How long is 'too long' before bottling?

[Grunaki]

Having a challenge with one of my brews.. Actually it's cider, but I have a beer I just bottled also and I hope I haven't made the same mistake twice..

I started brewing it a fair while ago and let it sit in the fermentation bucket for a few weeks until I got around to bottling it (it gassed a lot on fermentation - went crazy for about 10 days as well.. There was plenty of gas as the airlock went apeshit if I touched the top of the bucket.)

This was my third brew and the first brew I did with the 'sugaring the bottles' technique.. The first two kits I made were Baron's with pre-made wort and following their instructions, I racked the brew back into the FV and dumped a package of dextrose in there that I got with the kit and then bottled it, and it worked out great.

This cider, however, is flat as a pancake.. (I've still drunk a bit of it and it's having an effect, so it's obviously pretty well fermented).. I bottled it about 2 weeks ago and there's hardly any gas.. I tried re-sugaring it on Monday and I cracked a few today and it's still flat.. I'll still drink it, but I would prefer it to be gassy as that's what I was aiming for..

(Maybe I'm being impatient and the re-sugaring will pick it up, but at this point I'm doubting it..)

As to making the same mistake twice - I had a beer in a carboy for a few weeks and I just got around to bottling it using the sugar method. While I was bottling I used a beer glass as my run-off vessel for my siphon, and rather than waste it, I gave it a good home and it was pretty potent, (but flat, obviously). I put a hefty teaspoon of sugar in all the bottles and hopefully it'll be fizzy enough in a few days, but what if it's not? Am I leaving it too long before bottling?

Someone said that I should always use the same method as with the Baron's kits - i.e. moving the beer over to another FV and throwing about a cup (250 ml) of sugar in there, stirring it up and then bottling it.. It seemed to work before, but I can't see why sugaring the bottles isn't working unless I left it too long and the yeast died..

Suggestions please.

 

[phettebs]

I don't really see anything you've done wrong.

How long has it been in the bottle since you bottled?

A couple of general things. If you leave too long (months or more) in the FV, the yeast can settle out and then you don't have anything left to carbonate. This doesn't sound like your case. If you brew a really strong beer, the yeast can just get tired out and they don't carbonate for you. In either case, the solution is to re-yeast at bottling. It doesn't sound like either of these happened to you.

What temp did you have your bottles at when trying to condition them? Too cold and the yeast will settle out. You can move the bottles to the warmest area of your house. Flip them upside down a few times to re-suspend the yeast and that should work too. Ideally, you want it 20C or more to carbonate the bottles.

Again, unless I missed something in your text, you really haven't done anything wrong. I can't say from that why yours didn't carb unless you just didn't wait long enough.

 

[bobsbeer]

There should be no difference between batch priming as opposed to adding the sugar to each bottle. I tend to use the batch method with a bottling stick, but that's more personal preference than being 'the right way'. As above, leave it in a warm place for a couple of weeks then move to a cooler place for a while. The amount of sugar is certainly enough if you are using a heaped teaspoon in a 500 ml bottle. 1 level tsp should be plenty for an ale.

 

[rpt]

It sounds to me that you are just being a little impatient. After bottling it will need at least a week in the warm followed by at least a week in the cold. The warm period is needed for the yeast to turn the sugar into CO2 and the cold period is for the CO2 to be absorbed by the beer. Without both you won't have fizzy beer.

 

[Kinleycat]

Having a challenge with one of my brews.. Actually it's cider, but I have a beer I just bottled also and I hope I haven't made the same mistake twice..

I started brewing it a fair while ago and let it sit in the fermentation bucket for a few weeks until I got around to bottling it (it gassed a lot on fermentation - went crazy for about 10 days as well.. There was plenty of gas as the airlock went apeshit if I touched the top of the bucket.)

This was my third brew and the first brew I did with the 'sugaring the bottles' technique.. The first two kits I made were Baron's with pre-made wort and following their instructions, I racked the brew back into the FV and dumped a package of dextrose in there that I got with the kit and then bottled it, and it worked out great.

This cider, however, is flat as a pancake.. (I've still drunk a bit of it and it's having an effect, so it's obviously pretty well fermented).. I bottled it about 2 weeks ago and there's hardly any gas.. I tried re-sugaring it on Monday and I cracked a few today and it's still flat.. I'll still drink it, but I would prefer it to be gassy as that's what I was aiming for..

(Maybe I'm being impatient and the re-sugaring will pick it up, but at this point I'm doubting it..)

As to making the same mistake twice - I had a beer in a carboy for a few weeks and I just got around to bottling it using the sugar method. While I was bottling I used a beer glass as my run-off vessel for my siphon, and rather than waste it, I gave it a good home and it was pretty potent, (but flat, obviously). I put a hefty teaspoon of sugar in all the bottles and hopefully it'll be fizzy enough in a few days, but what if it's not? Am I leaving it too long before bottling?

Someone said that I should always use the same method as with the Baron's kits - i.e. moving the beer over to another FV and throwing about a cup (250 ml) of sugar in there, stirring it up and then bottling it.. It seemed to work before, but I can't see why sugaring the bottles isn't working unless I left it too long and the yeast died..

Suggestions please.

I made a Morrello Cherry TC a while back and drunk all but one bottle (they were all virtualy flat) the one bottle i had left was left unopened for a couple of months and on opening was as fizzy as billyo!!!
Can't offer you any scientific advice (as i had not done anything any different to my previos TCs) other than try leaving it for a bit.

 

[Grunaki]

Thanks guys.. I do pretty much all my brewing in the basement at my house.. It's a little bit cooler down there buy by no means cold, and my first two batches worked out well down there.. I guess I'll just leave it a bit longer.. The instructions on the Cider said to bottle it after a week to 10 days and leave it 5 weeks before drinking.. I'm pretty sure it's been 5 weeks, but it was about 3 weeks in the FV, so I figured that would make up the difference..

I guess I overcompensated with the beer I just bottled by using a heaped teaspoon instead of a flat one, but I only filled my bottle to the bottom of the neck to leave a bit extra head-space incase I put too much in there.. (Don't want beer bombs! )

 

[jonnymorris]

I only filled my bottle to the bottom of the neck to leave a bit extra head-space incase I put too much in there.. (Don't want beer bombs! )

If you've used too much sugar this won't help. Best of luck.

 

[graysalchemy]

I bottled a TC that has been in the FV for 9 months and I don't anticipate any problems getting it to fizz. :thumb:

 

[Grunaki]

Cracked one of the bottles of the beer and it was pretty fizzy already.. Still tasted really sweet though, so I'm thinking it's going to need a while longer to sort itself out.. (Hope it does - don't want the beer to stay sickly sweet..)

I moved the cases next to the floor drain in the basement, so if they do wind up exploding, at least it won't be that hard to clean up..

 

[BigYin]

The instructions on the Cider said to bottle it after a week to 10 days and leave it 5 weeks before drinking.. I'm pretty sure it's been 5 weeks, but it was about 3 weeks in the FV, so I figured that would make up the difference..

You've got to think of it in three clear stages - Fermentation / Carbonation / Conditioning

Fermentation is the first - takes a week to ten days.

Then you bottle and we enter stage 2 - carbonation - I always give the bottles a minimum of tow weeks, at the same temperature as the fermentation took place, or maybe even slightly warmer.

Finally stage 3 - conditioning - don't skimp on this - at least two weeks for me

So the instructions that you are, er, twisting , recommend 5 weeks for carbonation & conditioning - and you opened them after just 2 weeks :lol: :nono:

The best thing you can learn that will improve your brewing is patience :thumb: