Priming St. Peters Golden Ale

[jesmith78]

Hello hello.

First (very first) brew is on, bubbling away nicely, went for the St. Peters Golden Ale.

I've trawled through the forum, but couldnt find a specific answer. Here goes.

Using a very helpful post by Crown Cap, going back to 2007 I've decided to bottle my brew when its done. I intend to use a priming sugar solution. The kit is 36 pints (the mark on the FV is 20.5l) and I have some priming sugar from my local brew shop. I understand I need to mix the sugar with some water and mix this in. What quantity of water to sugar will I need?

Also, anyone got any tips for getting labels off beer bottles?

Ta.

[rootsbrew]

For taking the lables off bottles, try soaking them in a washing-up bowl of very hot tap water. Scrub, if they're still not moving.

Assuming the beer's fairly flat, typical of being in an unsealed container for 3 weeks - here's how to prime...
- Use medium or light DME. It pays to not use plain or "brewing" sugar.
- For "English" style beer, try 8g - 8.5g glucose / litre (for 20.5 litres, aim for 170 - 175 g glucose). Note: Find out how much glucose is in your DME.
- Mix the DME with 500ml water and heat the solution to just bubbling (about 70°C). Remove from the heat and cool quickly.
- Put this solution at the bottom of a clean bucket, big enough to fit the whole brew.
- Syphon the beer on to the DME solution. Mix if necessary. (*)
- Bottle! (Look at the bottling with pixtures thread)
- Place bottles in a warm place for about a week, then store in a cool place for at least a fortnight.

(*) If you want to drink the beer sooner than 3 weeks from bottling, look up how to bottle krausening beer.

Bottling is a faff but it's really worth it. Good luck.

[jesmith78]

Cheers for that mate, I'm going to give it a go tonight, I'll let you know how it goes.

What's best to try next you think? Still sticking with the kits for the mo, gonna try barrelling it next.

J.

[jesmith78]

Cheers for that mate, I'm going to give it a go tonight, I'll let you know how it goes.

What's best to try next you think? Still sticking with the kits for the mo, gonna try barrelling it next.

J.

[Logopolis]

I've always used plain old Tate & Lyle for priming, it's such a small quantity that it has no effect upon the final brew, though I'm prepared to stand corrected if anyone knows better. 80g in a 40 pint brew should do the trick.

[Geezah]

+1 for normal white sugar for priming, nothing to gain by using DME.

For a English ale 80g of sugar desolved in 1/3 pint of boiling water for a batch prime.
For a highly carbonated pint such as a Lager / Cider then 170-200g of sugar
All other brews somewhere inbetween.

[rootsbrew]

Yes, sugar will make it fizzy, but malt extract definitely assists texture. If you've got some wheat extract, that can help with head retension (and the rate at which CO2 leaves the beer), but it can cause cloudiness.

Maybe the suggestion of 8g/l glucose is a little high for what you want. 6g/l would work (125g in 20.5l). I don't like really fizzy beer but lots of small bubbles, actually improve mouthfeel and last while you're drinking it. 80g in 20l is only 4g/l, which might a bit low to stay sparkling for the 15-20 mins it takes to drink?

The three weeks minimum conditioning is really important. It takes time for the gas to dissolve into the liquid. As this occurs, the bubbles get smaller and the beer increases in acidity (which I like). The same amount of CO2 in large bubbles would seem like very fizzy beer and escape in moments. Whereas, after a month in the bottle, they're much smaller and you'll get a nice creamy head (without being frothy).

Good luck

[seymour]

...but malt extract definitely assists texture. If you've got some wheat extract, that can help with head retension...

I respectfully disagree. I can't believe you could notice these sorts of differences at so late a stage and in such low dosages. A half-cup of sugar is likely less than 2% of the original fermentable mass, and all mash chemistry and primary fermentation chemical reactions are long over. I think texture and head retention issues should be addressed in the original recipe. It's okay to think of finished beer as just that, finished, and think of bottle-priming as nothing but adding fizzy carbonation.

[jesmith78]

I'm more confused than when I started! Thanks for the help though guys.....

[seymour]

As a very easy base line, just take a clean sauce pan, drop-in 1/2 cup cheap cane sugar and enough tap water to dissolve it. Turn heat to high, stir or swirl to dissolve. It'll boil in less than a minute, give it another couple of minutes to sanitize and evaporate the chlorine. Turn-off heat and cover. Allow to cool. Pour into cask or bottling bucket, rack the beer onto it, thus eliminating the need to stir. That's it. If you're dissatisfied with the results, you can get as fancy as you like next time.
Cheers!

[jesmith78]

Oh Man! Questions questions questions. The airlock had given up bubbling completely (trust me I spent 20 minutes sat in silence waiting) so had planned on bottling tonight. I took a reading with the Hydrometer which is A WHOLE OTHER set of questions (It makes no sense!) basically it says DON'T BOTTLE YET (Risk of explosion).

Spoke to the very helpful (I've not met an un-helpful enthusiast) man in my local home brew shop who, after selling me loads of widgets and doo-dahs said LEAVE IT. I've put the lid back on, put the airlock back in, now its going mental again.

So, if I wait a few days and check the hydro thingy again, its should be going down (up?) which means its still fermenting, right? Then I can think about bottling it.

