Confused Absolute Beginner

[hoppy2B]

Hey mate sounds like a batch I made 12 months ago. I pitched a second pack of yeast after 4 days. Nothing bad will happen. When you bottle just leave them upright and after 9 months or so they'll be clear and tasty.

Don't stress it!

Bahahaha nine months! :lol:

 

[mistat]

:unsure:

Bahahaha nine months! :lol:

Mine needed it. I was dropping the dirtiest yeast farts after drinking them 4 weeks after bottling. 9 months and the were a clear beer when pouring, and my bodily odors werent so bad after!

 

[manticle]

Some of the advice in this thread is so good I don't even know where to begin.

Bottle at 1020 (or a guesstimate since you don't need a hydrometer) then leave for 5 months and you will have clear non-explosive beer?

OK.

@OP - the advice given to you re swirling and rehydrated yeast was fine. The guy who screwwed up his face was either a dimwit or just ate somne lemon rind.

The difference between a hydrometer reading at 15.6 and 20 deg C is 3/8ths of not much on a sand grain.

Please keep using a hydrometer and please don't bottle at 1020 unless you know your beer should be finished at 1020. The previously linked article hopefully makes things clearer.

 

[mistat]

Bottle at 1020 (or a guesstimate since you don't need a hydrometer) then leave for 5 months and you will have clear non-explosive beer?

Please keep using a hydrometer and please don't bottle at 1020 unless you know your beer should be finished at 1020. The previously linked article hopefully makes things clearer.

Yea only bottle when it's truly ready. My post was more in reference that in time the excess yeast will drop. That is all.

 

[glenwal]

So much good and bad information all intertwined, and yet no one has mentioned kittens yet?

 

[mwd]

So much good and bad information all intertwined, and yet no one has mentioned kittens yet?

Or non bubbling airlocks.

I have had a few extract brews stop at 1.020 so do not throw a wobbly if it does not go much lower 1.016 sounds about right to me from recipe.
I would take a hydro reading when it looks fully finished then leave it a week to clear and take another reading if it still gives the same reading then you should be fairly safe to bottle.

I have never produced bottle bombs yet and I use a mixture of glass and PET bottles never even overcarbonated.

 

[HoppingMad]

Hey how about let's give the guy some clear advice. (Apologies for my compadres, looks like a few have posted after drinking too much of their own product).

My 2c:

- Read the article on the earlier post - some good stuff there.
- Stuck ferments are a simple fix, rouse the yeast by grabbing the sides of the fermenter and giving it a rock & swirl - enough to get the yeast cake off the bottom and into the body of the wort. If your fermenter has plastic clear enough you should see it sitting there on the bottom in a white layer an inch or so thick. Don't open the lid, you don't want to open the beer up to infection/oxidisation, plus it's not needed at this point. You only want to open the beer up if you want to add a fresh yeast should this method not work - but you should try this first.
- After rocking, ramping the temp up briefly will also help a great deal. When I get a stuck ferment on an ale, I'll take the beer up to 20 degrees or even a touch above - maximum of 22 for one day. Ale yeasts like US-05 can cope with a little bit more heat but you don't want to push your luck too far. After doing a ramp for a day the yeast should have restarted and you can drop it back. Don't leave the beer longer than the time it takes to restart at high temp. Doing this will add 'fruity belgian style esters/flavours'.
- I've never had a skanky beer using the above method. Only had to add a fresh yeast on top once - so it's pretty fail-safe. That said it does depend on the yeast you use - each yeast pack has its own temp ranges recommended by the supplier. Check them out and get to know them. You will find tech sheets on sites like Fermentis & Wyeast if you're using those.
- Adding a fresh yeast on top is fine if all else fails and what you have done is not wrong at all, nor will it affect your beer or muddy it up. But most people would recommend a 'rock & ramp' method before going out to buy a second pack of yeast. Muddiness in a beer is mainly caused by people re-using yeasts from previous batches, not adding more yeast I have found. Yeasts degrade with each use unless they are managed right.

The reason the Homebrew guy screwed up his face was because you quoted the wrong number to him. What he said was correct. If you indeed had an FG (Final Gravity) that low the beer would have been finished and you would be bottling off a nice ale at that number.

