A Bottling Predicament (Too Soon? Priming?)

[crunchysaviour]

Dear Brewers,

My third AG beer, DISINTEGRATOR, entered the fermenter on Saturday 5/12/09 at an original gravity of 1.070, which I deemed too high and watered it down to 1.060. I pitched the S04 yeast starter as normal and fermentation began at a fairly consistent 16ºC; the yeast behaved as it has before, forming a nice head within a day that was gone within three. After about 5 days I became concerned that fermentation was progressing too slowly and may have become stuck at about 1.020, so I roused the yeast and moved the fermenter to a warmer location, where it could be kept nearer 18-19ºC. Gravity had dropped to 1.018 by about 6 days, and remained so for 2 further days.

I then waited to receive my Little Bottler and tap in the post, and the beer didn't go into the barrel until 16/12/09 following 11 days' primary fermentation. Gravity appeared to have dropped to 1.017 or 1.016 according to the hydrometer, but I don't know if that was due to it being kept a few degrees warmer (I now have a feeling it was still fermenting, albeit slowly).

Now, the beer has been in the King Keg since Wednesday, and I would like to bottle it in sturdy ale bottles, this Wednesday (one week in the keg) to give to people for Christmas. It has built up some pressure, indicating yet continuing fermentation, and I released the pressure via the cap today in preparation.

My conundrum is thus:

Should I add priming sugar?
My bottle label already has instructions to keep it somewhere safe as it might explode; this is after all the first brew I will have bottled. Should I add instructions to drink it within a certain period?
Should I abandon bottling until after Christmas and disappoint everybody? (I don't want to do this!)
Finally, a wide-open question. What's the highest final gravity you've bottled a beer at? Did the bottles burst?

Thank you for reading this. I will post some brew photos soon.

[floydmeddler]

I have a brew on at the minute and it has also stuck at 1016. Like you, I fermented with Safale04 and I dare not bottle yet. 04 usually ferments down to 1010 so it still has a bit to go.

My mate recently did what you've suggested and bottled. First few bottles were OK but as the fermentation picked up again in the bottles, he had a disaster. Him and his missus heard an explosion and went upstairs to discover beer and shards of glass all over the room. The beers he gave people to try all gushed everywhere and they didn't even get to enjoy them.

My advice, keep it around 20c if possible and pitch another yeast. They won't be able to drink them by Friday anyway as they'll need around 3 weeks in the bottle to carbonate and settle properly.

Hope this helps.

[lordnoise]

Chris X1 posted this on another thread about the characteristics of different yeasts :

... Safale04 will produce something a little more fuller bodied by comparison, a hydrometer will indicate it has fermented around ~73% of the sugars. It has a slightly tart, bready flavour, the tartness dissapates with aging. It works with pale ales and bitters and is very good in stouts and porters. It clears down quickly and forms a stable sediment ...

Sounds like that at 1016/17 from a starting point of around 1060 your in the right ball park. Now its been in a keg and settled a little I think you'd be okay to bottle with a standard amount of priming sugar (although Graham Wheeler doesnt seem to do priming at all ) as long as the beer is at least a little hazy so that your sure theres some yeast still in suspension.

Floydmeddler may or may not have a problem depending on what his starting gravity was.

[coatesg]

It all depends on the starting gravity, but I agree with lordnoise - 1015 would be exactly 75% app. attenuation from 1060 - depending on sugar additions if any, that's probably about the right area and generally what I guess at. As long as the hydrometer is stable for 2-3 days it should be fine to bottle.

Of note, 16C is a little low for S-04 which maybe why it stuck a bit, though I've found i regularly takes a while to finally arrive at the final gravity (but not as bad as the Hopback yeast which just keeps chugging away bit by bit).

I've bottled at 1022 before, but that beer started at 1090 and was well and truly finished at the time - even then, because it was going to mature for some time, I cut back the priming rate by about 60-70%.

[quiff]

If you do decide to bottle and give some to friends with a "do not drink until...." note on, I suggest you make a yeast slurry solution from the bottom of the fv and add some of it along with the priming sugars to each bottle. I have found that after sitting in secondary for a few weeks after a weeks primary there is little yeast left in the beer and carbonation takes ages!
Friends impatiently waiting for the recommended 2-3 weeks (or whatever) will not be impresssed by their flat, sweet present

[a-slayer]

I have used 04 yeast for many a brew and bottled them all and never found the need to prime at all. I usually bottle straight from the fermenter, keep the bottles in the warm for a few days and then to somewhere cool. I find that 04 keeps working down very slowly and produces enough C02 to carbonate nicely. The same procedure with Nottingham yeast has turned out different, the bottles do need some priming sugar.

[GeordieBrewer]

After a week or so in the Primary, I always tend to rack into a secondary (pressure barrel or well sealed fermenter) for anything up to a month, depending on strength, and then rack again into a bottling bucket with the priming sugar.

Seems to work nicely for me, as most of the sediment has already settled out, so the remainder settles down easily in the bottle, and the bottles are easier to clean afterwards.

The downside is, from starting fermentation to optimum conditioning takes around 3 months - even longer for the higer gravities - the only way round it - brew more beer

[crunchysaviour]

Thank you very much for your valuable advice, brewfolk.

The beer was definitely at 1.016 and would have been so for about a week. I chose to bottle 13 bw (bottlesworth) of beer; the rest (most of it) is still in the barrel, with a little bit of injected CO2 to keep the air out. This will be drunk over Christmas, unfortunately before it's properly mature. I do want to investigate this recipe further so I plan to brew it again in the new year.

Bottling went well direct from the cap-loosened keg with the excellent Little Bottler and H&G's bench top capper (used on the floor this time, just in case!). For priming I chose to make a 40g/100ml sugar solution with demerara sugar, and pipetted 3 ml into each bottle. If my calculations are correct this will give 1.2 grams of sugar per bottle or 2.4g/l, which ought to ferment to about 0.6 volumes of CO2. If there was about 0.9 volumes already in the beer from fermentation, then it should end up at 1.5 volumes once the priming sugar is fully fermented. If the residual sugars give a further 1 volume, then it'll still "only" eventually have 2.5 volumes of CO2, which I hope will mean the bottles are on the safe side.

I have not made a slurry solution due to the difficulty of doing so without first removing all the beer from the barrel. Maybe next time!

Photos on their way, I promise.

I thank you.

[lordnoise]

I've taken to bottling up a few litres in brown half litre (Ginger beer) plazzy bottles. That way I can squeeze the bottle to see how (or if !) fermentations going. I've learnt that if the bottles feel like titanium steel I have a bit of a problem ...