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Author Topic: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?  (Read 17058 times)

Offline dbeechum

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #15 on: April 11, 2012, 10:08:14 am »
We were dry hopping a portion of the beer in secondary, just like you would any other beer... just turns out that unlike anyother beer where you get a portion of hop in your beer and go "well, ok" this had explosive consequences.
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Offline nateo

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #16 on: April 12, 2012, 11:56:51 am »
I'm wondering if I should try fining this beer before bottling. I've never used finings before. Would they knock out the hop particles if I dry-hopped the beer before bottling? I have unflavored gelatin hanging around. I'm planning on re-yeasting with EC-1118 at bottling.
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Offline dbeechum

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #17 on: April 12, 2012, 12:38:16 pm »
If you're re-yeasting - then yeah, I'd say fining works like a charm.
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Offline nateo

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #18 on: April 20, 2012, 01:26:03 pm »
Since it's going to take a lot of sugar to get to 5 volumes, would it be better to dose the individual bottles, rather than trying to mix the priming sugar in the bottling bucket? I bought a 20cc syringe for the dosage, but I was thinking about figuring out how to use it for bottle priming too.
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Offline dbeechum

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #19 on: April 20, 2012, 04:22:47 pm »
WE did one batch as individually primed and it sucked. I think in part we can blame the novice crew, but we always have had better luck bulk priming.
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Offline nateo

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #20 on: April 20, 2012, 05:50:53 pm »
WE did one batch as individually primed and it sucked. I think in part we can blame the novice crew, but we always have had better luck bulk priming.

How much did you dilute the priming sugar? I'm figuring on like 320-ish grams for 5 gallons, IIRC. I usually use 3 cups of water, but I'm worried about it dispersing evenly. Maybe 6 cups?
« Last Edit: April 20, 2012, 05:56:52 pm by nateo »
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Offline nateo

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #21 on: April 25, 2012, 02:24:49 pm »
Well Drew, I should've taken your advice. I primed the bottles individually, by weight. It was kind of a PITA. The beer was probably about 50* when I bottled it. I swirled the fresh yeast around as much as I could, but when I was done bottling I found quite a bit of yeast-looking stuff at the bottom of the bucket. Hopefully most of that was the GoFerm. I hope enough yeast made it into the bottles, and I didn't eff the whole batch up.

I have 10 more gallons I'll be bottling later this week. Next time I'll let those come up to room temp so my fresh yeast doesn't just flocc out, and I'll be priming as usual, not by bottle.
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Offline dbeechum

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #22 on: April 26, 2012, 11:27:38 am »
I'm going to frame the first part of that response. No one ever says that to me! :)
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Offline nateo

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #23 on: April 27, 2012, 04:42:15 pm »
Drew - Maybe I missed it on your site, but how much spice did you use in your dosage? I'm planning on using some Sauvingnon Blanc for the dosage liquor, and I was thinking coriander might pair well with that. Any idea how much I should use and how long I should let it steep? How did you feel about the sugar level when you did your 10% sugar dosage?
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Offline nateo

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #24 on: May 03, 2012, 06:51:20 am »
Update in case anyone tries this in the future:
First 5 gallons, where I bottle-primed and added 1 packet of yeast is carbing, but pretty unevenly. Maybe half the bottles are close to fully carbed, and the other half still have a ways to go.

The 10 gallons I bottled after that, I followed the bottle priming dosage instructions for the yeast (20g/Hl or 10g/5gal, IIRC), and I batch-primed. Every three or four bottles I filled, I stirred the bottling bucket with a long spoon to rouse the yeast and keep the sugar solution mixed evenly. Those have all carbed up pretty well and evenly.

A few of the first batch I bottled have started leaking very slowly at the crown. I used my bench capper to try to pinch the crown on, and that's worked for some of them, but a few I couldn't get to seal.

Any thoughts on the leaky bottles? I thought about chilling them and riddling, but I'm worried about turning the bottles upside down if they're leaking. I think once they're chilled, though, the pressure will be a lot lower so maybe they won't leak?
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Offline dbeechum

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #25 on: May 03, 2012, 08:52:39 am »
The bottle priming vs. batch priming definitely jibes with my experience.

On the leaky bottle front, I don't think you're going to be able to riddle those, sadly. Call em keller Bruts. :)
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Offline kylekohlmorgen

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #26 on: May 03, 2012, 09:17:35 am »
Mind if I hijack the post to backup a step???

Why go through all the trouble (I didn't really get it from the presentation .pdf)? Can you not achieve the level of carbonation through traditional bottle conditioning?
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Offline nateo

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #27 on: May 03, 2012, 09:48:29 am »
The bottle priming vs. batch priming definitely jibes with my experience.

On the leaky bottle front, I don't think you're going to be able to riddle those, sadly. Call em keller Bruts. :)

Sadly, I've had to drink the leaky bottles. Terrible, really.

Mind if I hijack the post to backup a step???

Why go through all the trouble (I didn't really get it from the presentation .pdf)? Can you not achieve the level of carbonation through traditional bottle conditioning?

I think it's more that at high carbonation levels, any "junk" in the bottles doesn't stay nice and compact at the bottom of the bottle, like in normal beers.

Oh, and Drew mentioned "nucleation sites from hell." The bits of junk make the beer much foamier than it should be.
« Last Edit: May 03, 2012, 12:38:01 pm by nateo »
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Offline nateo

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #28 on: May 03, 2012, 12:43:47 pm »
I had a bottle that was only half-full because I ran out of beer. I opened it today, and enough CO2 blew out it frosted the neck of the bottle. 5 volumes is really quite a lot of CO2. I felt kinda silly wearing goggles rousing the yeast in the bottles, but that's probably a good idea. If I had some really heavy elbow-length gloves, I'd probably be wearing those too.
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Methode Champenoise, dry hop in bottle?
« Reply #29 on: May 03, 2012, 02:16:48 pm »
I had a bottle that was only half-full because I ran out of beer. I opened it today, and enough CO2 blew out it frosted the neck of the bottle. 5 volumes is really quite a lot of CO2. I felt kinda silly wearing goggles rousing the yeast in the bottles, but that's probably a good idea. If I had some really heavy elbow-length gloves, I'd probably be wearing those too.

not to mention a full suit of plate armor. those champagne style bottles are hefty! I wouldn't want a shard of that sticking in my chest.
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