Just checking: Do I understand it all correctly?

[weelittleyeasty]

Hey, so a friend and I recently bought a brewed a brown ale from a Beer Simply Beer kit. We decided that we want to make a good amount of beer so bought another recipe and bucket. The plan is to use a single fermenation bucket for each recipe, and to also bottle it out of the same bucket. I know that some people don't like to do that because of the trub on the bottom, but if we siphon it out (instead of using the spigot), then it should all be good right?
And I'm not very sure about how you prime it for the bottles if your using a single bucket, would I pour the sugar directly into the bucket then siphon it?

Just so y'all know, we bought the beer simply beer starter kit, the brown ale recipe, and the pale ale recipe, then we bought another bucket, spigot, and lid so we can have both recipes going at the same time

 

[MaxM]

Hey, so a friend and I recently bought a brewed a brown ale from a Beer Simply Beer kit. We decided that we want to make a good amount of beer so bought another recipe and bucket. The plan is to use a single fermenation bucket for each recipe, and to also bottle it out of the same bucket. I know that some people don't like to do that because of the trub on the bottom, but if we siphon it out (instead of using the spigot), then it should all be good right?
And I'm not very sure about how you prime it for the bottles if your using a single bucket, would I pour the sugar directly into the bucket then siphon it?

Just so y'all know, we bought the beer simply beer starter kit, the brown ale recipe, and the pale ale recipe, then we bought another bucket, spigot, and lid so we can have both recipes going at the same time

At bottling, you can either siphon or use the spigot - the results should be about the same. I’d say that using the spigot is easier though. As long as the trub doesn’t come up past the port, and you’ve given everything a sufficient amount of time to settle down to the bottom, and you don’t move it around a whole lot right before bottling, you should be good.

For priming, you can either rack to a bottling bucket (which would be an additional purchase) to prime the whole batch. Or you could get some priming drops which are like a cough drop size hard sugar pellet that you drop into each bottle.

Cheers!

 

[weelittleyeasty]

Wow, that was a quick reply, thanks!
And we aren’t feeling very patient, and personally I think that the estimated time until done is a little high
But to just check the timeframe, it should take about 2 weeks(i forget the name of this stage, primary?) then can’t you bottle it, then keep it in the bottle for a week to condition and carbonate?
Or am I leaving out a necessary step?

 

[TwistedGray]

1/2tsp table sugar per bottle

You can individually prime each bottle like that. It'll add a few minutes to bottling, but it shouldn't be a deal breaker.

 

[TwistedGray]

Wow, that was a quick reply, thanks!
And we aren’t feeling very patient, and personally I think that the estimated time until done is a little high
But to just check the timeframe, it should take about 2 weeks(i forget the name of this stage, primary?) then can’t you bottle it, then keep it in the bottle for a week to condition and carbonate?
Or am I leaving out a necessary step?

2 weeks to ferment in your bucket or take hydrometer readings to confirm when. Two weeks is likely safe for what you're brewing, but only a hydrometer can confirm that.

At least one week in the bottle at room temperature, but two weeks is usually the norm. If you're brewing big (ABV) beers, it's longer.

Then it goes to the fridge, usually 24hrs ... sometimes longer.

 

[MaxM]

But to just check the timeframe, it should take about 2 weeks(i forget the name of this stage, primary?) then can’t you bottle it, then keep it in the bottle for a week to condition and carbonate?
Or am I leaving out a necessary step?

Two weeks should just about do it for primary fermentation, yeah! Really, a beer is done after you’ve reached your final gravity and you’re happy with how much yeast has settled out (flocculated).

For the time in bottles, yeah check one after a week. If it’s carbonated and tastes good, you’re good to go! If not, just give it another week or so.

A big part of brewing is responding to what the beer is doing rather than making it go on a schedule. The old adage is “brewers make wort; yeast make beer”!

 

[Gnomebrewer]

You can make up a sugar solution and syringe it in to each bottle (that's what I do). It's much easier than trying to pour dry sugar into bottles (messy and slow).

Very few beers will be ready after one week of carbonation (they might be carbonated, but still don't taste good). Ten days to two weeks is more like it. If you want to shorten the brewing process, most ales under 5%ABV can be bottled sooner than 2 weeks, but might not taste quite as good (less time for yeast to clean up off-flavours produced during the fermnet) and might have more sediment. Check gravity at 7 and 10 days, if it hasn't moved, you're OK to bottle.

