Over carbonation?

[Chorba]

G’day All

More of a lurker than a poster but hope you can help with my issue. New to brewing and only use cans from brew shop. Follow the same routine as below. Any suggestions to improve method welcome.

Morgans Aust. Bitter + 1 kg Dextrose + tank water and yeast from can.

Prior to bottling in pet bottles, I sterilise with Atomic no rinse, then drain brew off into plastic bottle and rinse out residue from fermenter then replace brew + 260 gm of sugar dissolved in boiling water and add when cooled then bottle.

My issue is that sometimes (not always) after I pour out a glass, bubbles form at the base in the small amount of residue and rise up bringing the residue with them. Doesn’t seem to affect the taste, only the clarity.

Any suggestions as to why?

Thanks

 

[kadmium]

Hey mate, do you mean after your bottles have conditioned and are carbonated, when you pour them into a glass, some sediment comes with into the glass. This then gets lifted by the CO2 and mixes into the beer, causing a hazy appearance?

This is one of the things that just happens with bottle conditioning. The yeast in suspension in the beer eat the sugar, producing CO2 which cannot go anywhere (closed bottle) and get's absorbed into the liquid. This produces the carbonation. Once the sugar is eaten, the yeast fall out of suspension and deposit at the bottom of the bottle as a sediment layer.

To avoid this, just don't pour the entire bottle out. Most people leave a mouthful of beer at the bottom of the bottle for this reason.

 

[butisitart]

if you HAVE to drink the bit at the bottom, drink it separately. it'll cloud the beer (presentation) and change the flavour.
Nothing wrong with it, but it clears constipation at no extra cost.
but hang on, i think what you're saying is that you empty the fermenter into bottles, clean the fermenter, tip the bottles back into the fermenter so you can bulk prime (brew + 260gm sugar), then back into bottles. is that correct??

 

[Chorba]

Thanks for the tips blokes. Butisitart not quite, I drain brew off into a 23 litre plastic drum, then put back into fermenter after rinsing out the bulk sediment, then add sugar syrup and bottle. I think I've solved the problem by going to 750ml bottles then pour the bulk out intoa larger glass, so it's only one pour action then leave the last bit in the bottle.

 

[kadmium]

If you're going to bulk prime, consider buying a second fermenter with tap.

Add the bulk priming sugar, rack into bottling fermenter as some would call it, and bottle. Reduces oxygen exposure and infection risks.

 

[butisitart]

Thanks for the tips blokes. Butisitart not quite, I drain brew off into a 23 litre plastic drum, then put back into fermenter after rinsing out the bulk sediment, then add sugar syrup and bottle. I think I've solved the problem by going to 750ml bottles then pour the bulk out intoa larger glass, so it's only one pour action then leave the last bit in the bottle.

thank god for that LOL, i had this vision of 23L into bottles and back out again and then back in again. you would have gotten 2,000 replies about oxygenating your beer. i'm not going to ask how you get from the container back to the fermenter. maybe let's not go there either haha.
kadmium above makes all the sense, so i'll fill in. i've got a 30L (most bottle brewers probably do) which i only use for bottling. see photo for simulation.

basic method is, drop bottling dextrose into bottom fermenter. Cos it's a permanent bottling fermenter, the trub filter is removed cos there's no trub. this is helpful for getting the last 1L or so out. hose should reach the bottom of the fermenter so you aren't oxygenating more than you have to. if you can submerge the mouth of the hose under the bottling sugar, even better. the bottling fermenter will last forever cos it's not doing any other jobs.
oh, and before you connect the hose into top fermenter to start the process, let out a bit (50ml) into a container to clear the tap of settled trub.
ok, it'll cost $30 for the fermenter, but saves potential oxygenation and time and effort, and it'll be super useful.
this is a simulation. bottom fermenter should have lid covering 99% of it
the other option is, i don't know if your other vessel is a cube and food grade or what it is, but you could explore putting a $3 tap into the base area of it for the same result as the extra fermenter.
i always have a 330ml bottle ready for the last bit, in case you have not enough for a 750. either way, to fill last bottle, upend the bottling fermenter through a funnel if needed to fill bottle. make sure this bottle is clearly identified, cos if you're going to have gribblies, oxygenation etc, it will be with this bottle. use it as a first taster when you think you need to try the new brew out. that way, it won't taste any different to the good bottles at that age, it will give you a good indication of how the brew is travelling, and you can enjoy a sly one.

