for really long aging periods), especially for my preferred darker beers.

 

[wolfej50]

wrt to your reading of 1.012, as long as that's been the stable reading for a couple of times, you'll be fine.

 

[SlitheryDee]

wrt to your reading of 1.012, as long as that's been the stable reading for a couple of times, you'll be fine.

Yeah it's been stable, separated by 3 days between readings. I'll probably bottle next time I get a free couple of hours. Might not be until sunday anyway, but I think regular testing has definitely been informative here.

 

[SlitheryDee]

So I bottled last night... First time with a full 5 gallon batch out of a bottling bucket. It was pretty easy once I got the beer in the bottling bucket, but I'm worried that I've oxidized the beer with my auto siphon, and I had some other problems too.

When I pumped it, I could see beer rising partway up the racking cane, but it wouldn't make it to the bend and over into the tube to start the siphon. I checked to make sure it was tight everywhere that it screwed together, but it still wouldn't work properly. Getting frustrated, I pumped it increasingly harder and faster to no avail. Eventually I realized that the damn thing was pumping air into the beer every time. :smack: In the end I just filled the tube with sanitizer and let it out to start the siphon. I guess I'll see in a couple of weeks how bad that was.

Then when I started bottling, my bottling wand wouldn't stop dribbling. After filling a couple of bottles and losing a couple ounces of beer in between I considered how huge of a mess I was going to make if I did the whole batch like that. Not to mention the amount of beer I'd likely lose. Those things are supposed to stop completely when you aren't placing pressure on the bottom of them right? Anyway, I did the rest without the wand, just being careful to run the beer down the side of each bottle as I filled it.

I filled a total of 33 12oz bottles, two 2 liter bottles, and one 1.25 liter bottle. That's a total of 572 ounces or a little more than 47 12 ounce bottles of beer. Pretty good yield at least. I've already ordered a new auto siphon, but I was wondering if people had suggestions on a bottling wand that actually works like I expected mine to?

 

[bleme]

I ordered my siphon and wand from Northern Brewer 5 years ago and they have always performed perfectly. One suggestion is that you don't want to store your siphon assembled. It can deform the rubber so you don't get a good seal.

 

[Brownalemikie]

I'd suggest buying a spring loaded wand and then pull the end off and stretch the spring a little bit. This will cause more pressure when bottling so the wand won't drip.

 

[snarlywino]

I've got to say that I'm feeling rather impatient with this first batch. I think I'm going to shoot for bottling at two weeks assuming conditions appear right and the gravity readings check out. I know that's on the low end of what everyone is recommending, but I want it to be ready already!

This is the downfall of every new brewer, myself induced. After brewing for just over a year now, I can tell you that patience makes all the difference. That being said, with the style of beer you have, two weeks in primary sounds to be to be plenty. Where you will need to apply patience is in bottle conditioning. The suggestion of warm storage for two weeks and refrigerated for one spot on.

I started out using a secondary, but as others have stated I have learned that a secondary is only necessary if you have just that, secondary fermentables or some other aging technique you are applying. Otherwise it is just extra work and more opportunity to oxidize your wort and introduce more off flavors.

 

[B0BAL00]

For standard extract ale kits I follow the 3+4 rule. Three weeks in the fermenter followed by four weeks in the bottle. I do cheat and chill a few bottles after only 3 weeks just as a preview.

 

[Kampenken]

Relax and enjoy! I typically ferment for 2 weeks, sometimes 3, and as said previously the lighter beers are quicker. Many folks here talk about cream ales finishing up in 9 days. I haven't tasted their beers but I do believe this is quite possible. Bottle carb can be completed in one week at room temp (not much below 65) though again I typically condition for ~2 weeks. I have not found a taste diff on bottles in fridge for 1-2 days v 1-2 weeks. Try for yourself. Experience all these time differences and take tasting notes. I realize it's your first brew (congrats!) and you don't know yet, but relax and try it out at different times, else you may miss out on your peak beer tastes.

As for hydro, test in distilled water, not tap.

 

[Kampenken]

Oh and I forgot. That oxygenation issue? Overstated. Unless long aging (and you won't for a cream ale) it will be fine.

 

[ncbrewer]

You mentioned that you haven't been able to take an OG reading. I wouldn't worry about it with an extract brew. As long as you use the right weights and volumes, you can figure the OG by the manufacturer's ppg numbers. If you used steeping grains, you can estimate the sugar contribution plenty close enough. I stopped taking OG readings on extract batches several years ago.

For the auto siphon and bottling wand problems, the lesson is to do a test run on water before trying them on beer. Also - not likely, but maybe there was some hop debris in the wand mechanism. That can make it loose some beer.