Rousing Yeast Too Close to Bottling Time?

[DSmith]

I've got an ESB that's started at 1.049 and is at 1.019 after 17 days (Wyeast 1099, 1L starter, well oxygenated). I attemped a cooler 64-66F ferment by swapping frozen bottles into a water bath for the first 4 days and was consistent as possible, but will admit it's not perfect temperature control.

I've got the primary now at 72F and am planning on bottling in 11 days.

Is it too close to bottling to attempt to rouse the yeast by swirling or using a sanitized paddle?

Will I end up with extra sediment in the bottle compared to leaving it alone and accepting the FG?

 

[BradleyBrew]

11 days you have a good amount of time to rouse the yeast... I just sit the fermenter on the floor and swirl like you would a glass of wine. That should be plenty to get the yeast cake disturbed. The paddle is unnecessary step in my opinion. Cheers

 

[mgull]

i just bottled my esb with similar results. i think i started around 1.053 and got to 1.018 after 10 days at mid to low 60's. i tried swirling my fermenter, and 5 more days bringing my temp up to about 70 with no change in gravity. i used us-04 yeast.

 

[DSmith]

I roused last night by swirling as directed. I've got a temperature controller and freezer since starting this brew and am heating it to 72F with a heating pad and PC fan. It's going to be nice to control temperatures better next time. I'll report back if this changed the FG.

 

[DSmith]

I've still got 6 days left before bottling (see first posting in this thread). FG is now at 1.015 based on a refractometer and Promash conversion tool. I calibrated my refractometer with distilled water and noticed it was off so I don't have a lot of confidence in my original 1.019 reading anymore - which was the reason I roused the yeast. My OG was done with a calibrated refractometer and hydrometer. I've learned to check the calibration more often.

I have the ability to cold crash. With only 11 days between rousing to bottling, should I cold crash 2 days before bottling to improve clarity and calculate the priming sugar based on the 72F? (I've read as much as possible on this forum and that seems to be the agreed upon way to calculate priming sugar in this senario).

 

[unionrdr]

I've gotten OG 1.050's down to 1.010 & 1.012 easily with 1 7g package of Cooper's ale yeast re-hydrated in 1.5-2C of boiled water with 2tsp dextrose added. I think it can go lower. You have to make sure it's done fermenting before priming & bottling. Bottle bombs aren't good.

 

[DSmith]

My 70% attenuation is within the yeast range of 68%-72% and FG and ABV is within the style. I'll make sure the 1.015 FG is constant over the next 6 days before bottling. It'll have been in primary for 4 weeks and I'm pretty sure now that my 1.019 reading at the beginning of this thread was with an uncalibrated refractometer and it's been at 1.015 for a long time.

Any more advice about the benefits of cold crashing the primary about 10 days after rousing the yeast as long as the FG is constant?

 

[unionrdr]

I'm always leery about cold crashing before bottling. You need some yeast to carbonate with. But if you're kegging it won't matter much.

 

[DSmith]

Thank you for the advice. I want this carbed by Thanksgiving so I'm going to skip cold crashing. I've carbinated fine with following the 3 weeks @ 70F rule without crashing but it might be something to explore sometime. It'll be interesting to see what's left in the bottle for this brew vs. one that wasn't roused the 4 week primary. I have no feeling for how fast things settle out in 11 days after rousing.

 

[unionrdr]

I'm thinking that if you didn't rouse it too much,there wouldn't have been that much in suspension to start with. So 11 days way well be fine. Plus letting them sit undisturbed in the bottles (in covered boxes,preferably) for 3 or four weeks should be ok. fridge'em 1 week before Thanksgiving if you can. But minimum 3 weeks at room temp.

 

[HomebrewMTB]

You don't have to worry about having enough yeast after cold crashing. There's plenty left in suspension to do the work during bottle conditioning. And 11 days is a long time. You should be able to fully ferment the beer in 11 days nevermind knock off those last couple of points. Especially if you warmed it up to room temps.

And if you do bottle directly after cold crashing, be sure to enter the beer temp into a priming sugar calculations. You will have a lot more residual CO2 at crash temps and need to add less priming sugar.