This may be stupid, but is it possible to bottle whilst fermentation is still going?

[CFO]

I know this question obviously sounds stupid, but is is possible to bottle a stout in the final stages of fermentation to maintain some fizz? Or do I have to wait and add sugar like you would with Cider?

Thanks

 

[allanmorgan]

See this video and you will have your answer:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1-jeZufv1g&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Yes, but ill advised. It's also possible to undo your zipper with a chainsaw.... results will vary.

 

[CFO]

See this video and you will have your answer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1-jeZufv1g&feature=youtu.be

Laughed quite a lot at that, thank you

 

[allanmorgan]

Or this video: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMdAoGED2oY&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

 

[allanmorgan]

Laughed quite a lot at that

Yeah, for sure! Patience is a virtue I suppose. Fortunate enough to not have this happen to me yet.

 

[allanmorgan]

It's also possible to undo your zipper with a chainsaw.... results will vary.

Now THAT made me laugh. Cheers!

 

[CFO]

So sarcasm aside, if my kit says complete in 4-6 days an I'm on day 7 with a little bubbling in the airlock, will I get a nice beer or just 40 bottlebombs?

 

[z-bob]

Better to keg it before fermentation is complete, with some kind of a pressure relief valve. That way you don't have to guess.

 

[CFO]

Better to keg it before fermentation is complete, with some kind of a pressure relief valve. That way you don't have to guess.

I'd love to keg but I'm trying to do this cheap with wine bottles and corks. This will be my first ever brew and it's cost me about £9 so far. I'd like to keep it that way

 

[allanmorgan]

nice beer or just 40 bottlebombs?

So, my vote is bottle bombs. If you still have activity in the airlock, the yeastie boys are not done doing their thing. Plus, they need time to finish cleaning up.

 

[Auger]

I'd love to keg but I'm trying to do this cheap with wine bottles and corks. This will be my first ever brew and it's cost me about £9 so far. I'd like to keep it that way

I've never bottled anything carbonated in standard wine bottles, but if you're doing regular bottles and straight corks (vs the champagne style corks with wire cages), you will DEFINITELY want to wait until fermentation is complete, and probably bottle condition on the lighter side. Otherwise I'd be afraid of corks working their way out of the bottles under pressure.

 

[passedpawn]

One of my local german breweries, Lagerhaus, does what you're suggesting. They don't bottle, but they do keg when the fermentation gets to a known gravity. Natural carbonation in the kegs. Franz Rothschild is the master brewer and quite a guy.

You can do it yourself, but it's a little risky in bottles. Google kräusening for a method that is less risky.

 

[Stillraining]

Technically speaking yes you could/can do it..the technical part is the issue and can change brew to brew due to many factors. After all adding priming sugar is doing exactly the same thing....but your starting from a known beginning point of basically full attenuation of your chosen yeast..
Knowing exactly how much carbonation pressures will be developed with a waning ferment is the technical part that only trial and error will really prove out ....Its the error part that gets dicey..

There is only one thing worse then over carbed beer....under carbed beer...so why take the risk of either? Enough sugar for proper bottle priming is cheap, add a sixpence to your budget and call it a day.

 

[gregmosu]

Just an FYI on bottling too quickly... Years ago I brewed a Stout from an extract kit and followed the directions they gave me. Poured in the whole bag of priming sugar and bottled w/out doing any additional gravity checks(I was a noob.. didn't know any better). Gave a few bottles to my cousin who stored them in his 75 degree apartment while my bottles remained in my 66 degree basement. Sometime later, he calls and says the bottles blew up over night! I go down, grab one of my bottles, turn it upside down in the sink and pop the top. It blew out of there so hard I had beer on the ceiling and all four walls. I took the rest of the bottles and set them outside in a cardboard box. A day or so later a few bottles had blown up and there were shards of glass all over the place. SO PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!

 

[rawlus]

Yeast don't work on the schedule someone prints in a recipe. They should really just eliminate the dates thing altogether because it is a wild guess or a wish. Yeast are done when terminal gravity is reached. And that cannot be accurately predicted by a calendar.

I would not use airlock activity as an indicator either.

Measurement will tell you, if you get the same measurement a few days in a row and that measurement is in the area of the predicted final gravity then it's done fermenting. Then you can condition, wait for clarification, cold crash, or package.