Philly Sour Bottling

[fuchspelz]

Hi all,

I have made a batch of a recipe I've repeated a few times (OG: 1.044) using Philly Sour and had a question regarding bottling. On the previous renditions of this beer, the FG finished out at 1.006 each time. This time, the FG seems to have reached its end at 1.011 (been stuck there for 5 days now). I followed identical mashing procedures (same temp, same time, same grain bill) so I don't think this batch is any less fermentable than the last few, and the fermentation temps were similar to other batches, cooler (~68F) for the first few days before letting it naturally come up to room temp (~72F). I am mostly thinking that maybe my yeast rehydration was different for this batch or the yeast itself was older and possibly there were less cells pitched into the batch than the other times.

In any case, my concern is the remaining fermentables going into the bottling bucket compared to the other batches I have done. Each time I have bottled this beer, I have used EC-1118 as an additional yeast to deter the Philly Sour from decreasing the pH further and due to Philly Sour's supposed lack of CO2 production. I fear that if I use the same amount of dextrose that I have in the past, the beer may end up over-carbed and possibly lead to bottle bombs. Conversely, I fear the opposite - putting in too little dextrose in anticipation of the EC-1118 using the left over fermentables only to find out that they're actually not fermentable sugars and I have now produced a flatter beer.

Any ideas, experience, or suggestions?

 

[OLBrews]

I would experiment with a couple of bottles prior to processing the entire batch. Individually dose bottles with EC-1118, put in a warm water bath at 85F or so (EC-1118 range is up to 86F), and hold temp if you can to speed the process along. You could do one with no sugar addition and one with half the amount if you want to gauge how much may be needed to attain the desired carbonation level in the full batch.

Only downside is time, but it is better than a whole batch of flat beer or bottle bombs.

 

[fuchspelz]

Good idea. I had assumed something like that would be the best bet, but was hoping to have these ready for the weekend after Thanksgiving, so I was trying to avoid adding more time. Like you said, better to wait a bit and not risk ruining the batch.

Thanks!

 

[G_robertus]

PS can carb just fine on its own if you don't overshoot the maximum ABV. That said, EC-1118 is Killer+ and cannot ferment complex sugars. There are no simple sugars left at this point, so adding 1118 and new simple sugar is completely safe.
RDWHAHB.