Should I bottle it?

[jimbuckleybarrett]

Ok, my brew has stopped fermenting, I think.

This picture was taken on the 27th of September. https://www.dropbox.com/s/asn8bh2e28dqjxf/2014-09-27%2013.23.15.jpg?dl=0



This picture was taken on the 10th of October.  https://www.dropbox.com/s/ucg902i6litm4uz/2014-10-10%2023.41.49.jpg?dl=0



No real noticable difference.

I'm now over 21 days fermenting.

Should I bottle it?

If I am to bottle it, should I open the Fermenter and use the spoon to mix it up before bottling?

Anything I should or shouldn't do?

Thanks, again sorry for all the questions, first brew!
Jim

[LordEoin]

yeah bottle away.
Don't mix it all back up.
Keep the crap on the bottom (trub) as it is.
Do you have a second bucket for bottling or are you bottling directly from primary?

[flemishgael]

If you are using a second conditioning on the bottle I would suggest slowly siphoning the beer to a clean, sterilised bucket to prime it before bottling.
I would do that anyway even without the bottle conditioning as you will have a lot of yeast and other elements at the bottom that shouldn't be disturbed.

[jimbuckleybarrett]

I have to go directly from primary to bottle but now I know why the tape is so high on the fermenter!

Jim

[flemishgael]

I have to go directly from primary to bottle but now I know why the tape is so high on the fermenter!

Jim

Is there any way you can lager it first in a second bucket before priming for bottling?
If bottling directly from primary bucket I suppose you will use no second bucket for priming for bottling but instead prime each bottle separately? All depending if you go for bottle conditioning of course.
Anyway make sure not to disturb the current brew too much and slowly and carefully siphon it to bottles.

[LordEoin]

you could lager it on the trub. doubt it would be on it long enough for autolysis.
But I wouldn't bother, just bottle it up and you can always lager in the bottle once it's primed up.
if it's a kit it probably won't mater at all, they normally end up crystal clear.

[jimbuckleybarrett]

Hi guys,

Could you use English on this chat please ?  (Just joking)

I don't understand what you are telling me.  I don't have a second container but if I did how would I empty into it?  Via the tape or open the top and pour in?  Wouldn't that make the beer "dead"?

Why would I want to do that?

What do you mean by "lager" it and some of the other technical terms?  (sorry still very new at all of this)

What I have done and hopefully correctly is the following.  I've filled my bottles and put the sugar provided in and closed the bottle up.  I didn't take the last couple of litres once it dropped below the tape.  I assumed that I shouldn't tilt it to empty it.  Did I do this correctly?

Jim

[auralabuse]

Bang on Jim,  now stick your bottles in a warm place for a couple of weeks,  open one,  if it's nice n fizzy stick them all in the fridge and they can be drank straight away but will improve with age.  As you only have one Bucket you will have a bit extra sediment in the bottles but no big deal.

[Chris]

Hi guys,

Could you use English on this chat please ?  (Just joking)

I don't understand what you are telling me.  I don't have a second container but if I did how would I empty into it?  Via the tape or open the top and pour in?  Wouldn't that make the beer "dead"?

Why would I want to do that?

What do you mean by "lager" it and some of the other technical terms?  (sorry still very new at all of this)

What I have done and hopefully correctly is the following.  I've filled my bottles and put the sugar provided in and closed the bottle.

Hi Jim,

Your well on target with your first brew for a few tasty beers.

If you had a second fermenter you could "rack"(transfer using a syphon) the beer into the second container and store the beer for a week or two at a lower temperature(lager) to allow more of the suspended particles to drop out fir a clearer beer. You don't need to do this but as time goes on you may wish to make little tweaks to improve your beer.

"Bulk priming" this is a way of achieving consistency in carbonation levels. You use a carbonation calculator such as  http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html thus will give you the total amount of sugar required to carbonate your whole batch. You make a sugar solution and "rack" the beer into this in your bottling bucket then bottle away no need to be trying to get spoons of sugar into bottles.

Hope this explains and doesn't confuse the matter