Bottling a beer tonight. I am going to give the cold crashing a try. Temp has been dropped into the mid 30`s for 2 days. I want to be 100% sure I am doing this correctly. Am I adding some of the remaining yeast to my bottling bucket to help with carbonation/conditioning in addition to bottling sugar? cheers! Andrew
There should be enough yeast still in suspension to bottle condition. If fermentation was healthy you should be good to go.
As others have said you should be fine with what yeast is left in suspension; however there are caveats. Was this a very high gravity beer by chance? Or had an extended aging period? Most time you'll be fine, but if you said yes to either or both questions above the. You may want to consuder reyeasting in the bittling bucket with a true champagne yeast. I've had a few big boys that were aged in oak barrels or with oak chips for long periods of time take forever to carb in the bottle due to the strain on the original yeast. And one or two that I had to reyast after bottling to get carbEd; albeit very, very rare.
Thanks for calming my worries gents! Hope this DIPA tastes as good as it smells (citra,nugget,xythos)
I regularly cc for 2-3 weeks and never had a problem with bottle conditioning. You only need 1 million cells/ml which is completely invisible to the eye. If you have the time, another couple of days will give you greater clarity. As a matter of technique, when I know my beer needs more aging I just let it sit in the keezer. It's possible to achieve perfectly clear beer. citra,nugget,xythos . . . hope it taste as good as this sounds . . .
Looks window clear 2 hours after bottling. Taste is excellent so far didn't quite hit my OG but nailed the FG. My target abv was to be 6.5 but I only hit 5.5. Does temp factor into readings with a hydrometer? This was my first all grain used the brew cipher. OG was supposed to 1.07 hit 1.05 my FG was dead on at 1.01. Trying to figure where I went a bit off in the process. I did forget to measure my efficiency for calibration. Or am I supposed to measure FG after cracking the first beer? Thanks again for the help everyone! Cheers!
Temp. does factor when taking a hydrometer reading. Most are calibrated to 60°, but the difference at bottling won't be enough to make a significant difference. The final time you measure FG is at bottling, before adding sugar. Brewcipher is a powerful tool, and if your process isn't nailed down...it won't be accurate.
Very much so, here's the correction chart: http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html And you really should be reading the hydrometer to three decimal places, the Palmer link has some good tips. Also, an easy hydrometer calibration test is to measure the gravity of tap water (temp adjusted again). Is is possible you measured your OG above your hydrometer calibrated temp? If so that may explain your error. Final Gravity is normally measured from the fermentor and is used to confirm all fermentation is complete. This figure should be temp adjusted as well. A fun test is to wait until bottle carbing is complete. Then slowly tip the bottle while holding it up against the light. It's common to see gobs of yeast drop down. This is the yeast that "grew" as a result of bottle conditioning. The "Pfsst" when you pop a cap is the yeast's calling card . . .
There could have been a measurement error. And/or it could just be something(s) unique your process. Hard to say without hearing all the details of your brewday. Assuming perfect measurements, there are many reasons you might get attenuation significantly different than predicted. Here's a plagiarized section from the BrewCipher User Guide... -------------------------------- Attenuation Power Factor BrewCipher predicts attenuation, and thus final gravity, based on yeast strain, grain bill, mash time, and mash length. There are a myriad of other small (and largely un-modelable) factors beyond the scope of the model. Also, there will be variability from brewhouse to brewhouse even within the same nominal values for the modeled parameters. Some examples: accuracy of thermometers and hydrometers; mashout or lack of mashout; time to transfer wort to kettle and temperatures during transfer; time to reach a boil; grain differences between maltsters; general health of yeast; etc. These other factors are the reason for the Attenuation Power Factor. If you consistently get more attenuation than predicted (across many recipes), adjust this factor upward. If you consistently get less attenuation than predicted (across many recipes), adjust this factor downward. Otherwise, leave this at the default (0.984) or at 1.000. The default value of 0.984 dials-in the attenuation predictions in my brewhouse, resulting in the smallest average deviation between predictions and actual measurements. Your mileage may (and probably will) vary! -------------------------------- Again assuming perfect measurement, it sounds like you got about 80% apparent attenuation vs. a predicted 86%. I promise (money back guarantee) that if you dial in your process and parameters, including tweaking the Power Factor (if necessary) to agree more closely with your typical results, you'll get a lot closer than a 6% difference. There's a place on the Recipe tab to enter your Actual Post Boil OG, Post Boil Kettle Volume, and your FG. If you do that, Brewcipher tells you the actual Mash Efficiency.
I will definitely mess around with the numbers this week on the cipher and read up a bit more on techniques. ( vaca!) My OCD won't allow any else. So am I right to say that since I hit my FG nose on that my beer fully attenuated( completed fermentation/ insert correct word here). If any of you guys need help smoking a brisket I got you! Off to my eagles tailgate I will follow up this week. Cheers! Andrew
Hitting the expected FG doesn't necessarily imply full attenuation if the OG was different (lower) than planned. The only way to really know if attenuation is done is an unchanging FG between two readings taken 2-3 days apart, and that is in the ballpark of what you expected (given your actual OG and expected apparent attenuation). I already know how to do that, but thanks! If you're up for a drive to Southcentral PA next summer, we do a annual smokeout at a friend's house. Everyone brings their smokers and makes something different. Significant quantities of homebrew are consumed throughout the day. Fortunately, getting up to check temperatures periodically burns the beer carbs.
