Newbie Help With Bottling Using 330ml Bottles

[vicbrewer]

Im only just starting out making up home brew

Im making up Heineken using the following from Brewcraft

Brewcraft Premium Dutch Larger
Brewcraft German Lager Kit Converter #60
Saf Larger S-23

At the moment the beer is still fermenting and no SG reading

Im going to use 330ml heineken bottles, what I need to know is how much sugar per bottle I need to use to prime them??

Also how do I find out what SG reading the brew should be when it has finnished fermenting??

any help would be great

 

[Rodolphe01]

I'd suggest you get yourself a second fermenter and bulk prime, that way you can use any size bottles without having to prime different amounts. Search the forums for bulk priming and you quickly learn what it is and how to do it... And if you get your hands on the second fermenter you might as well rack the beer to that and let it condition for ~2 weeks then bottle, it will improve it a lot. Again, search the forum for secondary fermentation and you will find heaps of info.

 

[buttersd70]

+1 for bulk priming. THis calculator link will help.

The target FG is hard to determine wihtout knowing the exact composition of everything that was in the boosters, etc, or the specific details of the yeast.
But as a off the top of my head ballparkk guestimate based on nothing but gut feeling....I would take a guess at 1008-1010. Guess only, not fact.

 

[LightLager]

Im going to use 330ml heineken bottles, what I need to know is how much sugar per bottle I need to use to prime them??

I have used these previously, I just put the same amount of sugar/dextrose in as for a 375ml bottle. Use a brewing sugar measure from coles/woolies. I have used heineken bottles for most of the brews I have done without any issues.

 

[Swinging Beef]

I have used these previously, I just put the same amount of sugar/dextrose in as for a 375ml bottle. Use a brewing sugar measure from coles/woolies. I have used heineken bottles for most of the brews I have done without any issues.

Yeah, just throw in one carb drop, itll be fine.
In time you will want more fermenters, and then you can look to bulk priming.

 

[troopa]

you may be able to use dextrose in the berwers measure instead of table sugar
the wieght difference might make up for the difference in bottle size or there abouts
was jsut discussed yesterday i think about the wieghts of sugars for carbination

3grams of table sugar "1/2 measure" is too much carbination for me in a 330ml bottle

btw
+1 for bulk priming

 

[Bribie G]

Apart from the priming question, if you are using that particular lager yeast (very good yeast, I use it in the winter here) you really need to be fermenting it at less than 16 degrees at most. Much warmer and you could end up with some funky flavours, but dont worry it won't be poisonous or undrinkable.

What temperature and how long has it been going? It always helps if you put your location in your details panel because it often helps to know where you are, what is appropriate for Tasmania doesn't always hold true for North Queensland or Perth etc. From sig I take it you are from the place to be

did you get a hydrometer with your original gear?

Welcome to the forum

Michael

 

[vicbrewer]

Thanks for the info, seems like there is a far bit involved in the final stages of the fermentation and bottling

Yes im from victoria

ok so I take it with the type of kit mix im fermenting there is no real need for the use of a SG meter to get the FG reading when brewcraft dont say what it should be?? so should I wait till there is no bubbles coming out of the airlock before bottling?

ok so how do I work out how much sugar is required in the second fermenter to get the right carbonation for a heineken style brew???

is there any threads on here that has a step by step on this???

 

[Supra-Jim]

Don't rely on the air lock as an indication fermentation is finished. Always use a hydrometer and wait till you get 2-3 days of consistant readings.

For priming sugar use the link Butters provided. Remember you only add the priming sugar when your ready to bottle, not into the secondary fermenter if you are performing a secondary fermentation/conditioning.

:icon_cheers: SJ

 

[buttersd70]

ok so I take it with the type of kit mix im fermenting there is no real need for the use of a SG meter to get the FG reading when brewcraft dont say what it should be?? so should I wait till there is no bubbles coming out of the airlock before bottling?

ok so how do I work out how much sugar is required in the second fermenter to get the right carbonation for a heineken style brew???

No, the sg reading is important. Not so much the SG itself, per se, but the fact that it is stable. That is the only true indication that fermentation is finished. As SJ said, 2 to 3 days of a stable SG.

 

[litre_o_cola]

ok so I take it with the type of kit mix im fermenting there is no real need for the use of a SG meter to get the FG reading when brewcraft dont say what it should be?? so should I wait till there is no bubbles coming out of the airlock before bottling?

ok so how do I work out how much sugar is required in the second fermenter to get the right carbonation for a heineken style brew???

is there any threads on here that has a step by step on this???

There is always a need for using SG readings IMHO as it can tell you if your brew is progressing or has stalled, whether it is ready to bottle (stable SG readings over 2-3 days) and to calculate the ABV% (OG-FG/7.46 + 0.5 = ABV%)
As said in other threads (do a search, HEAPS of useful info on here) don't trust the airlock as an indicator.

Mick

 

[cubbie]

+1 for bulk priming. THis calculator link will help.

