Safe to bottle today?

[JayM72]

Hi

I have had a batch if Brupaks Belgian Christmas Ale fermenting for 2 weeks now. The OG was 1042 and this has slowly gone down to 1018. It has been at 1018 for the last 3 days. I am going to bottle my question is that should I be OK to do so? Obviously I don't want any exploding bottles! If I can bottle at 1018 then should I use the standard 1/2 tsp per bottle for priming?

Thanks for your help.

[6470zzy]

It seems a tad high to me, did you try rousing the yeast and warming the FV ? I think that you could go a couple more points at least.

Cheers

[Spikesdad]

Hi jay,

I bottled mine at 1.022, but the OG was 1.060, and I added an extra Litre to that to bring abv down a bit (came out at 5.6%). So I am just wandering why OG is very low on yours?

Hi

I The OG was 1042 and this has slowly gone down to 1018. It has been at 1018 for the last 3 days.
.

How much water did you add to kit? it should only have been 6 litres.

You shouldnt need any priming sugar with this kit ( as per instuctions).

[JayM72]

Thanks guys

This kit is the Brupaks Beers of the World Belgian Xmas beer not the Bruferm Biere de Noel which comes out at 7 or so per cent. This one comes out at around 4.5%, the odd thing is when I started it I couldn't fathom out why the OG was so low, I thought I'd written my numbers down wrong as I was expecting a lot higher OG as I assumed that it was a 7% beer, it was only yesterday when I realised that it has the lower ABV!

[Spikesdad]

yes of course will learn to read as new year resolution

[JayM72]

Lol...mine will be to use a fish tank heater all the time!

[scottmoss]

As mentioned above, I would give it a gentle stir to get the graity down.

[Ingieuk]

I've just done one of these about a month ago. OG 1.050, FG 1.019-ish I bottled what I thought was a bit early, but have had no ill effects. Conditioning at the minute, though I have had a couple of bottles, tastes nice though the spices are very subtle.
Brupaks Christmas Ale

[JayM72]

Hi Ingieuk

Thanks for that, I spoke to the guy at Brupaks and he said it would be fine to bottle between 1015 and 1020. I didn't get round to bottling it and have gone away for xmas so it will have to wait until new year (it was at 1016 when I left). The OG for mine was 1042 a bit lower than yours. Once bottled I'll condition for a couple of weeks then leave for a couple of months before drinking. Next year I must remember to get my 'xmas' ales on early!

Merry Xmas

[Ingieuk]

No problem, just having a bottle as I write, it is definitely getting better the longer it is left. I thought I was a little disappointed at first with the taste; what I actually was is impatient! It finished fermenting towards the middle of November, maybe I will leave it another month before trying it again.

With regards to the OG, I can't quite remember if I came a little over or under volume (I think it may have been over) but I did add some juniper berries which may impart some fermentables (though this shouldn't affect the OG).

Anyway enjoy a tasty and strong pint in a couple of months!

Yeah, my Christmas brews are going to be ready in about February I expect, a little after they were required!

Happy Christmas