Question on bottling

[antthemanrees]

Hi.
I am almost 2 weeks into my first home brew. I bought youngs starter kit for lager. I followed the instructions, I left it brew in the fermenter for a bit longer than 6 days though (8) as I needed more bottles. Also the only other difference is for brewing and bottling I used normal sugar not any special kind.

My question is I have 24 bottles of 500ml. I added half a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle then sealed the lid. I did that almost 2 days ago and I've kept them in my bedroom which is pretty warm. The thing I have noticed is that there is white stuff at the bottom of every bottle, is that just the sugar/yeast? is it normal?

According to the instructions tomorrow I have to move them to a cool place and leave them for 14 days. A cool place I assume they mean a fridge? Thing is I cant fit them all into my fridge as I live with my parents. Any suggestions? I have a really cold room in the house next door I could put them in as we never put the heating on in there.

Thanks :)

 

[BigYin]

Welcome to the forum :

The stuff at the bottom of the bottle might be sediment, but it won't do any harm to give them a gentle shake to mix it all up again just in case it is the sugar :thumb:

As to the time scales, 2 WEEKS, not days, is what I give bottles to carbonate naturally, and then a further 2 weeks somewhere cool.

Stand the bottle upright at all times and the sediment from the yeast eating up the sugar and carbonating the beer will settle on the bottom of the bottle. When you finally get to pour, do it gently in one go, and try and leave the sediment behind - wash that out straight away if you want to re-use the bottle.

Good luck :thumb:

 

[antthemanrees]

Hi thanks for the reply :)

I assume the longer you leave it carbonate the better the fiz/quality?

Also why does it need 14 days in a cool place? I assume it stops the yeast working so its ready to drink? What temperature is the maximum for a "cool place"?

Also I believe it to be sediment as it is cloudy white, if I turn the bottle upside down it looks like white smoke in the beer lol. I assume this is a normal process?

 

[RobWalker]

Live yeast is fine. It needs 2 weeks in the cool because the warm ferment creates the co2, the cool absorbs it into the beer :thumb:

 

[cwiseman77]

I wouldn't put them in the fridge just somewhere cool. A cold room in the house should be fine. I've have mine at the back of the house which is quite cool. A consistent temperature is probably just as important.

As for timings, I find the kit instructions always rush things, listen to the experienced guys on here(i'm not one of them). After bottling I've been keeping my beer in the warm (normal room temperature 19-21C) for like 5-7days depending on when I have time. Then I've been trying to leave them at least a couple of weeks before drinking. I usually trey one or 2 before that just for research purposes of course :ugeek:

 

[PD]

you might find that half a tsp of sugar is not quite enough for a lager allthough fine for a beer and ale.
Most folks like lagers to be a little more lively than beers to drink. So try and leave this brew a little longer to make sure what priming sugars you added all gets used up to help with carbonation