Maybe you can see the little numbers on top. I decided to number them this time to see if there were any differences in carbonation, flavor or anything else, between the first ones and the last ones. It occured to me that, as most of the residual yeast (of which there was a bit after only a 4-day secondary) is lurking around the bottom of the bottling bucket, the last ones to be filled may have more carbonation, or might even have too much and explode--the dreaded bottle bomb--that is if the sugar solution is adequately mixed. The sugar goes in the top, see. Or it might sink, depending on the temp/gravity differential. I don't really know.
I stirred the sugar solution in gently, then let the brew settle for 30 minutes or so after racking to the bottling bucket, in order to get the most clarity and least sediment I can in most of the bottles. I'm thinking that the trade-off might be uneven carbonation if the yeast and sugar solution tended to sink (i.e. concentrate). So that is the experiment. I'm sure you're as eager as I am to find out the results.
And what about the yield? I am happy to report that there were no major siphoning mishaps, and I got all 17.5 liters into bottles. That's from a roughly 19 liter initial ferment, off of a roughly 20 liter boil. (Somebody leave a comment and tell me the correct way to talk about this!) Most of the loss is from spillage and gravity samples (3) I guess. Well I don't know if that is good or not, but it's the best I've managed so far, so I am pleased as punch.
I have one concern though. This is the first time I used Star-San to sanitize my caps and bottles. There was a fair bit of foam in each bottle, which was still there when I capped. Also, the caps were not totally dry, and I'm wondering if the result might be gas leakage due to an improper seal caused by the thin layer of liquid between the bottle top and the cap gasket. If anybody has a comment on this, please leave it.
There could be an upside to my two worries though: the potential bottle bomb might be mitigated by the potential gas leak. Hey, that would be a rare case of my 'all thumbs' approach working in my favor.
Well it's all conjecture at this point (until one of you brewing rubes gives me some guidance anyway), so let's just wait and see.
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(1) I would be extremely surprised if there is any gas leak caused by the wet bottle caps. Not something I've ever seen. The only time you get leaks is if he cap just didn't get crimped on properly
ReplyDelete(2) Yes, I think yield is the correct way to talk about the amount of beer into the bottles. All-grain brewers talk about yield into kettle, yield into fermenter, and final yield at packaging. We also talk about efficiency that way, which is a measure of extract concentration times volume (total extract) as a percentage of the potential extract in the added malts and sugars.
(3) Your greatest issue with the bottling bucket method is evenness of mixing in the priming sugar. Do you dissolve it in some boiling water first then add it to the bottling bucket then rack on top of it doing some gentle stirring as you go? It can also help to then wait 10 or 15 minutes and give some more gentle stirring before bottling. But the sugar solution does mix in fairly easily.
My mistake early on was not to stir. I was so concerned about elavingh the liquid alone and not oxygenating it or risking infection that I left it and bottled as is.Notw I give a gentle mix wiht a sanitized spatula and no more bottle volcanoes or flat pee on opening!
ReplyDeleteMuch more even carbonation through the range.