Bottling, sugar and carbonation drops

[Flan]

You said 5°C previously???

It was cold crashed for 2 1/2 days in my fv then bottled/kegged straight away at 5°C the keg is now at 19°C in my fridge and bottles at around 20°. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[terrym]

Just a quick question, i bottled 5 litres of my first brew and put the rest (17-18l) in a pb, the priming calculator posted on here said to put 1.1g of sugar in a 500ml bottle and 61g in the pb with the beer being at 5°C as it had been cold crashed for 2 1/2 days, does this sound right as it seems a bit low and am worried about it being a bit flat.

I reckon you should always try to fill a PB unless you are going to flush out the headspace with CO2. If you dont do that there is an increased amount of oxygen in the headspace which will do its best to spoil your beer. So filling a few bottles and putting the rest into a PB, in my view, is not the way to go.
As far as the temperature being used to calculate priming rates I use the temperature at which the fermentation finsished since at that point it is still saturated. If you cool it down from that point it will become less saturated, athough the amount of dissolved CO2 remains unchanged. So if you use 20*C ferment temperature, and it finishes there, although you might chill to 2*C, you still use 20*C in the calculator. So in your case if you used 5*C in the calculator you have most likely underprimed.

 

[Flan]

I reckon you should always try to fill a PB unless you are going to flush out the headspace with CO2. If you dont do that there is an increased amount of oxygen in the headspace which will do its best to spoil your beer. So filling a few bottles and putting the rest into a PB, in my view, is not the way to go.
As far as the temperature being used to calculate priming rates I use the temperature at which the fermentation finsished since at that point it is still saturated. If you cool it down from that point it will become less saturated, athough the amount of dissolved CO2 remains unchanged. So if you use 20*C ferment temperature, and it finishes there, although you might chill to 2*C, you still use 20*C in the calculator. So in your case if you used 5*C in the calculator you have most likely underprimed.

Thanks terry, I’ve obviously cocked up the priming, is there anything i can do to fix this. Is it too late to flush the headspace now, it’s been in the pb for 4 days at 19°C now

 

[terrym]

Thanks terry, I’ve obviously cocked up the priming, is there anything i can do to fix this. Is it too late to flush the headspace now, it’s been in the pb for 4 days at 19°C now

Your bottled beer will be undercarbed, but I would just put that down to experience. As for the PB it will be carbonated and you should have enough puff to get it out of the PB, but it will probably need a top up earlier than had you put more sugar in. And you can do that either by gas from a bulb or cylinder, or simply add more priming sugar. But don't let air bubble through the tap when the pressure gets really low. As for oxygen in the headspace I would not get too concerned about it this time round just bear it in mind for next time. And if your PB has been in the warm for 4 days nows the time to draw off a little beer to see if the PB is holding pressure. If it struggles to get out you may have a leak.

 

[Flan]

Your bottled beer will be undercarbed, but I would just put that down to experience. As for the PB it will be carbonated and you should have enough puff to get it out of the PB, but it will probably need a top up earlier than had you put more sugar in. And you can do that either by gas from a bulb or cylinder, or simply add more priming sugar. But don't let air bubble through the tap when the pressure gets really low. As for oxygen in the headspace I would not get too concerned about it this time round just bear it in mind for next time. And if your PB has been in the warm for 4 days nows the time to draw off a little beer to see if the PB is holding pressure. If it struggles to get out you may have a leak.

Yes the pb is pouring ok under pressure, a small glassful no problem. How long should i leave it now in the warm and how long and at what temp to clear and settle.

 

[terrym]

Yes the pb is pouring ok under pressure, a small glassful no problem. How long should i leave it now in the warm and how long and at what temp to clear and settle.

Minimum a week, perhaps up to two to fully carb. Then two weeks in a cool place to condition, then sample and if you think its ready to drink you are set up, but, it might improve with further conditioning. My rule of thumb is the darker the beer and the stronger it is the longer it needs , but only you can tell for your beer.

 

[Flan]

Minimum a week, perhaps up to two to fully carb. Then two weeks in a cool place to condition, then sample and if you think its ready to drink you are set up, but, it might improve with further conditioning. My rule of thumb is the darker the beer and the stronger it is the longer it needs , but only you can tell for your beer.

Great, thanks for the help Terry

 

[Garmostripel]

I add sugar direct to bottles, always have.
I now leave my beer in the FV to finish and more besides. When the sugar goes in I might get a little foaming , but not much to cause concern. So yes that's the sugar nucleation thing.
However when I returned to brewing a few years ago I bottled as soon as the FG was achieved and I regularly used to get gushers, which I put down to the fact that even though the FG might be stable there may be more CO2 to come out of solution before the equilibrium is reached. And the remedy at the time was to leave it longer before I bottled, which I then remembered is what I had done previously to get round this problem, well before I found out about yeast cleaning up etc etc on this forum.
Finally if you allow the beer to finish then leave it then crash cool at the end, there will be less than the equilibrium CO2 in the cold beer at the time of bottling, and therefore less tendency for it to want to be displaced by the sugar as it is added.

How long do you crash cool for before bottling?

 

[terrym]

How long do you crash cool for before bottling?

If the fermentation has well and truly finished and has already started to clear at the fermentation temperature, I usually leave it in the coldest place I have for another two days. If your cold place is 10*C (rather than 4/5*C) you might find an extra day would be beneficial.

 

[Garmostripel]

Thanks, is that same for transferring to PB as well? Not tried cool crashing before.