Brewing Master

Question:

I think that bregent’s idea of opening a bottle is a good one.  Also, I think that it would be a good idea to continue storing the bottles at the current 50~ temp. Bill

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – You’d think that would be an easy question to answer. I filled a few bottles and then remembered the sugar. Put the bottles back in (gently) and added the sugar and started bottling again. I think it was before the sugar was added but I’m not even sure. The fact that I didn’t even consider the timeing of the sugar and the FG is making me feel justifiably stupid. Did I mention it’s been 8 years?! So FG aside, is it safe for me to assume that racking at 50 degrees and letting bottles condition at 50 degrees is not a problem? One thing to consider is that if you bottle at lower temperatures you need to use less priming sugar. That’s because more CO2 is already dissolved in the beer at cooler temps. At 50F, beer already contains 1.2 volumes, compared to beer at 70 which has about .83. Your beer will condition at 50F, but more slowly than at 70. This could be a good thing if you think you may not have fermented out completely. Thanks Bill. Also, the way your message is worded implies that that you may took the reading after adding the priming sugar ("I checked the FG AFTER bottling"). While I suspect that this is not the case, could you please confirm or deny? Bill It’s probably too late since I bottled today but I’m curious. Initial fermentation: 6 gal carboy for 3 days. Seconday: 5 gal for 3 weeks. I checked the FG after bottling and found that it was 1.020. I bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Why so high an FG? Could it be that I did my initial fermentation at around 52 degrees? And that my secondary was between 52 and 63 degrees? And finally, any suggestions on how I should store the bottles? They are currently sitting at about 50ish degrees. Thanks.

Response:

John, if increasing the temperature that much is hard where you live, you might only need to go half way.  1056 and Danstar Nottingham have worked well for me in the mid to high 50s.  Definitely slowed the process down, but the FG was fine, and the beer quite good.  I’d like to say it tasted a bit cleaner, but that was probably all in my head. Definitely be careful with the bottles! John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Should I not be concerned with fermentation at 50ish degrees?   Since you said you used an ale yeast, yeah, 50 degrees is your problem. Ale yeasts like it 65-75 or so, and really suck at efficency at 50 degrees, if they will even ferment at all. I’d be careful about bottling it… if you bottle, and store at higher temps (60-70) they could explode if the yeast takes off again and finishes fermenting your sugars out.

Response:

You’d think that would be an easy question to answer. I filled a few bottles and then remembered the sugar. Put the bottles back in (gently) and added the sugar and started bottling again. I think it was before the sugar was added but I’m not even sure. The fact that I didn’t even consider the timeing of the sugar and the FG is making me feel justifiably stupid. Did I mention it’s been 8 years?! So FG aside, is it safe for me to assume that racking at 50 degrees and letting bottles condition at 50 degrees is not a problem?

One thing to consider is that if you bottle at lower temperatures you need to use less priming sugar. That’s because more CO2 is already dissolved in the beer at cooler temps. At 50F, beer already contains 1.2 volumes, compared to beer at 70 which has about .83. Your beer will condition at 50F, but more slowly than at 70. This could be a good thing if you think you may not have fermented out completely. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Thanks Bill. Also, the way your message is worded implies that that you may took the reading after adding the priming sugar ("I checked the FG AFTER bottling"). While I suspect that this is not the case, could you please confirm or deny? Bill It’s probably too late since I bottled today but I’m curious. Initial fermentation: 6 gal carboy for 3 days. Seconday: 5 gal for 3 weeks. I checked the FG after bottling and found that it was 1.020. I bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Why so high an FG? Could it be that I did my initial fermentation at around 52 degrees? And that my secondary was between 52 and 63 degrees? And finally, any suggestions on how I should store the bottles? They are currently sitting at about 50ish degrees. Thanks.

Response:

You’d think that would be an easy question to answer. I filled a few bottles and then remembered the sugar. Put the bottles back in (gently) and added the sugar and started bottling again. I think it was before the sugar was added but I’m not even sure. The fact that I didn’t even consider the timeing of the sugar and the FG is making me feel justifiably stupid. Did I mention it’s been 8 years?! So FG aside, is it safe for me to assume that racking at 50 degrees and letting bottles condition at 50 degrees is not a problem? Thanks Bill. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Also, the way your message is worded implies that that you may took the reading after adding the priming sugar ("I checked the FG AFTER bottling"). While I suspect that this is not the case, could you please confirm or deny? Bill It’s probably too late since I bottled today but I’m curious. Initial fermentation: 6 gal carboy for 3 days. Seconday: 5 gal for 3 weeks. I checked the FG after bottling and found that it was 1.020. I bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Why so high an FG? Could it be that I did my initial fermentation at around 52 degrees? And that my secondary was between 52 and 63 degrees? And finally, any suggestions on how I should store the bottles? They are currently sitting at about 50ish degrees. Thanks.

Response:

Should I not be concerned with fermentation at 50ish degrees?  

Since you said you used an ale yeast, yeah, 50 degrees is your problem. Ale yeasts like it 65-75 or so, and really suck at efficency at 50 degrees, if they will even ferment at all. I’d be careful about bottling it… if you bottle, and store at higher temps (60-70) they could explode if the yeast takes off again and finishes fermenting your sugars out.

