Bottling question

Wookie

Hi Folks,

The brother in law and I are nearing bottling day on our first brew (we went for a simple extract for our first run out).
Anyway I was just checking out Palmer. He says:

"6. Store the bottles. Place the capped bottles out of the light in a warm (room temperature) environment (65-75 °F [18-24 °C]). The bottles will take about two weeks to carbonate. The bottles will have a thin layer of yeast on the bottom."

So the question is, can I move to a cooler environment after that....? It just that I have ample storage space but it is typically about 12c. For the first week or two I can find space somewhere warmer but it would be nice to know that I can move the bottles to a more longer term space all be it a cooler one.

Besides we are already planning brew number 2 so space is going to be at a bit for premium soon enough.

Cheers.

BeerNut

Yes, I'd give it two weeks minimum in the warmer place and then you can move it to the cooler one where it'll continue to mature slowly.

There's a good illustrated guide to bottling here, btw.

mayto

Ye of course you can move them to a cooler place after bottle carbonating is finished. They should be well carbonated after two weeks at about 18C, you will have to test some bottles to be sure:D or leave them carbonate for longer if needed.

willabur

I have found that bottles carbonate fine at even lower temps ~15 degrees

leggit

willabur wrote: »

I have found that bottles carbonate fine at even lower temps ~15 degrees

Yeah, agree with this, I've had bottles sitting at probably 13-14 degrees for 3 weeks and they've carbonated fine in that time, probably does it quicker at the higher temperature though.

Sky King

Sorry for the thread hijack but there's no point starting another.

I bottle primed my canadian blonde ale after 3 weeks in the fermenter with the coopers drops, and left it in the 500ml bottles for two weeks in a fairly warm enviornment,.

They are disappointingly flat though, barely any head at all. I would have thought two weeks was plenty.

thoughts?



*Edit

Their site says

The dosage required is 1 drop per 345-375ml stubby or 2 drops per 740-750ml bottle

Yet they provide 500ml bottles with their kit. Shower of spas. Well there's my question answered. Will leaving them any longer improve this though???

mayto

The carbonation drops are fine for 500ml bottles. I find they take longer to carbonate than brewing sugar. When I am filling a corny keg from the fermenter, I usually have a few litres left over. I bottle this with carb drops and they work out fine. Give it more time and make sure they are at about 18C.

willabur

Sky King wrote: »

Sorry for the thread hijack but there's no point starting another.

I bottle primed my canadian blonde ale after 3 weeks in the fermenter with the coopers drops, and left it in the 500ml bottles for two weeks in a fairly warm enviornment,.

They are disappointingly flat though, barely any head at all. I would have thought two weeks was plenty.

thoughts?



*Edit

Their site says


Yet they provide 500ml bottles with their kit. Shower of spas. Well there's my question answered. Will leaving them any longer improve this though???

what fermentables did you use when mixing your kit?

Sky King

Everything that came with it, i.e. the large tin of extract plus the kilo of brew enhancer.

leggit

Sky King wrote: »

Sorry for the thread hijack but there's no point starting another.

I bottle primed my canadian blonde ale after 3 weeks in the fermenter with the coopers drops, and left it in the 500ml bottles for two weeks in a fairly warm enviornment,.

They are disappointingly flat though, barely any head at all. I would have thought two weeks was plenty.

thoughts?



*Edit

Their site says


Yet they provide 500ml bottles with their kit. Shower of spas. Well there's my question answered. Will leaving them any longer improve this though???

I only used the drops once, and it was with the canadian blonde too, but they took a good 3 weeks to carbonate fully. 1 drop per 500ml is fine.

Just give it another week and see how it is, I remember being quite disappointed after 10 days or so that there was little carbonation but after 3 weeks I had some great beer! Think the temperature was around 14 degrees too so I wouldn't worry too much about temperature as long as your bottles are indoors.

My own personal rule is 3 weeks in the fermentor, 3 weeks in the bottle. I batch prime now with table sugar, works better than those drops and a lot easier than priming one bottle at a time.

Sky King

Just normal table sugar?

