I added 1/8th cup dextrose before bottling a gallon.
How long should I wait before putting them in the fridge?
I can’t pop open any to test as it’s just 6 bottles…
Which yeast did you use? How long since active fermentation?
Nottingahm ale yeast. Been months since primary and secondary.
I’d give it a good 4 to 6 weeks. It’ll carb pretty slowly after that much time. What was your OG?
Also, if you open one and there’s no signs of carb, you can always re-cap it.
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I often add just a sprinkle of new yeast at bottling, it has given me more consistent results especially on those beers that have been in secondary for a while.
Also, 6 bottles… That is why I have never been able to do a 1 gal batch. Just about the same amount of work for a 5, 10, or 20 gal batch (except for bottling…) Never seemed worth it to me.
I did a 5 gallon batch after but this was my first ever year batch so I did 1 gallon to try it out.
I should add that I didn’t dissolve the dextrose in boiling water but just swirled some of the juice around in a new 1 gal jug until I couldn’t see dextrose. Then I racked to the jug to mix it, then I racked to bottles.
I guess there is a likelihood that 1 bottle may be overcarbed.
4-6 weeks? I thought the recommended was 2 weeks. Isn’t there a danger of bottle bombs if I leave it too long?
Guess I could pour everything out and redo it making sure to put one in a plastic bottle?
How do I avoid over exposing to air if I do that?
That two week thing has never worked for me. Under the best conditions (shorter fermentation, no bulk aging, etc) I’ve never had beer close to carbed well in anything less than three weeks. Even then, four weeks was always better. Added time will not result in bottle bombs at all. The only way to get bottle bombs are from infection or if you bottled too early (before fermentation was complete). I would just give it a month and try one… pouring out and redoing it would be problematic for exactly the reason you pointed out.
You can also watch the bottles for signs of bottle fermentation. You should end up seeing a tiny yeast cake at the bottom of the bottle. That’s a sign that things are getting ready.
Not so much with this gallon but I’ve found with the others that fermentation can seem like it’s over and then as soon as you stir up the liquid or rack it that it “wakes” up again. Seems strange.
After a long secondary you’ll have much less yeast in suspension, so it’s going to take quite a bit longer to bottle condition. Like uberculture says, extra time will not result in bottle bombs. Unless you bottled too soon before fermentation is over, then all bets are off.
Did you take any gravity measurements? In cases like this, a refractometer is really the ideal tool. You can get a measurement from just a drop of liquid, and although the reading will not be 100% accurate you can tell if gravity has stabilized.
What you’re seeing when you rack or otherwise disturb the fermenter is dissolved CO2 coming out of solution. It can certainly look like fermentation is starting again, but it’s pretty common for the airlock to bubble for a day or two from residual CO2 off-gassing.
One last question then…if it’s a safe amount of primer - why do we have to chill the bottles to stabilise them?
Surely the yeast, will ferment whatever primer is there, carbonate it, and then stop?
The only time where it’s necessary to either pasteurize or chill is if you’ve added enough sugar to sweeten it beyond what is needed for bottle conditioning. In this case, the yeast would continue to ferment the sugar until it’s all used up or they hit their alcohol tolerance. This would cause the bottles to explode.
But if you’ve only added enough sugar to hit your desired carbonation level, then once the sugar is consumed, it’s done. No need to chill it, once it’s gone it’s gone.
