Bottling from primary

[Grindcrusher]

I was listening to The Sunday Session podcast with Moor Beer as guests and he was saying they bottle their beers in the same way as their casks, a few gravity points short of FG.

I've been contemplating this. Has anyone tried it? How many points for a CO2 volume of roughly 1.8-2?
I'm worried that the volume plays a role in this, as with priming. When I rack to cask I usually go 2 points from FG.

[Rick_UK]

Commercial brewers need to do it this way to free up the working capital, for the homebrewer this is rarely an issue and you will likely get better results letting it ferment out and leave it in the FV for a few more days so the yeast can clean up. Obviously this means priming before bottling which also enables more control over carbonation levels. Judging when a beer is a few points away from FG is fraught with inaccuracies for many reasons.

Don't let me put you off though if you fancy trying it!

Rick

[Piscator]

I tried it a long time ago after reading Grahams account of the way Bass used to bottle but found it took significantly longer to condition up - I've never bothered since as I find priming bottles more predictable.

Cheers
Steve

[Matt12398]

I was reading something earlier about brewing with Brett and it said 0.5 degree Plato generates 2.5 volumes of CO2. That would mean you'd need to bottle 1-2 points before FG for an English ale level of carbonation.

[scuppeteer]

Some commercial breweries actually do it this way because it is the right way. Not to free up capital! If it ain't ready, it ain't put into cask! You do not add priming sugar either. The residual yeast still in the beer is more than enough to carbonate correctly.
By racking to cask or bottle a point or 2 above FG you end up with a beer that is conditioned properly and not force conditioned. Get your priming wrong and it goes bang or is so over-carbonated you throw most of it on the floor when you pop the cap or its flatter than a witches tit!

I bottle all my beers at home this way. Never had a problem with carbonation but stronger ones do take longer to condition. You can do this with any yeast.

You know what strength beer you want so should know your desired FG. When it hits 1 or 2 points above, crash cool (down to at least 8C) for around 24hours then bottle immediately. If you are able to then keep the bottles at room temp for a couple of weeks you should have a beer that is carbonated to the level of a cask ale and to be honest it will taste as good, unless you like fizzy beer!

[timmydog]

This does mean you have to know your ingredients, have good control of your mash temperatures, use accurate formulas/calculators and measure your gravity accurately, which I'd suspect is not possible for a lot of home brewers, if for no other reason than they're buying different ingredients and mashing at different temperatures to vary the style of beer.

Fermenting to dryness and adding an easily measurable quantity of sugar/malt extract, with a consistent proportion of fermentables is, IMHO, far easier for a typical home brewer.

I think it's fantastic that you use the traditional method, but we should let tradition be our guide rather than our jailer.

Since I've had kids and switched back to kit brewing, batch priming is consistent and reliable and there's no way I would risk guessing what the final gravity is supposed to be for each kit, nor do I have the time to keep a close enough eye on the progress of the fermentation.

Just my 2p's worth...

Tim

[Grindcrusher]

Big thanks for your feedback. I'm definitely going to try this in a few days.

[Hanglow]

You don't guess though, you do a fast ferment test so you know what the FG of the batch is surely?

I've never done that as I tend to have to brew/bottle one/two/three weeks apart (ie at weekends) so it wouldn't be practical.

[Grindcrusher]

The problem with doing a fast ferment test is that you need an extra big dose of yeast. Which I will not have lying about. I usually land on the estimated FG though, using my house yeast and style of beer.

[timmydog]

Oh yes, fast ferments! I'd forgotten about those and you're right, that does take a lot of the guesswork or of it.

I'd still argue that it's not the most practical solution for many home brewers though, as Hanglow says, with time restrictions, more variation in style (ingredients and yeast) and relatively small batches that a frugal brewer doesn't want to waste. You throw the fast fermented batch away, right?

My understanding of a fast ferment is you can just increase the temperature, i.e. not increase the pitch rate? My knowledge of this technique is limited. Hopefully someone with more experience will be able to set me straight.

[Padalac]

my biggest problem with this is that I really can't see how I could adequately time this.

I have to take a sample in order to see my SG. I would think it would be luck to get it bang on, without being able to constantly monitor the gravity... and then what - in order to dry hop I would have to crash cool to halt fermentation. It sounds quite tricky to me!?