How many spoons per bottle do you allow?

leggit

Sky King wrote: »

Just normal table sugar?

How many spoons per bottle do you allow?

you can get a batch priming calculator online such as this one and just input the relevant information and it will tell you how much you should put in.

dissolve the sugar in a small bit of water and boil it for a few minutes, then throw it in the fermentor and stir it gently for a minute or two. Then leave to settle for 30 minutes and then bottle as normal.

I've gotten good results doing it this way and saves money on buying those drops, of course I'd use up the drops if you have them already though?

Caribs

Apologies for the completely dopey question but as part of the carbonation process is more alcohol produced. Been making my own Ginger Beer and experimenting with different levels of sugar and ginger etc. Bottle it after about 3 days of fermentation and getting alcohol levels around 8%. Then leave it to carbonate for a couple of days before putting in the fridge as thought this halted fermentation and hence the bubbles.

Opened a bottle today from the fridge and nearly took the roof off, loads of bubbles though

BeerNut

Caribs wrote: »

as part of the carbonation process is more alcohol produced.

Yes.

Caribs wrote: »

Bottle it after about 3 days of fermentation

This is a really bad idea as you've no control over what's happening. Let it ferment out, then add a controlled amount of sugar at bottling time to give it sufficient, safe, carbonation.

Caribs wrote: »

thought this halted fermentation and hence the bubbles.

It does. But the gas already created is already in there.

Caribs wrote: »

Opened a bottle today from the fridge and nearly took the roof off

I think you're lucky it didn't explode before you put it in the fridge.

Caribs

Thanks BeerNut, new to this lark so appreciate the help.

Presumable less sugar in the initial phase will lead to less fermentation and lower levels of alcohol and then the introduction of the sugar post fermentation will mean a somewhat more controlled carbonation - is that right?

BeerNut

Yes. It's the same process all the way through, but at the beginning you're interested in the alcohol and should let the CO2 escape. Once this phase is done you kick it off again in the sealed bottle to produce a tiny bit more alcohol, but more importantly just enough CO2 to carbonate the beer safely.

DeadSkin

Sky King wrote: »

Sorry for the thread hijack but there's no point starting another.

I bottle primed my canadian blonde ale after 3 weeks in the fermenter with the coopers drops, and left it in the 500ml bottles for two weeks in a fairly warm enviornment,.

They are disappointingly flat though, barely any head at all. I would have thought two weeks was plenty.

thoughts?



*Edit

Their site says


Yet they provide 500ml bottles with their kit. Shower of spas. Well there's my question answered. Will leaving them any longer improve this though???

I'd agree, after 2 weeks I was disappointed with the carbonation. When I poured the beer there was a pish poor head on it.

Out of curiousity I took 4 bottles of brew that were 2 weeks bottled, opened them and added another drop to each.
Word of advice if you are at all tempted to try this, do one at a time, as when you pop the drop into the bottle, the brew foams up pretty quick.
I'm also using screw cap bottles. Think it would be a bit of a struggle trying to put a cap on, unless you're pretty dapper with the capper :P:pac: groans!!!

Two weeks later popped 2 of these bottles & 2 of the original batch[had only one carbonation drop in each] into the fridge.
The 'one drop' beer hadn't improved much at all, still disappointing. The 'two drop' brew had a lovely creamy'ish head and carbonation was perfect. So, I have since put another drop into another 10 bottles, hopefully I'll get the same results & I'll compare to another 'one drop' brew.......

***Edit: I don't know what the consequences would be if you were to put 2 carbonation drops into a 500ml bottle at the time of bottling***

Carawaystick

Wookie wrote: »

So the question is, can I move to a cooler environment after that....? It just that I have ample storage space but it is typically about 12c. For the first week or two I can find space somewhere warmer but it would be nice to know that I can move the bottles to a more longer term space all be it a cooler one.

Besides we are already planning brew number 2 so space is going to be at a bit for premium soon enough.

Cheers.

I usually leave the bottles in a spare wardrobe in the house for a fortnight and then out to the shed ( if it's winter) for a while to cold condition the beer, the cold helps the beer clear and the yeast drops to the bottom.