Hi all,
I bottled a stout on Sunday but I think it might be overcarbed. I batch primed and calculated for 21 litres but ended up with 19. Just opened one now and it's got a lively head after just two days indoors.
Should I move it back outside to a cooler location to slow down the fermentation in the hope of reducing the carbonation, or is it going to ferment at a slower rate and eventually reach the same level of carbonation anyway?
Moving to a cooler location will slow fermentation but won't stop it. As you said, it'll reach whatever level of carbonation your priming sugar dictates eventually. Possible plan would be to chill as much as possible, open each bottle to let soke gas out and then recap.
Put a coin on top of the cap when opening slightly to prevent the cap from bending and not resealing.
2 days is very quick though. Hopefully not an infection
Good tip about the coin, never thought about that.
The bottles are in a pretty warm room, currently 25C so that may be a factor. I'm hoping it's not infected as I'm pretty rigorous about sanitation, but there's always a chance. It tasted great though, so I hope not :)
I'll move back outside and recap at the weekend.
Quote from: Ceedee on November 07, 2017, 10:33:59 PM
Good tip about the coin, never thought about that.
The bottles are in a pretty warm room, currently 25C so that may be a factor. I'm hoping it's not infected as I'm pretty rigorous about sanitation, but there's always a chance. It tasted great though, so I hope not :)
I'll move back outside and recap at the weekend.
Was it defo finished fermenting before ya batched primed?
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Yep, it finished at 1030 (started at 1070) and was there for four days. It had 10 days in total in fermentation and another 5 days in secondary so pretty sure the yeast had worked it's magic. I've moved it back out to the shed and I'll pop one open in a couple of weeks and see how it's doing.
Whatever happens, it's a good learning experience to be more careful with my sums and to not rely on the markings on the fermenter. I'll still drink whatever comes out the other end though.
Time to get a SS ruler and do some calibrating. There's always an excuse to buy something new ;)
Stop doing secondary. .you only risk oxidation
Totally agree, no need for secondary and normally I dont bother with it, but with this one I wanted to add coffee and didn't fancy stirring it into primary. Thinking about it later, it would probably have been ok. The beer got more handling the way I did it.
Hopefully I minimised oxidation by giving the bucket a blast of CO2 before transferring and another "cap" of CO2 on top.
Quote from: Ceedee on November 09, 2017, 09:26:00 AM
Totally agree, no need for secondary and normally I dont bother with it, but with this one I wanted to add coffee and didn't fancy stirring it into primary. Thinking about it later, it would probably have been ok. The beer got more handling the way I did it.
Hopefully I minimised oxidation by giving the bucket a blast of CO2 before transferring and another "cap" of CO2 on top.
Next time you think of adding coffee try putting some ground coffee in your mash and reduce your roasted barley to let the flavour through so not to be overpowered by the bitterness.
I've a ten litre batch of chocolate coffee on at the moment but still to add a vanilla pod to it so shall be interesting.Added 50g of grade 3 Columbian roast to the mash and it tatsed quite nice as well as 120g of 70% dark chocolate.
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Quote from: lordstilton on November 09, 2017, 07:55:33 AM
Stop doing secondary. .you only risk oxidation
It has its uses, especially for those who can't cold crash, it greatly improves clarity and reduces sediment.
1.030 sounds high for anything starting at 1.070 - what style was it?
It was this ... https://www.geterbrewed.com/coffee-milk-stout-ingredient-kit/ (https://www.geterbrewed.com/coffee-milk-stout-ingredient-kit/)
I opened a few bottles last night and was surprised to find that they were carbing up as expected for a week and a half....so....I think the one bottle that I opened initially must have been dirty and I had an infection, oh the shame!! :-[
I did think 1030 was a bit high but it never dropped for three, maybe four days, so I called it complete and the ABV was about right. I added 500g of lactose to the boil, I guess this increased the gravity reading as it's a non-fermentable.
Regardless of what happens along the way, I'm enjoying my homebrew journey and the end result isn't half bad most of the time. Once I get my process nailed down a bit more, then a competition or two would be good.
Thanks all for the great feedback and help on the forum, really helped a newbie gain confidence.
Quote from: Ceedee on November 16, 2017, 10:14:58 PM
I did think 1030 was a bit high but it never dropped for three, maybe four days, so I called it complete and the ABV was about right. I added 500g of lactose to the boil, I guess this increased the gravity reading as it's a non-fermentable.
That's the issue there, as lactose isn't fermentable so it's put off your FG reading.