 

[TwistedGray]

You can make up a sugar solution and syringe it in to each bottle (that's what I do). It's much easier than trying to pour dry sugar into bottles (messy and slow).

In an attempt to not sound ignorant, have you tried a funnel? That's what I use, no mess.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

In an attempt to not sound ignorant, have you tried a funnel? That's what I use, no mess.

I have, and it blocked (using dextrose, table sugar's probably easier). It might have been a small funnel though. It's so quick and easy to syringe sugar solution that I'll keep doing it that way. I don't quite understand why bottling buckets are so much more popular than individual bottle priming.

 

[TwistedGray]

I have, and it blocked (using dextrose, table sugar's probably easier). It might have been a small funnel though. It's so quick and easy to syringe sugar solution that I'll keep doing it that way. I don't quite understand why bottling buckets are so much more popular than individual bottle priming.

I still use a bucket and at the same time bottle prime individually

 

[RM-MN]

Wow, that was a quick reply, thanks!
And we aren’t feeling very patient, and personally I think that the estimated time until done is a little high
But to just check the timeframe, it should take about 2 weeks(i forget the name of this stage, primary?) then can’t you bottle it, then keep it in the bottle for a week to condition and carbonate?
Or am I leaving out a necessary step?

This is the time to learn to use your hydrometer to see if your beer is done. Most will be done in 2 weeks but time isn't the way to be sure, nor is counting airlock bubbles. Only the hydrometer gives you assurance that fermentation is complete. Take a sample on day 10 and record the reading. Take another sample on day 14. If the two samples match and are close to the estimated final gravity you can bottle. I have had one stuck fermentation that the hydrometer reading was quite a bit above the estimated FG and had I bottled then I would have had exploding bottles. A few days later the hydrometer confirmed that the fermentation completed and I was able to bottle.

 

[geoffm33]

Also, have patience on these first few batches. Once you build up your pipeline with bottles in the fridge, fermented wort ready to bottle, and fermenters with newly pitched yeast the patience will come naturally.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

You can make up a sugar solution and syringe it in to each bottle (that's what I do). It's much easier than trying to pour dry sugar into bottles (messy and slow).

What is your method for measuring the amount of sugar into each bottle? I was interested in this, but I guess I could not quite figure out how much solution would be need to add, say, 2 grams of sugar to a bottle.

 

[deadwolfbones]

I also individual prime (dry sugar, funnel) and bottle directly from primary (via the spigot) and get great results.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

What is your method for measuring the amount of sugar into each bottle? I was interested in this, but I guess I could not quite figure out how much solution would be need to add, say, 2 grams of sugar to a bottle.

I use 10mL of solution per bottle. Typically, I'd want about 4g of dextrose per bottle, so I'd make up a solution with 4g of dextrose for every 10mL of finished solution. If I was bottling 20 bottles, I'd make up about 250mL (allows plenty of excess), which means 100g of dextrose made up to 250mL with boiling water.

 

[weelittleyeasty]

Ah ok, sorry about the late reply, but thanks to all of y’all for helping me out!

 

[weelittleyeasty]

Update: I took a hydrometer reading the other day, and it read 1.011(about where it should be) so I’ll take another tonight to see if it’s the same, and then probably bottle soon, but due to our schedules we will probably have to bottle Friday(and we need to order more bottles and supplies).
So, because we have time to kill and think, I wonder, can I bottle with something besides pure sugar to give it some flavor?
I’ve heard of using honey and molasses when bottling, so my question is how would y’all do that so as to get the best flavor?
and also what flavor do y’all think would work the best with a brown ale?

 

[MaxM]

can I bottle with something besides pure sugar to give it some flavor?
I’ve heard of using honey and molasses when bottling, so my question is how would y’all do that so as to get the best flavor?
and also what flavor do y’all think would work the best with a brown ale?

You can definitely use something other than sugar to carbonate. The quantities are a little different depending on which one you choose, so it’d be worth checking that. I’m remembering a table in “How to Brew” by John Palmer that had quantities and types of carb sugars for a given carbonation level (pictured below). As far as flavor, I’m not sure that it would make much of a difference. The quantities you’re using for carbonation are relatively small. Honey is very highly fermentable meaning there’s not much left after the yeast have converted the sugar to CO2 and alcohol, so I don’t think it would change the flavor noticeably. Molasses, on the other hand, is only 50% fermentable according to Palmer, so that has a better shot at making a difference. And it seems like that would go well with a brown ale if you could taste it at all. Maybe try some with honey, some with molasses, and some with table sugar, and post the results of your sampling! Good luck!

