+30oC What now?

[Troy]

Hi!.
Am new to brewing.
Coopers stout. No fancy additives. Start temp 27oC. Got up to 32oC during fermentation. Blew the smitherines out of airlock. After 30 hours stopped completely. O.G 1054. after 30 hours S.G 1014. Three days in S.G 1012. Now wrapped in wet towel (probably too late) and temp 24oC. Will S.G get any lower?.
How long should the S.G remain constant before bottling? and
Should I bottle at all?

P.S. Smells like dirty socks but top of brew looks clean.
Hopefully I got water back into the airlock before any bacteria entered.

Any advice welcome. Just not too technical thanks, am peasant trying to save money and make something that tastes half (no quarter) decent!.

Cheers Troy.

[cjcook]

You should be fine... my brew often gets up in the high 20s

2 days at the same sg and you can bottle. Leave it longer if you want but i wouldn't at that temp. It is unlikely you would have got any infections through the airlock...

Leave it 2 weeks in a cool dark place and off you go. ++

Just remember, if in doubt - bottle it anyway.

[Oliver]

Troy,

Welcome.

When brewing in summer, use as little boiling/hot water as you can to dissolve the ingredients. That way the temperature will be as low as possible when you pitch the yeast. (And even the cold water is not that cold in summer, which compounds your problems.)

Bear in mind, too, that fermentation produces heat, so I guess in theory a beer could heat up as it ferments, although in practice I suppose the heat dissipates because we use relatively small containers in homebrewing. But I digress.

The bottom line is: Don't throw it out. While it might not be the best-tasting beer ever, it's unlikely to be the worst. Unusual flavors may disappear over a month or two. It might also be fine.

Just remember: The main reason for failure of homebrews is not sterilising everything properly. It pays to take the sediment reducer off the tap and soak the tap in sterilising solution.

Cheers,

Oliver

[Dogger Dan]

I'll put dollars against donuts it tastes better than a Bud


All will be fine, actually, some of my best have been rapid fermentations


Dogger

[Marty]

One thing which helps is having a lowish starting temp. In Summer I sterilise at least 2 (sometimes up to 4) ice cream containers and fill these with water and then freeze them. Before putting wort in the fermenter I put the ice in and pour the hot wort over the top. This will get your start temp below 20C.

Marty

[BPJ]

If it smells like dirty socks, then its not far off stout anyway.
I always botlle unless it is really obvious, like a dead bird floating in it or something as bad. most of the money has already been spent, so another dollar and a hour or two is nothing. if it is bad, but drinkable after a few good ones from another batch, you won't taste the difference.

[Troy]

Thanks guys, for all the helpful advice so far.

Actually had read most of the info given, through browsing the web and reading some of the previous posts on this forum. But I wanted confirmation, as you can't always believe what you read.

May I also add that some of you guys are quite inspirational, as you truly have mastered the art of homebrewing, or so you write (no offence intended).
My aim is to produce homebrew nearly as good (please disregard my peasant comment). Obviously time and practice is the key.

Not sure about the comment from BPJ. I happen to like stout. As do the players from last years AFL winning premiership side!. GO POWER (sorry)

And Dogger Dan, not sure what kind of BUD you are talking about?.

Can't you get LITE or FULL STRENGHTH?.

More on my question about S.G reading. Most packaging suggests it be around 1006 or the bottles may explode. I've done 5 brews and it has never gotten below 1012. No bottles have exploded yet!. I presume as long as it stays constant for a couple of days it does not matter?. (Except maybe in the case of alcohol content calculation).
Any answer to this appreciated.

Bottoms up! Troy

[Ciderman]

Yeah, good question about the level of final gravity and the possibility of exploding bottles. The way I read it is that the final gravity is relevant to the question of exploding bottles. But it all comes down to just how much of that final gravity is made up of fermentable sugars (e.g. sugars that should have fermented but for some reason didn't).

Then when you get to the bottling part, those remaining fermentable sugars add to the sugar you put in for priming, and it all adds up to be too much.

[Shaun]

The reason bottles explode has very little to do with the SG. The main reason bottles explode is due to brews being bottled before they have completed fermenting. The beer continues to ferment in the bottle and the pressure will build up to a point were the bottle will exploded (you do not have an air lock on your bottles). The other reason is people try to soup up the beer by using more than the recommended amount of sugar for priming; the result is beer hand grenades.

The reason we take SG readings 24 hours apart is to insure that fermentation has completed. If it is stable two days in a row the brew has finished and is safe to bottle. The only problem that can happen with this is if you let the brew get to cold and the yeast goes dormant, you bottle, then on a hot day serval months down the track bottles start to go bang as the beer has started fermenting again.

Also the more malt, corn syrup, maltodextrin or lactose used the higher your final SG will be. The 1006 SG is for a can and dextrose. Replace the dextrose and the final SG will be raised.

[BPJ]

Didn't mean to offend with the comment, I too like stout and dark ales. I just find it a strong smelling beer. (It's amazing how people read differently to what was intended. I think Dogger is rubbing off on me)

Final SG depends on a lot of things, temperature included. most hydrometers are calibrated at 20C and you have to add/subtract for temp diff. to check test a smaple of water at 20C and it should be 1.000.

Most of my brews get to 1012 - 1014, rarely any lower. several days at the same SG and bottle, or others just go by 2 weeks then bottle.

Exploding bottles are a result of unfermented sugar, not finale SG. I rarley have exploding bottles. Maybe one in every 3 or 4 batches. most are as a result of weak bottles, which may have been overprimed slightly or double primed by mistake. not much more than a "controlled exposion" withe the botlle breaking into a few identifiable pieces. I did have a exploding ginger beer. this was a thick swing top bottle, with WAY too much pressure. Glass Schrapnel, is not a bad description

[Oliver]

Jeez Troy, you're not a bloody "Power" supporter. If I'd known that ...

Go Crows

It's my understanding that when Yanks talk about "Lite" beer, they're actually talking light on calories, not light on alcohol. I will stand corrected, though.

Regarding the final gravity of homebrews, it depends to a large extent on (1) the initial gravity; and (2) what ingredients went into your beer.

As a rough guide, yeast consumes about three-quarters of the sugars in a wort, so if your starting gravity is 1040, you will end up around the 1010 mark. Bear in mind that different yeasts consume different amounts of the yeast (generally lager yeasts ferment out more of the sugars than ale yeasts).

Also, malt contains quite a bit of unfermentable sugar, unlike glucose/dextrose or cane sugar, which is mostly fermentable. So if you brewed two beers, one with 1kg malt and one with 1kg glucose, you'd have roughly the same starting gravity, but the final gravity for the beer with 1kg malt would be higher because of the unfermentable sugars remaining in the beer (this also means the finished beer is sweeter).

Hope this answers your questions.

Cheers,

Oliver

[Shaun]

BPJ don't you find 1 in every 3 or 4 brews high? In 5 years of brewing in bottles I had one bottle explode from I suspect over priming.

[Troy]

I have more questions!. I want to know more!.
Great responses fellas, just have a few queries.

Ciderman,
You mention F.G. is relevant to exploding bottles because of unfermented sugars. Therefore, shouldn't F.G. naturally be higher because of the temp it was brewed at? (my case 32oC for most of it).
Maybe, in your experience, a higher F.G. may require a lower ratio of priming sugar?. Still am a beginner, never had bottle explode!.

Shaun,
I used Coopers brewing sugar. It was 90 cents more expensive than dextrose, so I assumed it was better for the brew. (The packet explains very little difference and it would take me a week to read all the previous posts to find out this info.)
Also, any idea if that exploding bottle had the highest F.G. of any batch you have done or was it a weak bottle?. (or both?)

BPJ,
Have a question about unfermentable sugars and not final S.G. being responsible for exploding bottles.
As I understand it, the more sugars fermented, the lower the S.G., as the brew is less dense. Is this correct?.

Oliver,
Technical!! (at the moment!)
Threw coopers brewing sugar packet away. Assume is glucose. You would know, anyway.
Forgive arrogance. But
1). Malt is added to brew how?
2). Does what to the brew, differently? and,
3). Is obviously not available from supermarket!.

Also, I have found when trying to run brew into S.G. container, (slowly to prevent bubbles, so I can do a quick read) that it sucks water from airlock into brew. Will this cause any harm?.

Am keen!. Prepared to learn. Have read quite a few posts, but too many!, and some obscure!.
Any suggestions on good books to read?

