So I brewed this witbier 4 weeks ago with this crazy ass WLP400 yeast. I need the beer to be bottled and ready by the 17th for a party, So I am a little scared I rushed into bottling. I expected the beer to take several days in the primary, not 4 weeks…
Anyways, it has been fermenting in the primary for 4 weeks. It slowed down considerably, at 3 weeks in, and I shook it up and it blew up again into a fermenting craze. Fermented at 66-67 degrees for 3 weeks, and 68-70 for one week. Finally, yesterday I shook it, and I looked today and the air lock was completely stopped, there was a thick yeast cake, and krausen had fallen. So because I needed to bottle as soon as the fermentation was done and ceased, I figured today looked like it was the day it stopped.
So I went ahead and bottled. I just took a final reading, and was too impatient to take one tomorrow… which I have a feeling may come back to haunt me.
With the Original gravity at 1.051 (.003 points higher than my target 1.048), what really concerns me is the FG reading at 1.017 (.005 points higher than I was shooting for [1.012]). Added around 5 ounces of corn sugar at bottling. Am I about to get some bottle bombs because of the .005 points? I’d just like to have a heads up on what I should expect, and some ease of mind.
Relax you should have no worries. Make sure that the bottles are in a warm place to carb and condition 68-70 degrees at least. The 17th may be cutting it close, I would gently shake the bottles everyday for the first 5-7 days then let everything settle.
I also usually bottle one brew in a plastic soda bottle then you can feel the pressure on the bottle and know that the brews in your glass are also carbing up.
Hey, that single plastic bottle idea is a fantastic idea! Can’t believe I haven’t read about that more often. Definitely going to start doing that from now on.
I think you are fine, but if for some reason you discover they are carbonating real fast (check several first) chill them down and you should not have bombs. I assume the 17th is a party and most will be consumed then?
yeah it’s a party, and yup, expected that most should be consumed then. But I wanted to keep some to age in my bottles. But, I’ll just take your guys’ advice and just check the carb once a week to make sure everything is okay.
So I checked the bottles today, and some of them look like they are already have quite a bit of bubbling when shaken… which I don’t think is a good sign. They have quite a bit of yeast at the bottom too. They are fermenting in a temp of 74 degrees… I may have to take the temp down a bit I am guessing?
Chill one and pop it open to find out how it’s doing. If it’s overcarbed, then you can move the whole batch to cold storage. But it’s probably fine and then you won’t need to worry.
Ya I popped one open yesterday, and it’s carbed, but not enough. So I moved it down to 68 degrees to slow the carbonation a bit. Also, Found out that shaking the bottle a bit and taking a look at the amount of bubbles gives me quite a bit of input as to how much it is carbonated. I’ll crack another open in a week while observing the bubbles, and if it still needs more I’ll move it to 70 degrees.
I appreciate your guys’ input. I feel like I am growing as a brewer every time I am on these forums.