 

[MashBasher]

Really just wanted to suggest getting a nice pub style jug (pitcher to our US cousins) to do that first pour in. My Dad is 84 and has never drunk his home-brew without one.

If you're going to bulk prime, consider buying a second fermenter with tap.

Terrific detail also from Butisitart. I learned to batch prime this way myself after years of adding individual teaspoons of sugar to bottles . Changed my life (well improved the consistency of my carbonation markedly).

Plus it makes it easy to experiment with priming - malt, sugar, honey, go crazy. But not too crazy unless you want little brown bombs in the cupboard.

 

[butisitart]

discovering batch priming changed my marriage LOL

 

[kadmium]

Awesome detail from @butisitart there. Great instructions on bulk priming.

Kegging and brewing cider saved mine!

 

[Chorba]

thank god for that LOL, i had this vision of 23L into bottles and back out again and then back in again. you would have gotten 2,000 replies about oxygenating your beer. i'm not going to ask how you get from the container back to the fermenter. maybe let's not go there either haha.
kadmium above makes all the sense, so i'll fill in. i've got a 30L (most bottle brewers probably do) which i only use for bottling. see photo for simulation.
View attachment 118983

basic method is, drop bottling dextrose into bottom fermenter. Cos it's a permanent bottling fermenter, the trub filter is removed cos there's no trub. this is helpful for getting the last 1L or so out. hose should reach the bottom of the fermenter so you aren't oxygenating more than you have to. if you can submerge the mouth of the hose under the bottling sugar, even better. the bottling fermenter will last forever cos it's not doing any other jobs.
oh, and before you connect the hose into top fermenter to start the process, let out a bit (50ml) into a container to clear the tap of settled trub.
ok, it'll cost $30 for the fermenter, but saves potential oxygenation and time and effort, and it'll be super useful.
this is a simulation. bottom fermenter should have lid covering 99% of it
the other option is, i don't know if your other vessel is a cube and food grade or what it is, but you could explore putting a $3 tap into the base area of it for the same result as the extra fermenter.
i always have a 330ml bottle ready for the last bit, in case you have not enough for a 750. either way, to fill last bottle, upend the bottling fermenter through a funnel if needed to fill bottle. make sure this bottle is clearly identified, cos if you're going to have gribblies, oxygenation etc, it will be with this bottle. use it as a first taster when you think you need to try the new brew out. that way, it won't taste any different to the good bottles at that age, it will give you a good indication of how the brew is travelling, and you can enjoy a sly one.

Thanks for the info cobber. Currently I siphon from 23 L bottle (assume food grade as I got it full of wine last century ) ) Should investigate a tap on it as it has a threaded plug. I wasn't aware of the oxygenation issue. Alternatively perhaps I should use a longer length of hose from fermenter tap to base of 23 L bottle.

 

[butisitart]

Thanks for the info cobber. Currently I siphon from 23 L bottle (assume food grade as I got it full of wine last century ) ) Should investigate a tap on it as it has a threaded plug. I wasn't aware of the oxygenation issue. Alternatively perhaps I should use a longer length of hose from fermenter tap to base of 23 L bottle.

if it's already got a thread plug in there, i'd go the plastic tap any day for about $3. beats syphoning, saves oxygenation, and from what i can gather, eliminates a step.

 

[Paddy Melon]

Hi Guys, I thought I'd share what I do when bottling from my priming bucket/fermenter. It's something I made because of the hassle of getting the last few bottles out of the fermenter. I've read a couple of threads where brewers have complained about the Coopers fermenter (and other makes) as they have a large gap between the tap outlet and the bottom of the fermenter, so I developed this simple fix.
In the pics you can see I used poly pipe and right angle connector with an appropriate O ring which simply pushes into the end of the tap and the other end sits on the bottom of the fermenter. The other end has small cutouts so the beer can flow through.

I bottle with the standard wand until I get down to the top of the tap then I add an extension wand so it allows gravity to suction the rest of the beer from the fermenter. when I'm finished I will have about a teaspoon full, if that, left in my coopers fermenter. I have shown both taps in the pics as it is easily done with any tap and fermenter given the right sized O ring.
PM.

 

[kadmium]

I love how inventive home brewers are!!!