Epic Fail

[RichardM]

So following my original disaster I made another brew just over a fortnight ago. I took a sample tonight and the Gravity was 1.008. The original was 1.05. According to the Brewers friend calculator its roughly 5.5% - does this sound right?! Happy enough if so! I'm going to take another reading tomorrow or Wednesday and if it's the same I will bottle. The beer is really clear too which I am pleased with.

Thinking of using my mash tun as a bottling bucket as I've read some have done. I should be ok adding the priming solution to the "bucket" first shouldn't I? Assume stirring is not recommended to mix the two?

Two weeks at around 20 degrees then two weeks "cool" - is that right?

I want to say a huge thanks to all who have helped me to this point - it's great to be a part of such a helpful forum. Apologies if I have hijacked the odd thread - I've always tried to keep it on topic but apologies if I have annoyed anyone.

Fingers crossed all goes well and I have some ale to enjoy over the festive period.

Cheers all!

I would leave it for a fee more days for the yeast to clean up before bottling. Stirring the priming solution in the bottling bucket is ok, just do it gently.
I'm answer to your earlier question boiling outside is good for me as long as the weather is OK

 

[dad_of_jon]

siphoning onto priming solution will mix itself especially if the siphon tube is around the edge of the fv. :thumb:

 

[jeg3]

Depending on how much sugar you prime with (lots in a wheat beer) and the speed of the siphon, stirring can be essential when bottling to distribute the sugar evenly.

An early batch of mine resulted in some bottles being over carbonated.

 

[chub1]

Just make sure you have a couple of readings the same before you bottle.
I leave my bottles at room temperature,whatever that may be,they usually carb up fine within 10 days or so,then stick em in my cooler for another 10 days or so.:thumb:

 

[xozzx]

Thinking of using my mash tun as a bottling bucket as I've read some have done. I should be ok adding the priming solution to the "bucket" first shouldn't I? Assume stirring is not recommended to mix the two?

Two weeks at around 20 degrees then two weeks "cool" - is that right?

After adding the priming sugar I would gently swirl the mixture with a spoon, without splashing it.

2 weeks priming and 2 cool usually works... you could cut it a bit short for some of them if you are looking for some festive beers, keep some back to see the difference from conditioning properly. I often drink a few of my beers about 10 days after bottling and they are pretty good... I also try to build a stock so some have been in the bottle now for about 6 months. No harm having a few early tho, want to reap the rewards of your work :-)

 

[svenito]

I wouldn't worry about the sanitiser. Happened to me as well, two airlocks worth. Got a 3piece airlock (usually use the S shaped ones) to try out and it just sucked back during cold conditioning. Nothing to worry about. Beer tasted great. I use starsan though, so your mileage may vary.

As for stirring the priming sugar, I dissolve the sugar and boil the solution for a bit, cool it and then mix it in. I've done both, adding it first and letting the flow of the beer mix it in by having the siphon hose lie around the edge of the bucket creating a swirl, and adding it after with a gentle stir. The advantage of doing it post transfer is that you save a bit of time as you can cool the sugar solution whilst transferring.

The post transfer sugar beer is still in bottles, so I can't say anything about that yet. The other beers all tasted fine and carbonation was even across the bottles.

As usual, go with what you feel comfortable with.

For the timings, I leave the bottles at room temp 20-22C for a couple of weeks and then put them in the fridge. Being the impatient soul I am, I tend to start drinking them shortly after. They taste fine, but really come into their own after a week or two. Like @xozzx says, it's worth opening them early to see how the taste changes over time. It's really quite amazing.

And don't worry about mistakes, there was a time when none of us could walk and we'd fall down all time. Last Friday if I remember correctly :-|

 

[Leemond]

Thanks again for all the advice.

I bottled tonight... 27 bottles worth. I'm a tad worried about how long it took me in terms of the beer being exposed to the air but I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed all is ok. Bottling that much beer on your own with my current setup is a nightmare!

The bottles are now in my spare room wrapped in a blanket as it can get a little chilly overnight but they should be fine in the day.

 

[Pavros]

Thanks again for all the advice.

I bottled tonight... 27 bottles worth. I'm a tad worried about how long it took me in terms of the beer being exposed to the air but I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed all is ok. Bottling that much beer on your own with my current setup is a nightmare!

The bottles are now in my spare room wrapped in a blanket as it can get a little chilly overnight but they should be fine in the day.

I wouldn't worry too much about this - it takes me about 15/20 mins to siphon to the bottling bucket, then an hour or so to fill the bottles.

 

[terrym]

The bottles are now in my spare room wrapped in a blanket as it can get a little chilly overnight but they should be fine in the day.

You really need a minimum of 18*C to get things carbed up in a reasonable time. As temperatures get progressively lower so the fermentation slows up and in the end eventually stops, although it should restart if the tempertaure is raised again.
Wrapping things in blankets is fine when there is heat to keep in but once the heat is lost the blanket does nothing, and arguably does the opposite of what you want to achieve when the temperature outside increases i.e it tends to keep the heat out and slows the warming process.

 

[chesters-mild]

It's worth getting a few PET (plastic) bottles - Wilcos do em for about £8 for 24, use some to test the carbonation level over time, as they carb up they firm up quite well, also it gives you a few extra bottles - you never know when you will need em!
Cheers

 

[Leemond]

You really need a minimum of 18*C to get things carbed up in a reasonable time. As temperatures get progressively lower so the fermentation slows up and in the end eventually stops, although it should restart if the tempertaure is raised again.
Wrapping things in blankets is fine when there is heat to keep in but once the heat is lost the blanket does nothing, and arguably does the opposite of what you want to achieve when the temperature outside increases i.e it tends to keep the heat out and slows the warming process.

Ah right so might look at blanket just as the heating goes off at night but take the blanket off on a morning when the house is fairly warm

It's worth getting a few PET (plastic) bottles - Wilcos do em for about �£8 for 24, use some to test the carbonation level over time, as they carb up they firm up quite well, also it gives you a few extra bottles - you never know when you will need em!
Cheers

Ah right... I was wondering how people knew when it was carbonated

 

[dad_of_jon]

Depending on how much sugar you prime with (lots in a wheat beer) and the speed of the siphon, stirring can be essential when bottling to distribute the sugar evenly.

An early batch of mine resulted in some bottles being over carbonated.

yes, it also depends how much water you mix with the priming sugar. I use up to 160g sugar with 400g water. (1g of water = 1 ml of water) that ration mixes up no trouble at all.

 

[Leemond]

yes, it also depends how much water you mix with the priming sugar. I use up to 160g sugar with 400g water. (1g of water = 1 ml of water) that ration mixes up no trouble at all.

I used an online calculator and it came out at less than 70g of sugar... Though I only had around 14 litres of beer in the end.