Bottling Beer

[Paddyp]

Hi forum,
I have recently put on my first brew in a very basic home brew kit bought from my local brew shop. Because I don't have a hydrometer im sort of restricted when it comes to specific gravity measurements so I came up with the idea of doing one or two trial bottles to see how they reacted after about 9 days.

My question is, how long would it take an incorrectly bottled bottle to burst, and also your opinions on the length of primary fermentation would be welcomed. I wish to know so i could be sure if the bottles were ready to be filled if a test bottle survived a number of days

I look forward to your replies

 

[pyrosx]

Don't go back your LHBS - they sold you a "home brew kit" that doesnt involve the most important, and also cheapest, most basic of measurement tools available to a homebrewer. Big W sells them for the price of a couple of schooners at the pub.... and if you want to make beer that tastes better than that, you're going to need it...

Right now, you're blindly making the equivalent of glass filled pipe bombs.

 

[Dribs]

My question is, how long would it take an incorrectly bottled bottle to burst, and also your opinions on the length of primary fermentation would be welcomed.

Bursting would be relative to how long it took your brew to ferment. And that would be relative to original gravity, temperature and type of yeast. Example: I bottled a brew recently after 7 days because it fermented out to about 1000 grav at 24 degrees. In winter using a lager yeast (kit yeasts are ale yeasts), I'd leave it 3 to 4 weeks in the fermenter because it takes longer at 12 degrees.

Hope that helps.

I think I've misread your question. Your asking how long till the bottle goes bang. Well... once it has fermented to the point where the pressure is beyond the bottle's capacity to contain it, which is relative to the info above. Wait... that is what I just said... I'm going to bed.

 

[J Grimmer]

it will depend on a number of factors, how much fermentables is in the batch, what temp it was fermented at, what yeast you used, how far the yeast chewed through the sugars etc. then their are other factors like if you beer got an infection, what bottles you used. At a guess it could be 1 week or 4 months before they go boom. In short it really is unpredictable.

I would go and buy a hydrometer from your LHBS (i actually got mine as part of the kit i bought 5 years ago and it still works a treat). It is the only way to really judge if your beer has finished fermenting and avoiding bottle bombs.

 

[J Grimmer]

As a side note, get onto the How to brew website by john palmer, another really good source of info and its free.

 

[yum beer]

Hi forum,
I have recently put on my first brew in a very basic home brew kit bought from my local brew shop. Because I don't have a hydrometer im sort of restricted when it comes to specific gravity measurements so I came up with the idea of doing one or two trial bottles to see how they reacted after about 9 days.

My question is, how long would it take an incorrectly bottled bottle to burst, and also your opinions on the length of primary fermentation would be welcomed. I wish to know so i could be sure if the bottles were ready to be filled if a test bottle survived a number of days

I look forward to your replies

I had a batch I brewed 4 months ago that had seemed fine until opening a bottle 2 weeks ago and the lid near exploded off, then the beer was impossible to pour for
the amount of fizzz. Thought it must be just that botltle, had been fine 6 weeks earlier, tried 2 more bottles 1 week later, same thing but worse, now the bottles were gushing.

When I checked my records it appears that I may have botled before it was done...FG 1004 on a batch of 'dry' beer..previous batch finished at 998. it fermented for nearly 4 weeks, seems that all was good until the weather started to warm up. Anyway it looked like it wouldnt have taken much longer before they started to go kabang, I can do without that.

As said above, get a hydro, about $9 a Big W, not worth not having one, and you really have no idea what your brew is doing, is it fermenting, is it finished, how mucg alc is in it...yeah and dont go back to your LHBS, obviously a knob if they dont include a hydro, or at least should have told you that you needed one.

Its all good you still have time to get one for this brew.

 

[Cloth Ears]

I have recently put on my first brew in a very basic home brew kit bought from my local brew shop. Because I don't have a hydrometer...

As has been said earlier, I wouldn't go back to your local brew shop - unless you call them up and they say "What? We forgot the hydrometer? Come down right away!"

This sort of experiment is just downright dangerous, even with plastic bottles, and moreso with galss ones.

Try the call to the brew-shop, else go to Big W. Before you start bottling. On the way home from work today!

 

[Truman42]

You have to decide whats going to cost you more.

A hydrometer...

Or life without an eye because its been blown apart by an exploding bottle.

 

[Salt]

You have to decide whats going to cost you more.

A hydrometer...

Or life without an eye because its been blown apart by an exploding bottle.

+1

Buy a hydrometer...then make some beer!

 

[Paddyp]

Haha thanks for the advice all, I didn't realise the lack of hydrometer could be so potentially dangerous! haha a couple of other questions, If I were to go out now and purchase a hydrometer, would I not be able to tell whether the brew was ready for bottling seeing as I never took an original specific gravity reading? And if i was able to tell, would it be okay to lift the lid off the fermenter while the brew is possibly still susceptible to infection?

