homebrewandbeer.com

It's a momentous occasion, I've just finished bottling my first batch of homebrew

I used carbonation drops to prime the bottles, do I need to jiggle them around a bit, or do they just dissolve over time?

It also means that I have an empty fermenter, and I have a Beez Knees brew in another fermenter thats been going since 30 dec, which I think has just about finished.

So, is it worth racking the Beez Knees into the other fermenter and letting it sit for a week or so before I bottle it?

i gave my bottles a good shake after sealing the cap
been drinking bottles after two weeks in bottle and they have all disolved
bit of yeast deposit on bottom of bottle but oh so good

did you get the beez from brew craft?
b

Ok, I'll give 'em all a bit of a shake before I put them away

The Beez Knees is a Brewcraft kit. Also bought some real beez knees stubbies just to remind me why I like it ($20 for a 6 pack!). I figure I can re-use the bottles with the labels and put then away till next christmas.

sounds good, but s&*t, why is aussie beer so expensive,
over 15 bucks is ridicoluos
in san francisco i used to buy a sixer for $3.99pabsts blue ribbon(sailor beer)---$8.99 for quality
if im not mistaken, sierra nevada pa used to be 8-9dollars a sixer
and on this forum ive heard 7$ a bottle in melbourne
no wonder i am homebrewing

on that note, ive considered the beez neez- tried it i think at beertopia last year
good work, mission accomplished!
the hard part is waiting-
good luck,
b

atregent wrote:Ok, I'll give 'em all a bit of a shake before I put them away

The Beez Knees is a Brewcraft kit. Also bought some real beez knees stubbies just to remind me why I like it ($20 for a 6 pack!). I figure I can re-use the bottles with the labels and put then away till next christmas.

No offence to buscador but i dont recommend shaking them as this can oxidise your beer, carb drops will disolve on thier own so just fill, cap and store, most of all when its done enjoy it especially cos its your first

I just turn mine upside down once after putting the cap on.

I've just polished off a whole batch of Brewcraft Beez Neez clone ove Xmas / New Year. I was pretty happy with it.

As an aside is there any relationship between headspace in a full bottle and carbonation?

sorry to give bad advice
i will not be shakeratlinorrollin anymore

I ended up not shaking them. Had a look at the first ones bottled and the drops are almost all gone.

All I need now is somewhere to keep them, and the will power to leave them there for a while!

I'm thinking about cracking one open on Australia day, seems sort of fitting.

Longrasser wrote:As an aside is there any relationship between headspace in a full bottle and carbonation?

i was wondering that as i bottled my second brew last night. bit of a pain getting them all the exact same level, it takes more concentration than i was able to offer

still, it filled all 30 tallies, so no complaints.

chris

When bottling your little bottler will provide enough headspace during bottling ie. fill your bottle to the top and when you pull the bottler out then you are left with your headspace

I've also found that, with some of my brews, they tend to fizz a little when I bottle them. I now ease into the filling gently, until the end of the little bottler is immersed in beer, then go full tilt. In this way, I get no froth when bottling and can get less headspace.

Warning: This may or may not be good advice - it just seems to work for me!

lethaldog wrote:When bottling your little bottler will provide enough headspace during bottling ie. fill your bottle to the top and when you pull the bottler out then you are left with your headspace

that'd be a nice easy way of measuring. i've learnt not to look away while filling the bottles - the moment you look away, they get to the top quicker than expected!
is that enough headspace though? i'm still using carbonation drops - with 2 per 740ml bottle, will this lead to overcarbonation? the coopers kit recommends 2 inches/5cm of space at the top if i recall correctly.

cheers,
chris

It is plenty of headspace and no u should be fine with the carbonation, headspace is a controversial issue but i have always found ( along with others here) that headspace is not such a major concern, if its a little under or a little over then its stll fine, i have half filled bottles and they have still carbed up fine

good to know.
the batch of dark ale that i bottled yesterday seems to be carbing a lot quicker than the first batch that came with the brew kit. it had been in the fermenter for 13 days and the SG had stayed stable for a few, but even after one day of being in the bottle, the bottle is quite firm and pressurised. also, there's a small amount of froth on the surface of most bottles - hopefully the fermentation was actually finished. maybe i read the SG wrong :-/

am i fretting over nothing?

Cant say yet, i can tell you that i havent ever had bottles firm up over 1 day but it could be a number of things including the heat lately, at least ( im assuming) they are in P.E.T and they cant shower you with glass if they were bottled early

You should be ok

lethaldog wrote:No offence to buscador but i dont recommend shaking them as this can oxidise your beer, carb drops will disolve on thier own so just fill, cap and store, most of all when its done enjoy it especially cos its your first

Palmer mentioned the difference in bottle conditioning due to the small amount of oxygen in the top of the bottles compared to keg conditioning with none, though no mention of shaking=bad or oxidisation, I've only read the extract part of the eBook though.

That said nearly every bottling guide I've read suggested to invert the bottles a few times to dissolve the dex/carb drops, I suppose inverting isn't shaking though but it would still get some air (and resultant oxygen) into the beer.

I've not tasted any off effects from this practice (inverting) though I don't exactly have non-inverted bottles to compare to & my oldest bottle when drank was about 6 months old, what does oxidation taste like?

I know I am a noob to the home brewing game, but after talking to my dad last night - he is one of the head scientists at Lion Nathan - he advised the best way would be to try to get the beer to foam up when putting into the bottle. Then cap with the foam flowing out. This is reduce the amount of air/space in the bottle,

What do you guys think?

Been bottling all my HB life (close to 10 years now) and never ever had a problem with oxidation or under/over carbed so not really sure where all these issues are coming from. Have i stumbled on the right way of doing it from the start?

I use the bottler, volumes are different each bottle as i try not to let the beer overflow. I have used sucrose up till now to prime (last batch i started the bulk priming with dex) with the old measure you get with the kits. As i said, ever beer is carbed perfectly. I use crown seal tallies BTW. But i must say a big thankyou to the wise old heads on this forum who convinced me to go to bulk priming (and resist the evil lure of sucrose)- easier and the best head on my beers yet!

So i think the age old saying - relax and have another HB is appropriate here.....

Cheers and beers
DrSmurto

atregent wrote:So, is it worth racking the Beez Knees into the other fermenter and letting it sit for a week or so before I bottle it?

I recently did a custom honey beer (Canadian Blonde + honey + grain + hops) and it was fantastic. I racked it for a couple of days then chucked the secondary in the fridge at 5deg and left it there for a week before bottling. The end result was a very clear beer with little or no sediment. I'm doing it for all my brews now as I prefer to bottle in stubbies (and a tank top and thongs...)