Just bottled my first batch yesterday. NB Petite Saison extract kit. Did not check OG (expected 1.041) because I hadn’t gotten a hydrometer yet, but FG was about 1.0035-1.004 after 13 days fermenting. Day 14 there seemed to be more activity through the airlock than the previous day (maybe due to jostling around the carboy when checking SG the day before?) but I bottled anyway because the gravity seemed low enough that I thought fermentation was done. Plus the directions say to bottle after 2 weeks…
Hindsight, I’m worried that I bottled up some bombs waiting to happen because fermentation may not have been complete. I know for the future I really should be tracking SG more regularly and wait to bottle until SG is not changing, but it is too late for that now for batch #1. Any thoughts?
Other issue is that I sort of forgot to mix the priming solution completely. I put the priming solution (2/3 cup corn sugar + 16 oz water, per directions) in the bottling bucket first then siphoned in the wort on top. Will the siphoning action have mixed the priming solution well enough throughout, or will I have a variety of carbonation levels?
Even though I followed the kit’s directions pretty well (except that whole mixing part), the potential combination of underfermenting and overpriming has got me worried. Should I be?
Best practice is the check the gravity 2-3 days in a row to see if you get a stable reading. Then consider it final and package. Having said that if you had it down to 1.004 it’s quite likely it was finished. You were probably just seeing more offgassing as far as the bubbles the next day.
The best way to bottle prime is by weight not volume(2/3 cup). It’s more accurate and you should use a priming calculator like the one on NB’s site to accurately determine how much sugar to use. Mixing…some guys do…some just rack onto the sugar mixture like you did.
If you’re really worried put the bottles in a plastic storage bin or something in case you get a bottle bomb or 2.
Let gravity tell you when to bottle or package NOT the calendar. Two weeks means nothing to the yeast. Available sugar to consume and a comfy temperature to do it at is all they care about.
You are probably okay. 1.003 FG for the Petite Saison is the lowest I have achieved. Couple times 1.006 for some reason, but these batches did not continue fermenting in the bottle to produce over carbonation. The fermentation was just different.
Your method of adding the priming sugar is good. Once in awhile I’ll stir or even add the sugar solution after one-half of the beer has been siphoned to the bottling bucket.
Skip using the calendar for brewing. It can be used as a general guide, but all fermentations are not all the same. I typically have my beers in the primary for three weeks. Higher OG beers four to six weeks.
Sounds like you’ll be fine with a SG of 1.003 range.
I am firmly in the stir camp re priming sugar solution. I stir before bottling and then every 9 bottles or so. Others never stir and have had no problems however…
Yeah, I’ve had occasional problems with just relying on racking the beer over the priming solution and the swirling motion mixing it in. About 1 out of 5 batches were unevenly primed. Lately I’ve been bottle conditioning at 3.5-4 volumes CO2 in heavy glass, and you don’t have a whole lot of margin of error there. I’ve not had any issues after racking the beer to the bottling bucket, adding the priming sugar, and then giving it a good 30-second stir.
However, you’ll almost certainly be fine with 2/3 cup dextrose in a 1.003 beer. Even if it does drop another point or two, you should be fine. Not a bad idea to put them in a plastic tote as mentioned above, just to be safe.
Thanks for the responses. Additionally the Krausen had fallen after about a week as well, so to me all signs point to fermentation being done…
Regarding the timing I think I was a little anxious to bottle because we want to give some of this batch to friends/family over Christmas. I definitely plan on being more careful and using SG rather than duration as the benchmark for when fermentation is complete for all future batches.
As for the priming calculator… I figured I would be safe because I did use NB priming corn sugar, which I imagine their recipes are based on. Will be sure to use the calculator and go by mass rather than volume in the future.
