Hello!

[Jack135]

Hello,

Very new to all this and have no one in my life with actual beer brewing experience except “i made a beer when i was a teenager, i can’t remember much” but have looked at many threads for advice and ideas so thought i best make an account up.
Recently made a batch of the wilko mexican cerveza beer (first time so went cheap in case of any problems that could of arose).
My set up (?) is very simple at this stage, my thinking is to develop my skills and then add or change over it time.
So after my first batch, which was a success, my problems were...

I think i may of added a little too much sugar in the bottling process (the name of this process I’m yet to remember) as most are a little too fizzy and this water downs the taste of what I feel the beer should of tasted like. What is the best way to solve this? I’ve seen CO2 tablets? Or could i just measure out exactly 500ml of beer and exactly whatever the sugar requirement is? I originally just filled each bottle to where i thought was correct and added (if i remember correctly? But it was a few weeks now) 1 tbs of brewing sugar... but thinking back i guess some spoons may of been more heaped than other.
Maybe I’ve answered my own question there and should try measuring exactly haha but other suggestions are welcome.

My other problem, which i don’t feel was a huge issue, is clarity. I’ve seen that you can get finings, how do these go about working? Do they take a few days? If i add after the first week when it’s ready to be bottled which i think is what happens is there a chance that it could open the beer up to infection while it’s still sitting there? Or is the beer are that point safe to small infection risks like air due to the alcohol content?

Only other thing worth mentioning is that i don’t have an air lock on my bucket for the first stage of brewing and it did bulge the lid, i created a small opening and pushed some air out to releave pressue, obviously this isn’t ideal so going forward is there a better fix? Like drilling a hole in for the airlock to attach? Also why don’t they sell cheap buckets with a hole in already, surely that should be standard? Then they will make more money by charging for the required airlock. Or do i just leave it and accept it’s safe and not going to explode like i’ve read people saying will happen?

So yeah, lots of words!

Thanks!

 

[An Ankoù]

Hello and welcome.
First:
A tablespoonful of sugar per bottle is far to much. Uncork the other bottles and let the gas out and then reseal them rather than risk an explosion. Invest in a hydrometer so that you can tell when you fermentation has really finished. Your beer is probably hazy because it hasn't finished fermenting.
Next:
Apart from overcarbonating, you're off to a good start. Enjoy. Don't waste your money on carbonation drops, they're just sugar. A flat teaspoon of table sugar is the most you need in a bottle of new beer which has finished fermenting. I'm not a kit man, but I imagine that the final gravity should be around 1005 to 1006 and it should be the same three days later. Then bottle.
Other contributors will be able to advise you on the best kits to buy,

 

[kelper]

The abbreviations are so similar, it's easy to get confused. Tablespoon = tbs and teaspoon = tsp.

 

[Jack135]

The abbreviations are so similar, it's easy to get confused. Tablespoon = tbs and teaspoon = tsp.

It seems this is the case when i was writing this! I did mean teaspoon and not table spoon!

 

[Jack135]

Hello and welcome.
First:
A tablespoonful of sugar per bottle is far to much. Uncork the other bottles and let the gas out and then reseal them rather than risk an explosion. Invest in a hydrometer so that you can tell when you fermentation has really finished. Your beer is probably hazy because it hasn't finished fermenting.
Next:
Apart from overcarbonating, you're off to a good start. Enjoy. Don't waste your money on carbonation drops, they're just sugar. A flat teaspoon of table sugar is the most you need in a bottle of new beer which has finished fermenting. I'm not a kit man, but I imagine that the final gravity should be around 1005 to 1006 and it should be the same three days later. Then bottle.
Other contributors will be able to advise you on the best kits to buy,

Thanks! I am taking a ready on the gravity before bottling so as far as i’m aware it has finish the required fermentation process. It’s not overly hazy just not as clear as a pint would be had it come from a pub. Or is this normal? Does hazyness even matter or is it just cosmetic?
Also i got my spoons wrong and did mean tea spoon and not table spoon! I can’t imagine how fizzy that would of been

 

[An Ankoù]

Thanks! I am taking a ready on the gravity before bottling so as far as i’m aware it has finish the required fermentation process. It’s not overly hazy just not as clear as a pint would be had it come from a pub. Or is this normal? Does hazyness even matter or is it just cosmetic?
Also i got my spoons wrong and did mean tea spoon and not table spoon! I can’t imagine how fizzy that would of been

Well, if you're happy that fermentation had finished and you added only a teaspoonful of sugar then all should be well. What was the final gravity, by the way? Bottles can sometimes take ages to clear, but if they're a b it too fizzy this can cause the sediment to rise when you uncap the bottle. If it were me, I think I'd loosen the cap (presuming you've used crown corks) with a bottle opener, let the gas out and crimp it down again. I've done this before and the caps don't leak.

