Homebrew Beer Howto

BeerNut

BeerNut wrote: »

Conditioning is just fermentation: it works best at room temperature and is slower when it's cooler.

Maybe I’ve just been unlucky with the last few old ones I’ve opened (one was a last mosaic I did and I was raging).
For the newest batch though (the one where I’ve opened the initial 5 flat) get any better or after 3 weeks be better dumped?

BeerNut

I don't see any reason to dump them unless you need the bottles back. For beer that doesn't carbonate the first thing I'd be looking at is the seals rather than anything fermentation-related.

I thought dodgy lids first but I opened a swing top last (new seal fitted to it) and it was the same too.
Not in a mad rush for the bottles but nobody is going to touch flat beer, I couldn’t touch it anyway.

RasTa

Strange, what batch calculator are you using?

Roughly, the temp of the room for conditioning and what's the ABV of the beer?

RasTa

RasTa wrote: »

Strange, what batch calculator are you using?

Roughly, the temp of the room for conditioning and what's the ABV of the beer?

It’s just around room temp. I put a couple of towels over the box and put them higher for the first two weeks and then on the floor uncovered for the third week.
The one in question was primed with 87g of dextrose using the calculator below

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

I had 15 litres at 19 degrees.




That one isn’t too strange, maybe something is off in it, but it’s weird that two other batches that were fine have had the last few bottles open flat in the last week too.

RasTa

OG and FG?

RasTa

RasTa wrote: »

OG and FG?

1.043 and 1.012.

RasTa

Has to be seals then, doesn't make sense being carbed and then going flat

RasTa

RasTa wrote: »

Has to be seals then, doesn't make sense being carbed and then going flat

Those gravity readings are the one that never carbonated at all.

The ones I was drinking that went flat were:

1.036-1.007
1.059-1.010

Maybe those two are just coincidence and the problem is something I did wrong with the one that has been all flat so far.

RasTa

What yeast?

RasTa

RasTa wrote: »

What yeast?

US05 I think.

Bottled another brew this morning so fingers crossed.

Another one with minimal fizz but I’m sick to the teeth of bottling anyway. What do I need in a keg to make this easier?
I’ve never looked into it but I presume I need a keg, a bottle of CO2, and a cooling system (can they go in a fridge?). So what are others doing?

raxy

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Another one with minimal fizz but I’m sick to the teeth of bottling anyway. What do I need in a keg to make this easier?
I’ve never looked into it but I presume I need a keg, a bottle of CO2, and a cooling system (can they go in a fridge?). So what are others doing?

I have a fridge/freezer. The freezer I use to store hops. 2 Corny kegs in the fridge & a bottle of CO2 beside it. If your in Dublin or nearby AJ edge in Bray sell CO2 tanks for €40.
You'll also need a regulator, beer/gas line, Beer/gas Disconnects, taps & some John guest fittings.
you can also get complete kits like https://brewkegtap.co.uk/collections/keg-kits/products/premium-keg-kit.

RasTa

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Another one with minimal fizz but I’m sick to the teeth of bottling anyway. What do I need in a keg to make this easier?
I’ve never looked into it but I presume I need a keg, a bottle of CO2, and a cooling system (can they go in a fridge?). So what are others doing?

How are ye batch priming?

RasTa

RasTa wrote: »

How are ye batch priming?

Boiling the sugar in about a cup of water for a few minutes, cooling, and then siphoning in on top of it into the bottling bucket.

Actually, just on this, I thought back to the full process. Anything glaringly obvious wrong or missing?


Make up 25 litres of sanitiser in a big plastic box.
Put 5-8 litres in bottling bucket, shake and leave to sit.
Take out one jug of sanitiser and put caps and capper in it.
In the big plastic box (17 or so litres of sanitiser) I put my bottle washer, bottling wand, sections of bottling tree, siphon and a saucepan.
Remove saucepan, work out sugar quantity, and weigh out. Boil sugar for a couple of minutes in a cup of water to dissolve. Place saucepan in sink of cold water to cool.
Wash bottles with plunger washer thing. Place on sanitised bottle tree.
Shake bottling bucket again. Run sanitiser out through tap to sanitise that.
Get sugar water (didn’t check temp, this may be an issue) and throw into bottling bucket. Siphon beer in to bottling bucket.
Bottle 10, cap them, bottle 10, cap them, etc.
Bottles around 19C for 2 weeks, around 15C for a further week (19 too cold?).

mordeith

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Boiling the sugar in about a cup of water for a few minutes, cooling, and then siphoning in on top of it into the bottling bucket.

