Used A Muslin Bag During Racking...

[DSorenson]

It's currently still racking into my bottling bucket. I used the muslin bag to prevent my dry hops from making it to my bottling bucket.

The only problem is that it seems to be knocking a whole lot of CO2 out of suspension in my beer. You can see all of the bubbles gathering in the lines and slowing down the siphon. like a lot. I am concerned now that my 4.5 ounces of corn sugar will not get me to my 2.5 volumes.

Any thoughts?!

EDIT: in the time it took to post that, the siphon had enough CO2 in it to stop the siphon.

 

[DSorenson]

Well the damage is done, if there is any. I waited as long as I could for a response.

In the end, the siphon was clogged at the muslin. It was causing a lot of negative pressure in the line and that was pulling out the CO2, as far as I can tell. I didn't add any more sugar, I merely removed the muslin for the last 2 gallons. After that the siphon flow was smooth and ultimately hardly any hop material got in the bottling bucket. From what I can see, none made it past the dip tube into the bottles.

Still worried about the CO2 level in the finished product...
... but whatever.

 

[ong]

You don't really need any co2 in the beer to successfully bottle prime. I mean, I suppose it could change the amount of priming sugar slightly, but I don't think the amount of dissolved gas in the beer is usually a factor in that calculation -- I.e., the calculation assumes you're starting with flat beer.

 

[DSorenson]

Interesting: that tasty brew calculator does, in fact, compensate for beer temperatures which is directly concerned with the amount of CO2 still dissolved into the beer.

More troublesome is the fact that I think I got air going through my beer.

In an effort to get my autosiphon going again, I worked the mechanism which filled with (what I had assumed to be) CO2 pulled out of the beer. As I was cleaning the siphon and hose and working the mechanism again, I noticed the same phenomena. This leads me to believe that air was pulled in past the plunger and into the beer line.

I'm beyond freaking out right now: I had a heck of a time bottling today and I think I'm coming down with an illness.

... But that does it--
I'm getting a fermenting bucket, a hop bag and a shot glass for all future dry-hopped brews.

That was ridiculous.

 

[Yooper]

I know some folks have good luck with a bag (like Biermuncher) but all that happened to me was a clogged siphon when I tried it.

I'm an old winemaker, though, and really proficient with racking and it seems like that 'black piece' on the end of the racking cane helps a lot with not sucking up floaters.

I hate those priming calculators, so wouldn't rely on them to guestimate the residual c02 in the beer anyway. Those calculators suck, and are responsible for many undercarbed beers, and/or bottle bomb risks. .75-1 oz of priming sugar, per gallon by weight, works all the time.

 

[DSorenson]

I know some folks have good luck with a bag (like Biermuncher) but all that happened to me was a clogged siphon when I tried it.

I'm an old winemaker, though, and really proficient with racking and it seems like that 'black piece' on the end of the racking cane helps a lot with not sucking up floaters.

I hate those priming calculators, so wouldn't rely on them to guestimate the residual c02 in the beer anyway. Those calculators suck, and are responsible for many undercarbed beers, and/or bottle bomb risks. .75-1 oz of priming sugar, per gallon by weight, works all the time.

Hahaha, it's so funny you mentioned that, because I found your post where you mentioned that. Biermuncher had pictures of his paint straining bag and you seemed flabbergasted by his results.

For what it's worth, I took that darn bag off and got great results. Never again!

Also, a sincere thanks for that priming primer-- I'm giving up on tasty brew!
(you must have read about my most recent bottle bombs...)

 

[Redhook]

Why not just leave the filter cap on you racking cane and keep it above the hops?

 

[blizz81]

In my experience, if you have to filter something with a bag at bottling / racking with a bag, use it on the hose output. May have some exposure to oxygen (although still generally not splashing it around or anything), but it's worse in that respect to keep pumping a siphon as it gets clogged.

 

[DSorenson]

In my experience, if you have to filter something with a bag at bottling / racking with a bag, use it on the hose output. May have some exposure to oxygen (although still generally not splashing it around or anything), but it's worse in that respect to keep pumping a siphon as it gets clogged.

That's actually pretty brilliant...

I wish I had thought of that sooner!

 

[jahdub]

I have not had the best results with using siphon filters. Cold crashing has worked perfectly, though.

 

[DSorenson]

I have not had the best results with using siphon filters. Cold crashing has worked perfectly, though.

I was going to cold crash by sticking the glass secondary into a bucket of ice water for a few days... but then promptly realized that the bucket was too small when the carboy got stuck halfway down.

This whole ordeal was very... ordealish...