Bottling Cold

[Damian44]

Hey guys and gurls. I want to bottle as soon as i get home from work. Unfortunatly the beer is in the fridge at 4C. Will that be a problem?
TYVM Damian

 

[AndrewQLD]

No problem at all. I always bottle from secondary after the yeast has had a chance to settle out at <4

Andrew

 

[brendo]

I would think that as long as you allow the bottles to carb up at fermentation temps, you will be fine.

Cheers,

Brendo

 

[Bribie G]

I quite often do it, just remember that if you are in a humid area the bottles will sweat like buggery so put them on an old beach towel whatever overnight and they should be fine to put into cartons, or wherever you store them, tomorrow. The other advantage of bottling cold is that if the beer has already cleared out nicely then, being cold, it should have a bit of CO2 in solution and you can sneak a couple of schooners of draught style beer to help you along with the bottling session

Chef's bonus :lol:

 

[Damian44]

Thanks a ton guys.

 

[Tim]

I would back off on your priming sugar a touch as the cold beer will have 'some' residual C02 disolved. Why I doubt you would get bottle bombs you may get over carbed beer.

 

[Damian44]

Thanks Tim. I noticed in Beersmith adding the temp of the beer makes a big differance to the amount of sugar used.

 

[hazard]

Thanks Tim. I noticed in Beersmith adding the temp of the beer makes a big differance to the amount of sugar used.

Yes, but the temp in beersmith relates to the fermentation temp of the beer . Fermented beer will always hold some residual CO2 that was created by yeast, but the warmer the temp, the les CO2 it holds. But as it cools down it will not make more CO2, so the concentration does not increase. If beer was fermented at 18 deg, that is what you should put into beersmith, even if it is now cold.

Just think about buying coke from the shelf at the supermarket. If you chill the bottle first, then open, the coke will stay carbonated. If you open the bottle while still warm, the gas will escape rapidly with a hiss and go flat pretty quick. If you now recap and put back in the fridge, it will NOT carb back up, it will just stay same carbonation level. Beer is the same. Once it has been warm, chilling it cannot add back CO2.

So enter the fermentation temp in beer smith, not the temp as you bring the beer out of the fridge.

Now I have my own question. I also have a fermenter in the fridge and will be bottling tomorrow. I have always used no-rinse sanitiser on my bottles and it always works well. However, it is quite expensive, so I want to know this - if i use bleach to rinse my bottles today, and hang them on the bottle tree tonight, will there be plenty of time for chlorine or other bleach products to disipate before I bottle? Bleach is of course pretty cheap, and this will also save me time in the morning.

hazard

 

[FreemanDC]

Give the bottles a couple of very hot flushes after bleaching

 

[Tim]

Yes, but the temp in beersmith relates to the fermentation temp of the beer . Fermented beer will always hold some residual CO2 that was created by yeast, but the warmer the temp, the les CO2 it holds. But as it cools down it will not make more CO2, so the concentration does not increase. If beer was fermented at 18 deg, that is what you should put into beersmith, even if it is now cold.

Just think about buying coke from the shelf at the supermarket. If you chill the bottle first, then open, the coke will stay carbonated. If you open the bottle while still warm, the gas will escape rapidly with a hiss and go flat pretty quick. If you now recap and put back in the fridge, it will NOT carb back up, it will just stay same carbonation level. Beer is the same. Once it has been warm, chilling it cannot add back CO2.

So enter the fermentation temp in beer smith, not the temp as you bring the beer out of the fridge.

Now I have my own question. I also have a fermenter in the fridge and will be bottling tomorrow. I have always used no-rinse sanitiser on my bottles and it always works well. However, it is quite expensive, so I want to know this - if i use bleach to rinse my bottles today, and hang them on the bottle tree tonight, will there be plenty of time for chlorine or other bleach products to disipate before I bottle? Bleach is of course pretty cheap, and this will also save me time in the morning.

hazard

I think that you will find that there will be some CO2 dissolved if the beer has been cold conditioned straight from primary - or secondary. The cooler temperature slows down fermentation, but does not stop it completely. I always find that I have a slight pressure build up during CC. This is due to secondary fermentation.

 

[hazard]

I think that you will find that there will be some CO2 dissolved if the beer has been cold conditioned straight from primary - or secondary. The cooler temperature slows down fermentation, but does not stop it completely. I always find that I have a slight pressure build up during CC. This is due to secondary fermentation.

Well, i think we agree, chilling the beer did not add CO2 - in the case iabove t is because of continued fermentation.

I would suggest that you finish fermentation completely before crash chill, because if it is not finished before it is unlikely to finish when beer is chilled to 5 deg or less, specially for an ale. This increases danger of bottle bombs (where I think this started from). My last batch went like this:
- primary for 1 week
- racked to secondary, with gelatine finings, for 1 week
- put in fridge @ 5 deg for 1 week, then bottle.

One week gaps are only there because I can only brew on weekends, you could reduce the interval between each step, but you still need to complete fermentation before chilling IMHO.

 

[stm]

I have always used no-rinse sanitiser on my bottles ... However, it is quite expensive

hazard

Maybe you're not mixing it to the correct concentration or using too much of it. For bottling, I go through only 1 litre of iodophor solution (using a bottle washer - push down pump thing), which requires only 1 millilitre of iodophor!