 

[ncbrewer]

I looked up priming solutions in the on-line How to Brew and found this: "Honey is difficult to prime with because there is no standard for concentration. The gravity of honey is different jar to jar. To use honey, you will need to dilute it and measure its gravity with a hydrometer." But the info in the post above shows a specific amount, and the Northern Brewer calculator also shows a specific amount. It still might be prudent to be careful if using honey, and use the hydrometer method to be safe.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

It's even more unpredictable with molasses. The solids percentage is variable, but it also ranges from about 50% to 80% fermentability. If you want to use it, it would be much better in primary rather than for bottle priming.

 

[ncbrewer]

It's even more unpredictable with molasses. The solids percentage is variable, but it also ranges from about 50% to 80% fermentability. If you want to use it, it would be much better in primary rather than for bottle priming.

That seems like the best approach. You can get the flavor of honey or molasses, but still use simple sugar for priming.

 

[kh54s10]

I find batch priming the easiest. Much easier than even dropping a tablet in each bottle, then worrying that I didn't put 2 in any of the bottles. Start the siphon, add priming sugar (I pour it carefully down the side of the bucket to minimize oxygen straight from the stove) done - fill the bottles. ONE addition instead of 50 + movements.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/bottling-tips-for-the-homebrewer.94812/

I don't like spigots for fermenters for 2 reasons, I always would worry about knocking the spigot off, and wonder about what is growing in the spigot during the fermentation period.

I might suggest the new home brewer try a bottle at one week conditioning for reference. At 2 weeks most will be carbonated. IMO, at 3 weeks ALL of my bottled beers have tasted better. With heavy beers like Russian Imperial Stouts and the like it may take much longer for the beers to peak in flavor.

 

[weelittleyeasty]

Thanks so much for the great advice! And thanks for the link, I’ve done a lot more research, and my friend and I have decided to try to bottle a bit of everything so we can figure out what is easiest and what we like. The plan so far is to bottle 12 with honey, 12 with molasses, 12 with dark brown sugar, and 12 with normal sugar, then we’ll test them at 1,2, and 3 weeks to see what seems best!(I expect 1 week to be pretty soon so we’ll probably only open 1 or 2 then) I’ll keep y’all updated on how it goes!

 

[weelittleyeasty]

Ok, so we finally bottled all of it, and it came out to 40 bottles because we had only about 4.5 gallons. We did this at 65-ish degrees, and were aiming for a CO2 volume of 2, and plugged these factors into a home brewing calculator. Please keep in mind that we did this at 1AM and if there’s a harder way to do it, I’m sure we can find it.
So, for the priming solutions we used honey, molasses, dark brown sugar, and corn sugar, and primed each bottle individually.
We primed 12 bottles with honey, which we diluted with hot water(we read we needed to try and kill wild yeasts and bacteria this way), and then divided that diluted honey into roughly 12 parts, which we then poured into the bottles.
We primed 12 bottles with a solution of molasses diluted with hot water, and repeated the same process as with honey.
With dark brown sugar we measured out the sugar, and then diluted that with hot water, divided it into roughly 12 parts, and then poured each part into the bottle
With corn sugar we did the same thing as above, except we didn’t have enough beer to fill all 12 bottles, but it didn’t matter because the priming sugar was already in per-bottle measurements
Now, I believe the math is correct, but because it’s our first time bottling I’m nervous about the measurements, and as we primed each one, the amount of liquid seemed kinda small to me(but that’s probably just me).
So, there’s the update, and next time we will just use one sugar and probably batch prime it so it will be a lot simpler.

Edit: Also, im storing the bottles in an attic, and the temperature right now outside is 83, and the temperature reading from my empty fermentation bucket(right next to the bottles) is 84ish. Do i need to be worried about high temperatures when conditioning? (also the weather this week will get a bit cooler until thursday and friday)

 

[kh54s10]

Is the temperature in the attic stable? I don't think 83 -84 is too high but if your attic is like most it will fluctuate greatly. During the night it will be close to ambient. During the day I could see it getting well into the 100s.....

I don't think that fluctuation is good for the beer. I would find a place in a closet or something. Around 70 degrees is good. 3 weeks is best. You may get carbonation earlier but I find the taste is better at 3 weeks conditioning or longer.