I was also wondering if there were any sort of 'standard' SG readings for a heavy lager beer(this is what I am brewing) just in case it was impossible for me to know due to the lack of original reading.

Once again thankyou for all the speedy replies! All of your comments have been appreciated

 

[J Grimmer]

Generally speaking a beer is ready to bottle when SG is stable over 2 days, most standard kit and kilo beers will come down to about 1.010 on the hydrometer but it will really depend on what you are brewing and what you have added.

If you take an OG reading this coupled with your FG reading can be used to work out the ABV%, personally i feel that FG is more important as it will tell you when your beer has finished fermenting.

Heavy Lager??? what did you brew ingriedent wise?

 

[yum beer]

paddy dont open the fermenter to take a reading.

Your hydrometer should come with a tube to test...maybe not if from Big W....you are looking for constant readings over 2 or 3 days to indicate
fermentation has stopped. Your OG is irrelevant in checking if finished. Be aware your FG could be as low as 996 or as high as 1020 depending on what you used.
As above a bit more info on what went into your brew would allow someone to give you a more realistic figure.

It seems to me you need to do a bit more research and reading before your next brew, if for no other reason than to save you throwing beer out
because it comes out 'bad'.

Its not hard to make decent beer but its easier to **** it up...

 

[thedragon]

Its not hard to make decent beer but its easier to **** it up...

+1

Quote of 2011!

 

[Paddyp]

Generally speaking a beer is ready to bottle when SG is stable over 2 days, most standard kit and kilo beers will come down to about 1.010 on the hydrometer but it will really depend on what you are brewing and what you have added.

If you take an OG reading this coupled with your FG reading can be used to work out the ABV%, personally i feel that FG is more important as it will tell you when your beer has finished fermenting.

Heavy Lager??? what did you brew ingriedent wise?

Well ingredient wise I all I used was the beer kit, a mangrove jack gold lager that came with the brewing kit, the yeast that came with it and 1 kg of dextrose. I had hoped the fellow at the brew shop might have imparted more knowledge to help me brew but he seemed more intent on making the sale and getting me out of the store hahah :/ as for reading more I have read a few articles on How to Bre by John Palmer since posting my question and have learnt a fair bit. My mates Dad has been brewing for a while and gave me a quick demo but it seems I have quite a bit to learn

 

[Paddyp]

This first brew was sort of a rush job and I hoped to learn from it anyway, hahah im leaving on a driving holiday in a couple of weeks and this was mainly too see if i could try brew my own beer to take on the trip before I had left. Next time will definitely be a more relaxed exercise seeing as I won't have a deadline and will probably be more knowledgable as a result of this exercise hahaha

 

[going down a hill]

Well the trip away from your beer will do it well. Home brew matures for quite a while, it should taste a lot better when you get back than say two weeks in the bottle. Unless you are going on a two week road trip. :icon_cheers:

 

[Paddyp]

Hahah well a week and a half! I might take a couple of bottles just to see. Hopefully the dont explode in the luggage... hahahah :blink:

 

[yum beer]

Well ingredient wise I all I used was the beer kit, a mangrove jack gold lager that came with the brewing kit, the yeast that came with it and 1 kg of dextrose. I had hoped the fellow at the brew shop might have imparted more knowledge to help me brew but he seemed more intent on making the sale and getting me out of the store hahah :/ as for reading more I have read a few articles on How to Bre by John Palmer since posting my question and have learnt a fair bit. My mates Dad has been brewing for a while and gave me a quick demo but it seems I have quite a bit to learn

With those ingredients you should finish around 1006-1008. All dex will dry out a fair bit.

Give it 2 months in the bottle before you expect great things from it. Crack one every 2 weeks if you want but its worth the wait...

most of my beers sit for 5 months plus before I have a good go at them.

Also replace 1kg of dex with a mix of LDM and dex and/or maltodextrin. Lean towards more malt. I like to use 500gm LDM and 1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer 1 or
BE2 for a little extra malt, and it does make a noticable difference. Better still get some cans of Liquid Malt Extract.

 

[going down a hill]

Try and leave them for a month if you can, you will notice a big difference. No green flavour and everything in the beer will be sitting well together. If you find it hard to stay away from the beer push out a couple of brews to start a stick pile, you wont be sorry for long.

 

[yum beer]

Try and leave them for a month if you can, you will notice a big difference. No green flavour and everything in the beer will be sitting well together. If you find it hard to stay away from the beer push out a couple of brews to start a stick pile, you wont be sorry for long.

Thats certainly a good idea, I generally have a stick pile of 20-25 cartons on hand, allows plenty of time for aging and it blows the mind
of your mates who get in shit for buying more than a carton a week of SWMBO.