 

[The Baron]

Hi Jack the word teaspoon can vary in many ways as they are all not the same size. What I do is use the same teaspoon always so it is consistent and you can adjust more accurately also when it says teaspoon some people may put a heaped teaspoon which is twice as much as a level one so what I suggest is when you bottle next time try a level teaspoon in some( I only use that amount by scraping the back of a knife over the teaspoon which gives a pretty accurate amount to each one) then also try a heaped one in some and if you want to use carbonation drops use some of them too, label all the bottles and you should find a reasonable level what works for you. Or as some people will tell you batch prime with sugar prior to bottling

 

[Banbeer]

Hello Jack, @tropicalpalmtree had the same problem with his Mexican Cerveza being hazy but hopefully if you keep it in a cool place for a few weeks it will clear (known as conditioning), keep an eye on the pressure in your bottles, not sure what bottles you used but if they are plastic (PET) then give them a squeeze if they're totally solid then they might be over carbonated and you may want to release the pressure a tad by opening the bottle slightly then closing it again? this all depends on how long you have been carbing them for (normally a couple of weeks)

 

[Jack135]

Hello Jack, @tropicalpalmtree had the same problem with his Mexican Cerveza being hazy but hopefully if you keep it in a cool place for a few weeks it will clear (known as conditioning), keep an eye on the pressure in your bottles, not sure what bottles you used but if they are plastic (PET) then give them a squeeze if they're totally solid then they might be over carbonated and you may want to release the pressure a tad by opening the bottle slightly then closing it again? this all depends on how long you have been carbing them for (normally a couple of weeks)

Glass bottles with the caps attached (they don’t require a bottle capping device i just push the metal down)
I think they are supposed to sit for 2 weeks , 2 days in warm and the rest in cool. I’m not going to be able to drink 40 pints in a matter of days so they will sit for a few extra weeks anyway, while they sit i’m leaving them in a cool place and putting them in the fridge as and when i need them (try to keep 2-3 bottles in the fridge at a time)

 

[Jack135]

Hi Jack the word teaspoon can vary in many ways as they are all not the same size. What I do is use the same teaspoon always so it is consistent and you can adjust more accurately also when it says teaspoon some people may put a heaped teaspoon which is twice as much as a level one so what I suggest is when you bottle next time try a level teaspoon in some( I only use that amount by scraping the back of a knife over the teaspoon which gives a pretty accurate amount to each one) then also try a heaped one in some and if you want to use carbonation drops use some of them too, label all the bottles and you should find a reasonable level what works for you. Or as some people will tell you batch prime with sugar prior to bottling

Patch prime? Is this where it gets added in a pressure barrel? I don’t have a pressure barrel if that is the case. Or are you adding sugar to the whole lot then bottling? :)

 

[Jack135]

Well, if you're happy that fermentation had finished and you added only a teaspoonful of sugar then all should be well. What was the final gravity, by the way? Bottles can sometimes take ages to clear, but if they're a b it too fizzy this can cause the sediment to rise when you uncap the bottle. If it were me, I think I'd loosen the cap (presuming you've used crown corks) with a bottle opener, let the gas out and crimp it down again. I've done this before and the caps don't leak.

I have the caps which are semi attached to the bottles via a metal hinge? If that helps
The final gravity was 1008 I believe, which my instructions said was correct

 

[MmmBeer]

Hi Jack, the bottles you describe are the Grolsch style 'flip top' bottles, which are probably the best to use for home brew. As for priming, I have always referred to the priming chart in Greg Hughes' book Home Brew Beer, commonly referred to on here as the bible. This recommends the equivalent of 3.3 g of cane sugar per 500ml bottle for light lager, 1.3 g per bottle for bitter and 2.3 g per bottle for stout among others. As you can imagine it can be difficult to accurately measure out these quantities 40 times over, so many people use a technique called batch priming, whereby the sugar required for the whole batch is weighed out, and added to a saucepan of water, brought to the boil (to dissolve the sugar and kill off any nasties), then added to a secondary fermenter, into which the beer is siphoned in. This mixes an even level of sugar throughout the batch and reduces the amount of yeast that gets transferred into your bottles.