I don't think you should boil the sugar water. Just add the sugar to boiled water to dissolve but don't continue to boil. If you do you could be creating sugar crystals which form on the side of the pot and the water left will have a reduced sugar content.

Bogwoppit

You’re a lot cleaner than I’ve ever been. Sometimes a batch just doesn’t carbonate, don’t know why.
Is the sanitizer a no rinse one?

Bogwoppit

Bogwoppit wrote: »

You’re a lot cleaner than I’ve ever been. Sometimes a batch just doesn’t carbonate, don’t know why.
Is the sanitizer a no rinse one?

Yeah it’s that Chemsan one.

mordeith

mordeith wrote: »

I don't think you should boil the sugar water. Just add the sugar to boiled water to dissolve but don't continue to boil. If you do you could be creating sugar crystals which form on the side of the pot and the water left will have a reduced sugar content.

I can’t be sure when I started boiling it after reading it somewhere but maybe that’s the nail on the head of when my batches started turning out really bad.

Bogwoppit

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I can’t be sure when I started boiling it after reading it somewhere but maybe that’s the nail on the head of when my batches started turning out really bad.

Pretty unlikely tbh

What yeast are you using?

US05 and West Coast Ale in the last two.

I might just change my bottle size and go back to using the sugar drops for a while to see.

Bogwoppit

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

US05 and West Coast Ale in the last two.

I might just change my bottle size and go back to using the sugar drops for a while to see.

I’ve never once had an issue with us05, it’s as reliable as they come
How much sugar did you use?

Can’t remember the pale ale amount but the black IPA (the west coast yeast) was 105g of dextrose for 16 litres.

Bogwoppit

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Can’t remember the pale ale amount but the black IPA (the west coast yeast) was 105g of dextrose for 16 litres.

That’s a hell of a lot of sugar! No idea why it didn’t work though.

Bogwoppit

Bogwoppit wrote: »

That’s a hell of a lot of sugar! No idea why it didn’t work though.

The calculator I use for 16 litres (19 degrees) for 2.4 vol of CO2 gives me 97g of table sugar, 107g of dextrose, or 143g DME.

I think you could be on to something with the yeast though. It’s not something I would ever have thought of but thinking back I tried to rehydrate it for both those beers and didn’t get the full amount into the wort (sticks to sides of beaker and sticks to the spoon). Used to always chuck it in dry before that.

raxy

When I was bottling I would be making 23l batches & usually had about 130g sugar. I always boiled the sugar for about 5 minutes, never bothered cooling it. just threw it in the bottling bucket. I'd swirl the bucket with the sugar solution in it, then syphon the beer into the bucket. once the beer was all in I would gently stir with the paddle to help it mix & leave it about 10 minutes before bottling.
I had issues with flat beer at the start which is why I started stirring after the beer was in which did help.

I don't even slightly miss bottling though! would definately recommend getting into kegging if you are definately keeping up the hobby.

raxy

raxy wrote: »

When I was bottling I would be making 23l batches & usually had about 130g sugar. I always boiled the sugar for about 5 minutes, never bothered cooling it. just threw it in the bottling bucket. I'd swirl the bucket with the sugar solution in it, then syphon the beer into the bucket. once the beer was all in I would gently stir with the paddle to help it mix & leave it about 10 minutes before bottling.
I had issues with flat beer at the start which is why I started stirring after the beer was in which did help.

I don't even slightly miss bottling though! would definately recommend getting into kegging if you are definately keeping up the hobby.

I would be making 22 or 23 litre batches too but I’d be calculating for the amount I will actually end up with in the bottling bucket which is normally around 19 or so.
Did you always get away with the stirring with the oxygen risk? I was always dubious about the sugar water mixing with the beer from just siphoning it on top of it.

raxy

Beers were fine once bottled. Its a very gentle stir just to help it mix. I did find the bottles wouldn't age well. They'd be good for 3-4 months but older bottles I had gushers & bad tasting beer, not sure if it was infection or oxidised causing it but I don't think it was due to stirring it.
They usually didn't last much longer than 2 months anyway though.

RasTa

I've never had a beer not carb. Only thing I would do different would pour the sugar water into my bottling bucket first and then siphon the beer onto it so it's all mixed.