Bottling home brew

rockdrummer4

Hey guys,

have this kit, with coopers Canadian blond. First time brewing..

https://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewsmarter-premium-beer-starter-kit-best-value-844-p.asp

Been fermenting between 18 - 22 for a week. Says to bottle after 6 days. OG = 1030, FG = 1004.

tastes a little sweet, but anyway bottled 5 bottles and added the carbonation drop, tastes very sweet now.

I assume this is all good and needs to sit in the bottles for a couple of weeks?

also gonna leave the rest in the fermenter for another week to make sure. But with the FG reading seems to have finished fermenting? What ya think?

hope my first brew turns out good. Could get into this :)

cheers,

C

Bogwoppit

You’d have been better off leaving the whole lot for another week, extra time is rarely a bad thing when brewing.

In future bottle the whole lot in one go as by only doing a few bottles you’ve introduced a lot of air into your fermentation vessel and this can cause infections.

Read about batch priming before you bottle again, it’s much better than using the drops.

Enjoy your brew!

rockdrummer4

Oh sh*t, have I introduced air into it?

im just using the tap on the fermenter to fill the bottles.. didn’t do anything else (same way I take hydrometer readings).. didn’t think that would introduce air?

mordeith

I wouldn't overly worry about the air. I always take hydrometer readings by opening the lid and never got an infection. However as said above you'd be better off waiting longer than the instructions say. I find it rarely finished primary in the timeframe given.

BeerNut

The air isn't a problem, but now your tap is dirty and there's no way to clean it before the next fill. Definitely do all your bottling in one go -- there's nothing to be gained from doing a few bottles early. And yes, by adding the carbonation drop you've started a new round of fermentation so you'll need to leave the bottles for two or three weeks so the yeast can get to work on it.

rockdrummer4

Used hand sanitiser on the outside of the tap b4 bottling the few, hopefully that would help :)

if that’s the case the tap would have got dirty doing hydrometer readings.. ya can’t win :)

anyway, hope all works out..

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118107417#Comment_118107417

Yes, the tap would have got dirty doing hydrometer readings. Don't use the tap for hydrometer readings and don't use sanitiser that isn't food-safe.

rockdrummer4

@BeerNut

how would you recommend to take hydrometer readings?

thanks

Bogwoppit

You can sanitize your trial jar and scoop up a sample from the top.

I just drop my hydrometer straight into the beer myself, only works after the krausen has died right off but there’s no real need to measure it before that anyway. I rarely take a measurement before day 10

rockdrummer4

Thanks bogwoppit…

but would taking off the lid and scooping out some not be more likely to cause infection.. assume you would have to sanitise your hands etc..

I thought the tap would be safer.. how would the contents in the fermenter get infected using the tap, when your finished you close the tap which is airtight!

sorry for my ignorance :) first time and all…

Bogwoppit

There is a risk but it’s pretty minor.

When using the tap there will be some beer left in the tap which will attract a lot of undesirable beasties and keep them happy until you’re bottling.

rockdrummer4

OK, Can just let the first bit run from the tap and discard when bottling.

BeerNut

No, because you're still running beer through a dirty tap that way. Sanitise your hands and the trial jar, dip, read, and discard the sample. That's always going to be less risky than using the tap.

rockdrummer4

Fair enough, makes sense.. thks for the advise..

Sitamoia

How did it turn out rockdrummer4? Had a Canadian blonde myself recently, very nice indeed :-)