The target FG is hard to determine wihtout knowing the exact composition of everything that was in the boosters, etc, or the specific details of the yeast.
But as a off the top of my head ballparkk guestimate based on nothing but gut feeling....I would take a guess at 1008-1010. Guess only, not fact.

Does the calculator quoted here take into account the final gravity of the beer (ie is it assumed depending on the style)?

I used this to bulk prime my last beer and at the time it seemed like a large amount of sugar (I use DME), though promash gave me an equally large amount. Anyway I put in a bit less than was suggested. Now I opened a bottle last night and it was a gusher. After drinking what I could salvage I opened another and well it almost seemed a little flat. this got me thinking about how I bulk prime. Is my priming solution mixing fully? I always put my solution in then pour the beer onto it using the transfer hose to make a whirlpool, after that I let it sit for a short while (5-10min). I would have thought this was enough to mix the solution, but perhaps I need to add my own stir as well. I think it would be unlikely to to be a capping issue.

Also surprisingly my wheat beer had no lasting head (esp on the second bottle). Lack of head stability of has been an issue for the last few months.

 

[buttersd70]

Cubbie, there is a dropdown box which has suggested levels of co2 for style, but you pick what you want and enter it...if you want 2 vol, enter 2. The fg itself hasn't got a bearing on the amount of prime required. The carbonation that is acieved is a function of the amount of CO2 produced by the amount of priming sugar of a given fermentability.

What is important is residual CO2 saturation levels, and the "temperature" calculates this....beersmith has a similar feature (and I presume the promash one is similar), and it is the "temperature" setting that can cause people issues......the temperature you put in here is not the actual temperature at the time of bottling, nor is it the serving temperature of the beer. What it is after is the maximum temperature that the beer reached at any time (or for any significant time, ie more than a few hours) during the entire process between start of fermentation and bottling. This is what is used to calculate the amount of CO2 that is left in the beer.

This may be giving you issues, although it normally leads to under carbontion. Your method seems fine, so I would be interested in knowing how much sugar you are using, and what volume of CO2 you are aiming for.

 

[cubbie]

Cubbie, there is a dropdown box which has suggested levels of co2 for style, but you pick what you want and enter it...if you want 2 vol, enter 2. The fg itself hasn't got a bearing on the amount of prime required. The carbonation that is acieved is a function of the amount of CO2 produced by the amount of priming sugar of a given fermentability.

What is important is residual CO2 saturation levels, and the "temperature" calculates this....beersmith has a similar feature (and I presume the promash one is similar), and it is the "temperature" setting that can cause people issues......the temperature you put in here is not the actual temperature at the time of bottling, nor is it the serving temperature of the beer. What it is after is the maximum temperature that the beer reached at any time (or for any significant time, ie more than a few hours) during the entire process between start of fermentation and bottling. This is what is used to calculate the amount of CO2 that is left in the beer.

This may be giving you issues, although it normally leads to under carbontion. Your method seems fine, so I would be interested in knowing how much sugar you are using, and what volume of CO2 you are aiming for.

Cheers Butters I guess what i am getting at is if you have a beer with a higher FG you will probably want lower carbonation, so i would assume the suggested values take this into account, when I think about it, it was a silly question.

I can't quite remember what the last amount of DME i used to prime but plugging in the values ( they were roughly 20L, 20C, 3.5co2 - Weizen) it was suggest around 350-400grams. I used to go around 180grams of DME.

 

[buttersd70]

Cheers Butters I guess what i am getting at is if you have a beer with a higher FG you will probably want lower carbonation, so i would assume the suggested values take this into account

Oh, ok, I get what you mean now. I don't think of it in those terms, and there are aways exceptions to that.

I can't quite remember what the last amount of DME i used to prime but plugging in the values ( they were roughly 20L, 20C, 3.5co2 - Weizen) it was suggest around 350-400grams. I used to go around 180grams of DME.

3.5volumes is a lot of carbonation....and I know thats what some calculators reccomend.(I know that this one does). But Beersmith reccomends much lower for weizen ...2.5-2.9volumes. I don't know much about weizens, but I do know that others were discussing carb levels in another thread recently...and from memory, they were talking about the 2.9ish mark.

At 3.5, I'm surprised it didn't jump out of the bottle and bite you.

 

[cubbie]

Oh, ok, I get what you mean now. I don't think of it in those terms, and there are aways exceptions to that.



3.5volumes is a lot of carbonation....and I know thats what some calculators reccomend.(I know that this one does). But Beersmith reccomends much lower for weizen ...2.5-2.9volumes. I don't know much about weizens, but I do know that others were discussing carb levels in another thread recently...and from memory, they were talking about the 2.9ish mark.

At 3.5, I'm surprised it didn't jump out of the bottle and bite you.

Well i did my own personal adjustment so it was probably closer to 2.9 in the end. But as I said the first bottle did, but the second a little flat all considered..