As some of the guys suggest, a Final Gravity (FG) of around 1.016 would be fine. Even 1.018 is ok, but the higher it is, the sweeter your finished beer will be and the less alcohol you will have in your beer. You want to get those little yeasties munching through as much of the fermentable stuff as you can. Then it will taste as good as it can be and as close to the recipe or style you're aiming for.

Cheers & all the best,

Hopper.

 

[manticle]

The reason the Homebrew guy screwed up his face was because you quoted the wrong number to him. What he said was correct. If you indeed had an FG (Final Gravity) that low the beer would have been finished and you would be bottling off a nice ale at that number.


Cheers & all the best,

Hopper.

I agree with everything you've written except this - from my interpretation, it suggests the HB guy thinks adding a small amount of rehydrated yeast is NEVER a good idea and will somehow stuff the brew. That is incorrect.

At 1012 you certainly don't need to add any but that's specific, not NEVER and even at 1012 it won't stuff anything - just maybe take longer to clear.

 

[hkrumpet]

WOW! So many responses, I can't thank you all individually so I'll give a great big THANKS collectively.

Also I'm pleased to announce that overnight the SG has fallen to 1012 be it through sheer luck or be it due to the addition of the small amount of yeast I don't know [I'll leave that to the more experienced brewers amongst us].

So what am I doing next? Leaving it until Sunday to bottle, and waiting for the next 6 weeks patiently before sampling. In the meantime I have unplugged the heater in order to cool the beer down and make the little yeastie beasties that are left dormant and hopefully sink to the bottom. [Is that what you do?]

Thanks again, you've all been excellent and thanks for making me feel part of the beer brewing fraternity!

H

 

[Malted]

So what am I doing next? Leaving it until Sunday to bottle, and waiting for the next 6 weeks patiently before sampling. In the meantime I have unplugged the heater in order to cool the beer down and make the little yeastie beasties that are left dormant and hopefully sink to the bottom. [Is that what you do?]

Yes this is what you do.
Even better is if you are brewing it in a fridge is to chill it to 4oC or so, for say four days or more and the yeasties will drop to the bottom even better.

Do you have another fermenter? A bottling wand? If so try bulk priming, it is a much better and more consistent way to prime all of your bottles pretty much exactly the same. This way you can fill stubbies, tallies or various bottles all at the same carbonation level, you can even bottle of few of each however you desire.

The basic principle is that you clean and sanitise the second fermenter and transfer the fermented beer into it using a hose to the inside base of the 2nd empty fermenter. This leaves most of the yeast and gunk in the fermenter you brewed in. You don't want to introduce oxygen to the beer as it will oxidise and make some bad flavours or go stale quickly.
Then you put a calculated amount of table sugar (or other sugary stuff) dissolved in boiling water into the 2nd now filled fermenter and give it a stir, let it sit for 15-20 minutes.
Then you attach the bottle wand to the tap and bottle away.

Simple process with consistent results. Throw the glucose carbonation drops away.

How do you calculate how much sugar to add? Try an online calculator such as this: http://webspace.webring.com/people/ms/sirleslie/AlcoholChart/PrimingCalculator.html
For example, this calculator tells me if I have 22 litres of beer that will be stored at 18oC and I want 2.4 volumes of CO2 carbonation level, I would add 125 grams of cane sugar.

What is a bottling wand? It is just a piece of pipe with a spring and stopper valve in the end of it. You use a short piece of hose to connect it to the fermenter tap. When you shove a bottle up (thus inserting the wand into the bottle) it pushes the little bit poking out of the end of the pipe/wand and thus opens the valve to let beer flow in. When you pull the bottle away the spring closes the valve. Pretty much any homebrew store should have these.

There will be enough yeast in suspension in the beer, even after chilling it for a few days that after bottling there will be enough to chew through the priming sugar in the bottles when you store it.

 

[hkrumpet]

Thanks again to all who responded, I've now bottled the beer [sorry about the late update]. I gave it a little try before bottling and was very pleased with the taste, so I expect it'll taste beaut after 6 weeks maturation/2ndary fermentation .

My next one is a stout, it's already been down for 6days OG1062 so I expect it'll take a couple of weeks to ferment and a good 3months to mature.I'm Loving this new hobby!!