I decided at the beginning to be patient so I'm really not in a rush at all. I only planned on bottling because I'm away for a few days over the weekend, so wanted to get it done.

Question - how should I leave it? Its sat with the airlock on, bubbling like crazy. Does it need the airlock? If I tacke it out, theres a hole in me bucket, will that not let the gribbleys in?

[Stomach]

Hi Mate and welcome to Jims!

Firstly airlock activity is not an indication of complete fermentation, your hydrometer will do that. 3 constant readings over 3 days is you answer, anything below 1015 is your target.

Its good practice to leave your brew fermenting for two weeks at least so aim fot that and take your readings.

As for priming, brewing sugar or basic white sugar is fine. I just put mine in the bottling bucket or keg and the syphoning action of the brew mixes it up for me, but there is nothing wrong with the dissolving/boiling method.

Anything else, just ask! We are all still learning!

Cheers

[seymour]

...Spoke to the very helpful (I've not met an un-helpful enthusiast) man in my local home brew shop who, after selling me loads of widgets and doo-dahs said LEAVE IT...

That's good to hear. We're all in this together. Don't hesitate to ask anything.

I agree with him. The beer mostly makes itself. Or rather, the yeast does. It obviously worked itself to the bone, nearly finished primary fermentation and then fell asleep. Now, it's woken up and got back to work. Just give it time to finish the job.

...I've put the lid back on, put the airlock back in, now its going mental again...

That's very common. You'll sometimes hear it called a "stuck fermentation." Sometimes you can kick-start the yeast again by gently nudging the fermentation vessel (FV) as you surely did while taking the hydrometer reading. Other times it takes vigorous swirling, stirring, adding nutrients/oxygenation, or even pitching another fresher or higher-alcohol-tolerant yeast strain, but I digress. You'll learn to cross that bridge should you ever come to it.

...So, if I wait a few days and check the hydro thingy again, its should be going down (up?) which means its still fermenting, right? Then I can think about bottling it...

Precisely. A hydrometer measures the "gravity" of your fluid, using plain' ol water as zero reference. Recall that you've got lots and lots of grain sugar dissolved in that water. Sugar is heavy. So, the more sugar is crammed in your water, the heavier it is, right? Thus higher gravity readings. Those handy yeast cells gobble up the sugar, coverting it into alcohol and Carbon Dioxide (and lots of other fun stuff but let's keep going for now...) As time goes by, there is less and less sugar left in the water, hence lower gravity readings, hence higher alcohol, and you observe the CO2 escaping as pops in your airlock. That's why less popping is an indication of decreasing yeast activity, see? Often, that means the job is done, all fermentable sugars have been converted to alcohol and CO2, but not always. As we said, your yeast got sleepy and took a nap. That's fine, though, we don't want to stress them out or they'll poop angry ugly stuff in our beer.

...I decided at the beginning to be patient so I'm really not in a rush at all. I only planned on bottling because I'm away for a few days over the weekend, so wanted to get it done...

That's a good philosophy. You're not trying to rush multiple batches through every day for mass consumption like an industrial-age macro brewery. This unwillingness to take the time required for real ale is why their beer sucks. Yours will be delicious. Don't rush to bottle. I skipped-over the other yeast by-products, but some of them produce unpleasant aromas and flavors (green apple skin, buttery, cidery, paint thinner, etc.) Luckily for us, if you just let the yeast run their course, they come back later to clean up their mess. This can happen to a lesser extent in the bottle, but you've left-behind most of the yeast and greatly decreased the surface area of beer exposed to yeast. If you leave the beer to "bulk age" it is 1.5x more efficient at clean-up. Let's say you leave it in the FV for two or three weeks; it could take a month in bottles to accomplish the same level of improvements. Just wait for activity to die down again, bump it to be sure, take a final gravity reading....maybe even let it age a while longer for maximum benefit...then you can think about bottling. Hell, bottling is the crummiest part of the job anyway, so let yourself procrastinate guilt-free.

...how should I leave it? Its sat with the airlock on, bubbling like crazy. Does it need the airlock? If I tacke it out, theres a hole in me bucket, will that not let the gribbleys in?

Yeah, just like that, in the FV with an airlock. Many of us ugly-Americans say to transfer to a secondary FV, but many Englishman who (along with the Germans and Dutch) taught us to brew beer in the first place, wisely ignore us. In most cases, especially with classic English ale which is meant to be brewed and drunk rather routinely, a little extra time in the primary FV is more than enough.

As you suspect, any openings or exposure due to unnecessarily racking from one place to another could allow wild yeast, bacteria, mold, "gribbleys" etc, to drop in and spoil the fruit of your (err, and the yeast's) labor. Some people insist on open fermentors during active primary fermentation, which makes a lot of sense especially for certain styles, because the tremendous output of CO2 blasts everything out of its way. But your fermentation is nearly done, so the sporadic stream of CO2 is too weak to protect the beer by itself.

You're in the club now. Welcome and cheers!

[DannyJalapeno]

I'd just like to say, wow Seymour, what a brilliant detailed response, I salute you, sir.

[jesmith78]

Yeah good stuff that mate, had to sit down with a drink to read it. Thanks.

Cheers!