Bottling

OK, So i am getting ready to bottle my first batch of Caribou Slobber this Sunday. I am using the tabs as the source of sugar but my wondering is should some of the yeast that is floating around or on top be bottled with the beer. There isn’s a lot of yeast, most has fallen to the bottom. I guess I am wondering where the yeast will come from to condition the bear and make the Co2. Sorry if I sound stupid, very green at beer brewing and want to learn as much as possible. Thanks for the help.

How long has your beer been in your fermenter? Most of the yeast should have fallen to the bottom so I’m curious why you might still have some at the top.

To answer your question though, there should be enough yeast still in suspension to carb the bottles. The longer you leave it in the fermenter, the less there will be. The less yeast in suspension the longer it will take to carb but rest assured the yeast will eventually eat all the sugar.

ROT is usually wait around 3 weeks in bottles before cracking one open. This usually ensures even a low amount of yeast in suspension should have enough time to fully consume the sugar.

It had been fermenting for 2 weeks. There is very little yeast floating at the top. A few specs here and there. Most of it has fallen to the bottom as there is all that white stuff there (not sure if there is a name for it). Should I wait til it all falls, siphon around it when bottling or not worry if it ends up in the bottle. Thanks for your help.

I wouldn’t worry about the specs on the top, but try to avoid getting the yeast/trub at the bottom into your bottling bucket. Wedge the fermenter on its side and let it sit for a while so the trub stirred up can resettle. This will allow you to get the most of the beer without any of the trub at the bottom.

Thanks for the info. Looking forward to bottling my first batch and starting a new one.

You need to be absolutely certain the beer is finished fermenting before you bottle. This will prevent bottle bombs in the future.

I can’t ever think where I bottled after just two weeks in primary. Event then, I would get highly carbonated beer in the bottle and I would use the carb tabs.

[quote=“Shiney_McShine”]You need to be absolutely certain the beer is finished fermenting before you bottle. This will prevent bottle bombs in the future.

I can’t ever think where I bottled after just two weeks in primary. Event then, I would get highly carbonated beer in the bottle and I would use the carb tabs.[/quote]
This is true, but 2 weeks is usually enough. I would suggest that the OP take a gravity reading to be sure. And definitely taste it to make sure it’s not bad. I never understand it when I read a post from someone saying they bottled or kegged without sampling it and wondering why their beer went bad.

[quote=“Beersk”][quote=“Shiney_McShine”]You need to be absolutely certain the beer is finished fermenting before you bottle. This will prevent bottle bombs in the future.

I can’t ever think where I bottled after just two weeks in primary. Event then, I would get highly carbonated beer in the bottle and I would use the carb tabs.[/quote]
This is true, but 2 weeks is usually enough. I would suggest that the OP take a gravity reading to be sure. And definitely taste it to make sure it’s not bad. I never understand it when I read a post from someone saying they bottled or kegged without sampling it and wondering why their beer went bad.[/quote]
Yeah…Thinking of all the times new brewers would give me a sample of their beer and all I could taste was diacetyl. The other obvious one is infection. I’ve tasted some in competitions that were undrinkable and wondered how they did not know it when they bottled. Possible the infection occurred during bottling, but that does not explain diacetyl.

The hardest part of brewing is being patient. Better to wait a week and save a beer, than to rush it and have a bad beer.

Thanks for all the great advice. It is a 1 gallon small batch, just getting my feet wet. The airlock has not moved in about 2 days. Is there a general way of telling when a beer is finished fermenting other than the airlock not bubbling. It also looks rather clear or at least a lot clearer than it did the first week.

The only way to tell for sure is to take hydrometer readings a couple days apart and verify that your gravity isn’t still decreasing.

Thanks. Looks like I am off to the store to by a hydrometer and cylinder to measure the next few days.

And a way to get the sample out! I have a wine thief and love it. Not sure how I’d do it with a one gallon batch though…guess you’d just have to take a couple pulls off of it.

For a 1 gallon batch I would not “waste” any beer on a hydrometer reading.

Bottle it, but do it in some plastic soda bottles. Or the plastic bottles the homebrew stores sell.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/ambe ... of-24.html