Is this going to carbonate...?

[fretlessman71]

Another worry wort question... my FG has stayed at 1.020 for the last week or so. I'm just about to bottle, and I never reached my target FG of 1.014. Should I be worried that the yeast is actually DEAD, and it's not going to do anything to the priming sugar to make it carbonate?

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
Another worry wort question... my FG has stayed at 1.020 for the last week or so. I'm just about to bottle, and I never reached my target FG of 1.014. Should I be worried that the yeast is actually DEAD, and it's not going to do anything to the priming sugar to make it carbonate?

It's very unlikely that your yeasts are dead unless you did something with the intent of killing them.

Malt extracts have variable and sometimes unpredictable amounts of infermentables in them. The yeasts have probably just eaten everything available to them. Go ahead and bottle.

[ray m]

Assuming that you have eliminated all the variables that could cause your yeast to slack off i.e. temperature, for example, I think your fermentation is done. Is it a high gravity brew? With an F.G. of 1.020, it will be malty---it sounds good. To play it safe, send the bottled batch to me and I will be sure to give it a thorough and proper analysis.:)

Anyways, bottle it. Make sure the temp for conditioning is in the 68* to 70* range so the bottles'll carbonate at the proper rate. After 2 weeks (you may have to wait a tad longer, like maybe another week) they should be good to go. Worry not, young Jedi.

Drink hearty!!! Ray

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by ray m
Assuming that you have eliminated all the variables that could cause your yeast to slack off i.e. temperature, for example, I think your fermentation is done. Is it a high gravity brew? With an F.G. of 1.020, it will be malty---it sounds good. To play it safe, send the bottled batch to me and I will be sure to give it a thorough and proper analysis.:)



I'm pretty sure that it got a little too cold in the room where I was fermenting. This apartment is never the same temp from hour to hour, and I fear that the window I left open a crack when I went to Florida for Thanksgiving might have made it too cold for the yeast to finish its meal.

Anyway, I went ahead and bottled... hope I don't end up with bombs. Guess I oughta stick them in a plastic sealed bin just in case...

I sort of feel like I OUGHT to send everyone a bottle of this stuff for all of the help all of you have given me! Thanks again everyone!

[BeerBelly]

419 Meinecke St
Bellville Tx 77418
:D

[fretlessman71]

Actually, I already sent yours. You just keep looking for it.... :p

[GunNut76]

You can send my sample with the book frettless! :)

[S.F.B.]

It sounds to me like your yeast was finished doing it's thing. You should have a nice malty, slightly sweet brew. There have been plenty of times that my brews have finished in the 1015-1020 range.

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by GunNut76
You can send my sample with the book frettless! :)

As soon as I'm sure I don't have bottle bombs, your bottles and book will be on the way!

[fretlessman71]

I realized that I ended up with just short of a case and a half of beer (I seem to remember several boilovers and some spilling). 34 bottles to be exact. Now, I used a pre-measured packet of priming sugar from the kit, which I'm beginning to think was intended for a much larger quantity of beer. What's going to happen to my brew?

[toneyc]

They may be slightly more carbonated than they should be, but they'll be ok. No worries!

:)
Toney.

[S.F.B.]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
I realized that I ended up with just short of a case and a half of beer (I seem to remember several boilovers and some spilling). 34 bottles to be exact. Now, I used a pre-measured packet of priming sugar from the kit, which I'm beginning to think was intended for a much larger quantity of beer. What's going to happen to my brew?

Probably nothing more than a highly carbonated beer. Take precautions for possible explosions. Nothing else to do now but sit, wait and brew your next batch.

[fretlessman71]

How soon do you think they'll be carbonated? When should I be looking out for them?

[S.F.B.]

In 10-14 days crack one open and see what you have. It should be carbonated by then.

[fretlessman71]

I may go for 7 just to be safe. I've got too few of these to see too many of them bite the big one (and besides, I already owe 4 of these to others!).

[Fast_Eddy]

fretlessman71, dude, you've gotta chill out. You're gonna give yourself a stroke or something.

[S.F.B.]

Originally posted by Fast_Eddy
fretlessman71, dude, you've gotta chill out. You're gonna give yourself a stroke or something.

No kidding. Geez. I don't think I've ever come across someone wound as tight as you are. lol

[GunNut76]

You have 34 bottles of HB and I have nothing until next friday! What are you so wound up for Fretless? Try a bottle at 4 days...I over carbed my second batch and had very good carbonation at 4 days...at 7 I had to open the beer over a sink. Then I stumbled on chilling the beer...knocks down the foam. Anyone care to enlighten me as to how it does that?

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by GunNut76
You have 34 bottles of HB and I have nothing until next friday! What are you so wound up for Fretless? Try a bottle at 4 days...I over carbed my second batch and had very good carbonation at 4 days...at 7 I had to open the beer over a sink. Then I stumbled on chilling the beer...knocks down the foam. Anyone care to enlighten me as to how it does that?

As a liquid cools down the amount of gases that will stay in solution increases. So the colder the liquid the less it is over-carbonated. Where over-carbonated means for the current temperature and pressure there is an excess of co2 dissolved in the liquid. Clear as mud - huh?

[GunNut76]

Clear enough for me...colder=more CO2 stays in the beer and not in the sink.

[fretlessman71]

I'm not really that much of a tightass! See, this is the way things work for me.... working at a restaurant, servers are ALWAYS supposed to use tongs or gloves when making salads. Now, about 2/3 of the servers don't do it because they're in far too much of a hurry, they're lazy, or something else. I had never used my hands until one day about a month ago when there were 9 servers around the salad bar, and no tongs left, and no gloves in sight. So I figured one time wouldn't hurt... and as soon as I put my hand in the lettuce, someone tapped on my shoulder HARD. It was the GM of the restaurant, who said, "USE TONGS OR YOU'RE FIRED. UNDERSTAND?"

I've just come to understand that things that others can get away with are things that I can't get away with myself. So making beer is one of those extended "ohcrapwhatdididothatfor" sessions.

OTOH, I once again forgot to sanitize my bucket for bottling, and I just said, "Ah, well.. I'm sure it will be just fine, and if it's not, I'll drink it to remind myself to do it the NEXT time."

Sound like a better plan?

[GunNut76]

Sounds like a plan to me...never dump a batch.....drink it and learn! I used to work in resturaunts too, I hated it!

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
I'm not really that much of a tightass! See, this is the way things work for me.... working at a restaurant, servers are ALWAYS supposed to use tongs or gloves when making salads. Now, about 2/3 of the servers don't do it because they're in far too much of a hurry, they're lazy, or something else. I had never used my hands until one day about a month ago when there were 9 servers around the salad bar, and no tongs left, and no gloves in sight. So I figured one time wouldn't hurt... and as soon as I put my hand in the lettuce, someone tapped on my shoulder HARD. It was the GM of the restaurant, who said, "USE TONGS OR YOU'RE FIRED. UNDERSTAND?"

I've just come to understand that things that others can get away with are things that I can't get away with myself. So making beer is one of those extended "ohcrapwhatdididothatfor" sessions.

OTOH, I once again forgot to sanitize my bucket for bottling, and I just said, "Ah, well.. I'm sure it will be just fine, and if it's not, I'll drink it to remind myself to do it the NEXT time."

Sound like a better plan?

If I had to pick a place to forget to sanitize - it would probably be the bottling bucket. By the time the beers gets there it's about as bacteria resistant as it going to be. An easy hedge for that kind of problem is if you can remember to sanitize it after each use too.