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Author Topic: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling  (Read 4393 times)

Offline dshay

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Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« on: December 29, 2013, 07:42:04 am »
Hello there,

I have not bottled for quite some time since I got my all of my kegs up and going. I just brewed a big old imperial stout with a SG of 1.106, and used a 2 liter starter of 1056. Beersmith says that it should take the brew down to around 1.024 which sounds great to me, like them a little sweeter.

My $37 question is that will I have to add some type of bottling yeast since the 1056 yeast is getting pushed to its limits ABV wise, or will I be okay if I let them sit in the bottles for a few months with some bottling sugar.

Thanks for any insight, I have not bottled a brew this big yet and would appreciate your advice.

~Cheers

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2013, 08:28:25 am »
It will probably carbonate if you give it a few months. My preference is to cold crash to get most of the fermenting yeast out and repitch a neutral wine yeast for bottling. In my opinion if you are going to spend all the time and money making a big beer it would be disappointing to see that beer never carbonate. Using part of a $3 pack of dry wine yeast to carbonate the batch is a worthwhile insurance policy on carbonation.
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Offline erockrph

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2013, 09:41:21 am »
It can't hurt to add a gram of US-05 at bottling time, but I doubt it is necessary. I've done it both with and without added yeast, and the only difference I've seen is more sediment in the bottles of the batches with extra yeast.

FWIW, I just bottled a 10% strong Belgian that was sitting in primary for about 3 months. It carbed up fully in under 3 weeks with no added yeast at bottling.
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Offline dshay

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2013, 01:35:30 pm »
Thanks for the advice! If I add a small amount of wine yeast or US-05 for example will that dry out my beer since it predicted FG is going to be 1.024 and then lower if even more?

Was not sure if the 1056 would be stressed out after doing a 10.5% brew, and still be able to bottle condition fine? Anyone with experience with the Wyeast 1056 in a situation like the above?

Thanks again.

Offline denny

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2013, 01:38:08 pm »
Thanks for the advice! If I add a small amount of wine yeast or US-05 for example will that dry out my beer since it predicted FG is going to be 1.024 and then lower if even more?

Was not sure if the 1056 would be stressed out after doing a 10.5% brew, and still be able to bottle condition fine? Anyone with experience with the Wyeast 1056 in a situation like the above?

Thanks again.

By the time you bottle, the beer should be fermented out...no fermentable sugars left.  That means the extra yeast will only ferment the priming you add, not the beer itself.
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Offline dshay

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2013, 06:51:14 pm »
That is what I figured. So just to clarify, if the beer gets down to 1.024, are the sugars that are left considered unfermentable? Sorry for such the basic question, trying to make sure I do not mess this batch up since it was a little costly to brew.

Would everyone recommend added yeast for bottling, or just add a sugar mixture after secondary and let it bottle condition with the original yeast? Again, I used 1056.


Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2013, 06:58:32 pm »
FG estimates are just estimates. If the beer has a steady FG it is done. add the priming sugar when you bottle, and the advice of 1 gram of yeast for 5 gallons is good, if you want you can add 2 grams. The reason for adding yeast then is that the primary yeast is tired and stressed, so the fresh yeast will do the job.
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Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2013, 07:59:24 am »
When I have the dry yeast I just tap a few cells into each bottle before capping. That prevents creating excess sediment in the bottle. However, I have used liquid yeast slurry and just add a small amount into the bottling bucket before racking so it gets mixed in well.

Wine yeast is a little easier to work with for bottling because wine yeast generally do a poor job of fermenting maltose or higher sugars so there is less probability of continued fermentation in the bottle beyond your priming sugar than if you add an ale yeast that might find some fermentable sugars left over that your primary yeast couldn't get through.
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Offline dshay

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2013, 09:23:56 am »
Which type/amount of wine yeast/priming sugar would you recommend for a imperial stout. Looking for a fairly low amount of carbonation, ideal what is typical for style. Again, predicted FG is 1.024. Does not have to be exact by any means just looking to get a rough ball park figure.

Thanks everyone for the help so far!

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2013, 09:35:03 am »
Which type/amount of wine yeast/priming sugar would you recommend for a imperial stout. Looking for a fairly low amount of carbonation, ideal what is typical for style. Again, predicted FG is 1.024. Does not have to be exact by any means just looking to get a rough ball park figure.

Thanks everyone for the help so far!

the type of yeast doesn't matter so much so long as it's not significantly more attenuative than your primary and any neutral ale yeast is going to be comparable with 1056 so no worries there. As Apache says, wine yeast TENDS to be less attenuative in beer wort than beer yeast.

The amount of priming sugar to add depends on the desired level of carbonation, and the highest temperature the beer has reached SINCE ACTIVE FERMENTATION HAS STOPPED. This is because the CO2 will stay in solution in levels relative to the temperature (colder liquid hangs on to more gas than warmer) so if you fermented at 65 and then bumped it up to 70 to finish and it was there for a while the level of dissolved co2 will be what the liquid can hold at ambient pressure at 70 degrees.

Northern brewer has a priming sugar calculator that takes the guess work out as to most software, or recipe calculators.

The type of sugar doesn't really matter in this case as the beer is so big and complex it will not make a noticeable difference. It does matter in that some sugars are sweeter than others and you will want to use less. The carbonation calculators will often has a setting for that.

I use plain table sugar cause it's always around at my house. corn sugar also works, or DME, Honey, Maple Syrup, Sweettarts, candy canes, anything with enough available fermentable sugar.
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Offline dshay

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2013, 09:40:19 am »
Thanks for the help! Have not bottled a big brew like this before and was just hoping for some feedback from everyone's past experiences. This should be more than enough info to get this bad boy bottled here in a month or so +.

Looks like I might just try a little of the US-05 and table sugar with the help of the app from Northern Brewer.

Thanks again everyone,

Cheers!

Offline svejk

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2013, 09:55:08 am »
Sounds like you are on the right track - I always add yeast at bottling for big beers as insurance against flat batches.  That said, since you've already made the jump to kegging, a counter-pressure bottle filler might be worth considering since you could then completely eliminate the chance of a flat batch and it is a nice tool to have around for doing small bottle runs of other batches for competitions, gifts, etc.

Offline Stevie

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #12 on: December 30, 2013, 12:24:44 pm »
Big beers always get a half pack of champagne yeast. It's what I was taught. The one time I didn't, bottles never carbonated. Still one of the better beers I have ever made, just flat to this day.

Offline scottNU

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #13 on: November 04, 2014, 10:46:41 pm »
I was searching for an old thread on this topic and wanted to ask a clarifying question.  I have an RIS, fermented with Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale.  ABV is right at 10%.  I am planning to bottle condition with the hope of drinking a few bottles and aging a few of the bottles.

The beer has been in the primary fermenter a little over two months.  I am concerned about a flat beer.  I think this yeast should be robust enough to carb the beer - unless of course the collective wisdom is that I need to add some additional yeast to insure carbonation. 

My question is process.  I plan to boil up the priming sugar.  Cool it.  Add it to the bottling bucket and rack the beer on top of the sugar solution to mix.  I assume I can add the yeast (if needed) before racking the beer and mixing should be sufficient.  Is this the proper way to add additional priming yeast before bottling?

Thanks.

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Big Gravity Brew - Bottling
« Reply #14 on: November 05, 2014, 09:03:30 am »
That's about it.
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
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"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
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