Brewed my first beer ever at the start of the new year ( jumped head first into it, first beer, first all grain, and possibly first BJCP scored competition) might of bitten off more than i could chew but why not. So its a Simple Belgian Blond 7.1 abv. O.G of 1.065 let it ferment down to 1.010 racked to a corny keg and cold crashed it. Primed to 2.7 volumes and took a tablespoon( accurate measurement i know) of the yeast cake and added it to the bottle bucket. Is this the proper(ish) way to bottle condition? Will the crashed yeast cake come back to life as i condition at say 72F-75F? Should if just made a new starter with fresh yeast of the same or different strain and pitched into the bottle bucket? Will it add a little more complexities as it conditions and carbs? Did i just make 5 gallons of beer bombs? Ideally i know to wait 3ish weeks to naturally carb. and condition but can i accelerate that with warmer conditioning temp and rousing the yeast in bottle daily? Lots of new brewer questions i know but would love some insights would be helpful. Cheers.
It sounds like you have a corny keg that you are using for secondary but not kegging your beer, and after cold crashing in 2ndary, you rack it to the bottling bucket. Unconventional use of a corny keg but not unheard of. I probably would have skipped this step, cold crashed in the fermented, and then transferred directly to the bucket. I suspect you did not need to add any of the yeast to the bottling bucket, i.e., there was enough yeast already present to prime your beer, even though you cold crashed. There may have been some that didn't floc, and there probably was some that got resuspended when you racked. But this shouldn't hurt anything. You might have a little more yeast in your bottles, but after they prime, cold crash them to get the yeast to drop. If that's all you did, I don't see bottle bombs coming out of this; you primed to an appropriate level. I check my carbonation of bottles at the 1 week and 2 week marks. Usually after 1 week, they are noticeably carbed, and after 2 weeks, they seem right. I carb my bottles at about 70 F, which is a few degrees higher than typical fermentation temps for me. But they would probably be faster at 75 F. I'm not sure I buy into the "complexities" of bottle conditioning. I think it carbonates your beer. Period. If you do it well, people don't notice that it is bottle conditioned. My opinion.
Welcome to homebrewing. Most all of your concerns are addressed on John Palmer's website. I know, I find myself continually going back there for answers. If you are sure that fermentation has stopped and that FG of 1.010 is really the final gravity, then there is no concern for bottle bombs. At this point your yeast has consumed as much of the fermentable wort as possible and pushed themselves away from the table. There will be no more CO2 produced until you introduce new food (priming sugar). You put your yeast to sleep when you cold crashed it, but they are tough and will wake up when the temp rises. Your priming sugar is the new food and it is simple carbohydrates. That means your yeast will consume all of it and the amount of CO2 produced is predictable. This is how the volume of CO2 is predicted, and that is usually accurate. If you have a lot or a little yeast, or if temp is high or low, the yeast will take it all and produce the same amount of CO2. The time to do this will vary, but expect complete results. I would say that mid 70s is a good conditioning temp. Once your bottles reach this temp I would not rouse them more than once . . . the yeast knows its job. I usually sample a bottle at the two week mark and always say "needs another week or two". In almost all cases your beer is improving during this time. I suspect this is where the term RDWHAHB originated. Cavet: Sanitation is as important here as anywhere. If you introduce bacteria that goes after the yeast your bottle conditioning may fail. This happened to me once and I'm still a little upset. So stay clean, keep the oxygen away, and RDWHAHB.
If you carbinated your beer in a keg then transfering to a bottling bucket and added sugar to prime in the bottle there could be trouble. If your beer is carbed in a keg and you want to bottle you should get or borrow a beer gun.
I blanketed each sanitized bottle with CO2 prior to bottling. And Racking into the Keg for Cold crashing was merely as a space saver and was not forced carbonated. Thanks for the reassurance. And fingers crossed i have a decent beer.
Permit me to opine on the topic of: “Will it add a little more complexities as it conditions and carbs?” I am uncertain what is intended by the verbiage of “more complexities” but it has been my consistent experience that my homebrewed beers improve in flavor with some additional time in the bottle. This improvement is a function of the original gravity of the beer. Below is from the book Homebrewing Vol. 1 by Al Korzonas: “The appropriate aging time for properly made ales (low in polyphenols and higher alcohols) depends on the original gravity. I usually serve low-gravity ales (less than 1.040 OG) after two weeks in the bottle or keg. For medium-strength ales (1.040 to 1.055 OG), I think four weeks of aging is about right. For strong ales (1.055 to 1.080 OG) you want to condition at least 6-8 weeks. Very strong beers will improve a lot for 9 months and can continue to improve for decades.” There are a few beer styles that I homebrew that I have noticed really improve with extended time (e.g., 4-6 months) in the bottle: my Oatmeal Stouts and California Common beers. Cheers!
Thanks i guess its the wait and see concidering its bottled. I guess i will crack one in 2 weeks before i submit just to be my own harshest judge