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I checked the FG after bottling and found that it was 1.020. I bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Why so high an FG? You do not mention what your OG or ingredients were so it is tough to say.  But wort aeration and yeast health could be it, as could be the temperatures you cited.  What yeast did you use? You guys are tough. You are forcing me to fess up to the fact that I was lazy and did not take an OG. I don’t think it should be THAT high though. None of you made note of my low temp for racking. Should I not be concerned with fermentation at 50ish degrees?   The recipe was to be a sierra nevada rip off. 7.5 light extract 1.0 Crystal malt Cascade hops: 2.5oz/1 hour, 1.5oz/30 mins, 1.5oz/15 mins and then two plugs at around pitch time. (I’m a big fan of hops!) The yeast is "ale yeast" – I tossed the package but it was just your usual powder. 1 tsp Irish moss Thanks again for any help you could off on this. It’s good to be brewing and talking about it again!

Your fermentation temperature could be a concern, but we first needed to know what your actual attenuation was. And in fact, we still don’t know because you didn’t specify whether you used dry or liquid extract, and what brand was used. If liquid, then your OG would have been around 1.059 and apparant attenuation of around 66%. Depending on the brand you used, it’s possible that it has fermented out. If you used dry extract, then OG was 1.072 and AA of 72% which is fairly well attenuated. Some ale yeast will ferment fine at 50F, although slowly. Some won’t. I suggest taking a little more care in selecting yeast – it’s a very important ingredient in beer making and is more than just ‘powder’.  Where did you get it? What you could do is open a bottle, put an airlock on it and bring it up to room temperature for a week. Then sample the gravity again.

Response:

I checked the FG after bottling and found that it was 1.020. I bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Why so high an FG? You do not mention what your OG or ingredients were so it is tough to say.  But wort aeration and yeast health could be it, as could be the temperatures you cited.  What yeast did you use?

You guys are tough. You are forcing me to fess up to the fact that I was lazy and did not take an OG. I don’t think it should be THAT high though. None of you made note of my low temp for racking. Should I not be concerned with fermentation at 50ish degrees?   The recipe was to be a sierra nevada rip off. 7.5 light extract 1.0 Crystal malt Cascade hops: 2.5oz/1 hour, 1.5oz/30 mins, 1.5oz/15 mins and then two plugs at around pitch time. (I’m a big fan of hops!) The yeast is "ale yeast" – I tossed the package but it was just your usual powder. 1 tsp Irish moss Thanks again for any help you could off on this. It’s good to be brewing and talking about it again!

Response:

Also, the way your message is worded implies that that you may took the reading after adding the priming sugar ("I checked the FG AFTER bottling"). While I suspect that this is not the case, could you please confirm or deny? Bill

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It’s probably too late since I bottled today but I’m curious. Initial fermentation: 6 gal carboy for 3 days. Seconday: 5 gal for 3 weeks. I checked the FG after bottling and found that it was 1.020. I bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Why so high an FG? Could it be that I did my initial fermentation at around 52 degrees? And that my secondary was between 52 and 63 degrees? And finally, any suggestions on how I should store the bottles? They are currently sitting at about 50ish degrees. Thanks.

Response:

I checked the FG after bottling and found that it was 1.020. I bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Why so high an FG?

You do not mention what your OG or ingredients were so it is tough to say.  But wort aeration and yeast health could be it, as could be the temperatures you cited.  What yeast did you use?

Response:

It’s probably too late since I bottled today but I’m curious. Initial fermentation: 6 gal carboy for 3 days. Seconday: 5 gal for 3 weeks. I checked the FG after bottling and found that it was 1.020. I bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Why so high an FG? Could it be that I did my initial fermentation at around 52 degrees? And that my secondary was between 52 and 63 degrees? And finally, any suggestions on how I should store the bottles? They are currently sitting at about 50ish degrees.

You need to supply us with more info. What was the starting gravity? What yeast did you use? Post the recipe.

Response:

What was the OG?  If it was rather high (1.080 or above) I wouldn’t worry too much….but when I bottle these larger brews, I use only a half cup of priming sugar.  YMMV, of course. HTH, — Joe O’Meara He who drinks beer sleeps well.  He who sleeps well cannot sin.  He who does not sin goes to Heaven.  Amen." — Unkown Monk

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It’s probably too late since I bottled today but I’m curious. Initial fermentation: 6 gal carboy for 3 days. Seconday: 5 gal for 3 weeks. I checked the FG after bottling and found that it was 1.020. I bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Why so high an FG? Could it be that I did my initial fermentation at around 52 degrees? And that my secondary was between 52 and 63 degrees? And finally, any suggestions on how I should store the bottles? They are currently sitting at about 50ish degrees. Thanks.

Response:

It’s probably too late since I bottled today but I’m curious. Initial fermentation: 6 gal carboy for 3 days. Seconday: 5 gal for 3 weeks. I checked the FG after bottling and found that it was 1.020. I bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Why so high an FG? Could it be that I did my initial fermentation at around 52 degrees? And that my secondary was between 52 and 63 degrees? And finally, any suggestions on how I should store the bottles? They are currently sitting at about 50ish degrees. Thanks.

Response: