Page 1 of 1

is it done?

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:03 am
by buscador
have had a coopers lager in the ferementer for 4 days
it looks done, SG 1008 for 2 days now
however, i used some honey, just to try it
so im not sure if there is more fermenting to be done
as this is not a kit brewing sugar

any ideas?

thanks
b

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:13 am
by breadnbutter
G'day,

I'd say you're done. If concerned or planning to anyway you could rack it to another fermenter which should stimulate yeast by aerating the beer if there are any residual sugars.

Cheers

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:16 am
by buscador
do you think a PET botlle would explode if not fully done?

just dont want to make the wife mad on the second batch,
ive already taken over the kitchen with my mad scientist experiment

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:19 am
by Chris
I've bottled a pilsner (my 2nd ever batch) WAY to early, and it was fine. I had to keep releasing the gas every few hours for a few days, but it turned out ok.

That's the best feature of PET. I've never heard of it exploding.

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:21 am
by buscador
ive already got a blonde bottled in pet and the bottles are pretty tight, should i open tem up to realease the air , never hheard oof this?

will it damge the beer?

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:28 am
by Chris
Just because they are hard does not mean they are over-carbonated. They should firm up.

It's just when you open your first bottle and it hits the roof, that you know that you probably bottled early. I've never had this problem again- partially due to the fact that I've racked every beer since.

As for releasing pressure, that will not ruin the beer if you are careful. You just release the cap, and then quickly reseal it as the liquid starts to rise.

All that aside, I don't think that you need to do it on your blonde, and your lager sounds good to bottle too.

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:31 am
by buscador
thanks chris-
will bottle tomoorrow as planned then
b

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:34 am
by gregb
PET bottles will fail if too much pressure is generated. What I have heard is that they will merely split and spill. You still lose the beer, but you don't have glass flying around at warp speeds.

Cheers,
Greg

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:36 am
by buscador
do you think this is from reuse of pET , these bottles have never been used before? brand new..

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:38 am
by Chris
I've reused PET many times with no problems. I think gregb was referring to excessive pressure. Normal pressures of carbonation will be no issue.

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 4:37 pm
by morgs
Ive seen one somewhere on another forum that exploded but was a yeast starter. I bottled a batch a little early with honey and had to release a little pressure a few times. You can generally feel if they are too hard. Mine actually started distorting slightly at the bottom and they would wobble a little because the middle of the bottom was sticking out.

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 8:10 pm
by Zuma
This is a good thread!

Does beer which is not quite finished fermenting produce some different flavours in the bottle?

Think I may have been a victim recently thats all.

My pilsner started bubbling again after being in the secondary for a week.

Which got me thinking..

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 8:19 pm
by lethaldog
Zuma wrote:This is a good thread!

Does beer which is not quite finished fermenting produce some different flavours in the bottle?

Think I may have been a victim recently thats all.

My pilsner started bubbling again after being in the secondary for a week.

Which got me thinking..
Some times when you rack the fermentation will get stuck, i have only ever had it happen once but it took about 4-5 days to kick on, not sure about different flavours in the bottle as i make sure that they are all deffinately finished and the only real problem for most is hand grenades and over carbing :lol: :wink:

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 8:25 pm
by Zuma
Not sure on an IPA I brewed recently.

Seems to have a serious head thing going on.

Like alot of it any ideas?

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 8:45 pm
by lethaldog
Too much priming sugar, Not done fermenting would be the 2 main reasons, this can also happen if pouring to fast into warm glasses as well then it goes flat quicker, does it gush from the bottle on opening or anything like that??

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:43 pm
by Zuma
Yeah it kinda seeps over the edge of the bottle.

Hardly a gush. Takes a while to settle it down.

Tastes ok.

Posted: Monday Dec 18, 2006 9:44 pm
by Zuma
Only 2 carbo drops so maybe not quite finished?