time to bottle??

[donut]

its been exactly 2 weeks since i started my first batch of brew and i racked it into a second fermenter after the 1st week and im still getting 1 bubble in the air lock every 55 secs(to be exact) can i bottle? i would like to bottle tonight because i work the rest of the week would this be ok?? thanks in advance

[paul84043]

Have your hydrometer readings stabilized and are they where they should be?
I have bottled most of my first batches at the point that you're at right now and they turned out great, you just need to ckeck your gravity. If you don't do gravity checks then you should wait until activity has stopped just to be on the safe side.

I bottled my first 2 batches after exactly one week, the third took about 1 1/2 weeks, the fourth a tad over two weeks and my fifth is two weeks and still going strong (bubble every 25 seconds) it's driving my crazy.

[BucksBrew]

I've read once you get consistant FG readings you can bottle even if you are getting burps from your airlock. Three days of same readings is safe. Reason is that wort still creates CO2 even if the fermentation has stopped.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks!

My first batch was/is Pilsner Urquell which is a lager was still burping 4 weeks into 2nd carboy. I never took gravity readings because I thought it was still fermenting. After I started taking readings and they remained steady I bottled!

BTW: I was amazed at the quality of beer during taste tests!

[paul84043]

Bucks,
That has been my experience as well. I think that if I were to wait for activity to actually stop, I would be waiting a long time.

The beer is fantastic, the best I have ever tasted in my limited experience. And it keeps on getting better as it ages!

[spankymac]

Originally posted by paul84043
And it keeps on getting better as it ages!

True, up to a point. I was gathering bottles the other day to clean for the next batch, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but an unopened bottle of homebrew from a batch a buddy had made in winter '00/'01, more than two years old. It had been in a covered box in the basement for that whole time, cool and no exposure to light. I opened it later and tasted it; it was ultra-fizzy, and tasted heavily of yeast. Unlike wine, beer just won't keep for years, I'm afraid.

[BucksBrew]

I read the higher the alcohol content the longer it will keep. eg: Barleywine, etc.

The lower alc. content brews will last 6-12 months or so from what I've read.

[spankymac]

I think I've read that, too. Also, it will keep a good while in the tank, but has a shorter life once in the bottle, though using a two-stage primary fermentation increases the shelf life a bit.

[BucksBrew]

I'm new to brewing, but I don't want to cut corners. I have racked to secondary carboy as of my third batch!

I want the best beer I can make!

[b3s]

the rule of thumb that i've been following (and bear in mind i just racked my 2nd batch) is 3 consistent hydro readings or 1 week, whichever is longer, before bottling.

the reason why i'm using this rule of thumb is because with my first batch (OG 35) my hydro was 10 after racking and was 10 all week long. now with my 2nd batch (OG 55) i'm getting the same thing (10 hydro reading) and i want enough yeast to settle so that i don't have a yeasty beer.

[paul84043]

Leaving it longer for the yeast to settle out makes alot of sense, I hadn't thought of that, but in the 5 whole batches I've done, it hasn't become a problem yet...

[donut]

wow thanks guys... right after i posted this thread i took a s.g. reading and it was at 1.021 and that seemed way to high so im going to wait a few days and take another reading BTW my o.g. was at 1.052
once again thansk for all the replys
cheers!

[paul84043]

A high reading is not necessarily an indication that it's not done yet, it is very possible to get a high reading that is stable, it all depends on the life cycle of your yeast, the type of yeast, how well it got started and wether or not the alcohol content killed it off, well, most of it anyway.... (which happens with higher gravity beers)
So wait a couple of days and check again, if it's still the same, then you're probably ready to bottle!

[paul84043]

Donut,
I was looking at this post again and thinking...
If you had a perfect 75% attenuation you would expect to see about 1.013 FG. Seeing as how nothing is ever perfect, if you can get down to a 1.015 or somewhere in that range would be ideal, but 1.02 is not too far beyond the realm.

[b3s]

if your hydro reading is stable, but you want a lower fg or have not achieved your yeasts attenuation level, try tossing some yeast hulls in...my understanding from others is that the yeast cells will acquire a new body (the fresh hulls) and start going back to work viz invasion of the body snatchers :D

[paul84043]

That's just weird!! I had never heard that...
How long would it take them to get going again? And how long would they stay active? Until they ran out of food or get killed off again?

[b3s]

it would depend on the current alcohol contant and the strength of the hulls, i suppose...however, tweek recommended that to me if, when i start my barleywine, the fermentation stalls at 35 or so since the target FG for the recipe is less than 25.

[paul84043]

That's a handy little peice of info to have...my wife wants to do a braleywine, it would probably be a good idea to have that on hand just in case...

[Tweek]

Yeast hulls are good for when you have a high alcohol beer that has destroyed the "bodys" of your little yeasties. Yeast hulls are basically new bodies that the yeast can attach themselves to and continue to work. I wouldnt reccomend this approach in a lower alcohol beer.

That said, if you get a "stuck" fermentation at a higher gravity than you should on a lower or normal alcohol beer, try throwing in a pilsner enzyme and giving your carboy (heh or bucket :D ) a gentle swirl to get your yeast in suspension again. and it should take off again.

before doing either of these methods you want to make sure that everything else is right such as temperature and even taste it to see if you had anything bad get in it and kill the yeast.