Thanx, Troy

[Jeff]

BPJ,
Mate I cannot believe you have so many bottles exploding. To me (a novice) such a burst rate would suggest over-priming and I'd have thought the beers would be very gassy to drink. Do you feel much more bloated than eg. when drinking store-bought stuff?

[Lebowski]

3). Is obviously not available from supermarket!.

You can get coopers brew enchancer 2 at the supermarket which has malt and other stuff in it.

[Oliver]

You mention F.G. is relevant to exploding bottles because of unfermented sugars. Therefore, shouldn't F.G. naturally be higher because of the temp it was brewed at?

There's no correlation between brewing temp and final SG. It's all got to do with how much sugar the yeast consumes, how much sugar there was to start with and how many unfermentable sugars remain in the brew.

Have a question about unfermentable sugars and not final S.G. being responsible for exploding bottles.
As I understand it, the more sugars fermented, the lower the S.G., as the brew is less dense. Is this correct?.

This is correct. Remember though that some sugars (lactose and some sugars in malt, for example) won't ferment, but if you bottle when there are still fermentable sugars in the wort, you'll end up with beer that's too gassy or bottles exploding.

Malt is added to brew how?

Buy liquid or dried malt from a homebrew shop and use in place of glucose or sugar. The Cooper's brew enhancers probably contain some malt, along with other things.

Malt does what to the brew, differently?

Gives you more body (sometimes called "mouthfeel"), better head retention, more flavor and more sweetness, among other things.

Is obviously not available from supermarket!

Also correct. See above.

I have found when trying to run brew into S.G. container, (slowly to prevent bubbles, so I can do a quick read) that it sucks water from airlock into brew. Will this cause any harm?

Take out the airlock before you turn on the tap. Don't worry about doing it slowly; just put the hydrometer into the liquid and give it a spin to remove any bubbles.

Any suggestions on good books to read?

How much technical detail do you want? Check out http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/books.html for some book reviews by Geoff and me.

Cheers,

Oliver

[Dogger Dan]

Actually,

There is a correlation between temp and SG I have found. The colder the temp the higher the SG, especially if I am using an ale. I figure it is because the yeast is less active at the lower temps but in all likelyhood I am just talking through my hat.

BPJ,

There are worse things than me rubbing off on you, nothing immeadiatly leaps to mind but I will think of something by the end of the day

And as far as Bud goes, doesn't matter which one.

Dogger

[BPJ]

Just to clarify about the exploding bottles. i would say that they are more likely failing. I use stubbies, mostly Carlton Cold and some do have very thin walls, especially in the embossed area of the bottle. (I like to use clear glass as it is easy to see that it is clean and I do store the filled stubbies away from light.)

They don't explode sending glass every where, but either crack in a nice circle around the base and drop the contents, or crack around body of the bottle into several large pieces. I have crates with 32 in each and move these around from time to time they do get a bit of rough treatment. What actually "triggers" the failure, I am unsure of, possibly overcarbination or change in temp. I sometimes don't discover the fact until much later when i get to that part of the batch.

[Shaun]

I used Coopers brewing sugar. It was 90 cents more expensive than dextrose, so I assumed it was better for the brew. (The packet explains very little difference and it would take me a week to read all the previous posts to find out this info.

I can't tell you much about coopers brewing sugar as I do not use it. To tell the truth (much to the horror of most here) I am not a fan of Coopers products.

Also, any idea if that exploding bottle had the highest F.G. of any batch you have done or was it a weak bottle?. (or both?)

Neither it was not one of my highest FG beers by a long way and was also not a weak bottle. You only need to prime a bottle once not twice

Also just to clarify it comes across as if you are confused about the relation between SG and fermented sugars in the beer.
1. The FG will be high if there is unfermented sugars still in the brew that the yeast has not got to yet. If you bottle this beer the yeast will continue to work on the unfermented sugars plus the extra sugar you have add for priming. The result is an exploding bottle.
2. A FG may also be high if ingredients are used that are not fully fermentable such as malt or corn syrup. The yeast has fermented everything it can and left the rest in the brew resulting in a higher FG due to the stuff the yeast did not ferment. When you bottle this beer the yeast left will start to work on the sugar you added for priming as that is all there is for it to work on. The result is a nicely carbonated beer.

If you understood this already I will get back in my box now.