Beginners question/cock up with timings..

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MonkeyMick

MonkeyMick

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Hi..

I started the Evil Dog double hopped IPA a week ago, and despite reading the instructions planned on a brewing time of 3 weeks.

Fermentation has stopped after 7 days with the specific gravity reading 1.010 last night and again this morning.

The FV was kept in the conservatory where daytime temperatures were hitting 30 degrees and nighttime around 12 - 18.

Anyway, my cock up has been ordering mini kegs to carb the beer in, but they won't arrive for another 2 weeks.

My cunning plan to mitigate this is to buy a number of cheap bottles of pop, ditch the pop down the drain, sterilise and then carb up 1.5l of beer per 2l bottle to allow for the CO2 that's produced.

1 - Is this a good idea, and could I then transfer the carbed beer into the kegs when they arrive?

2 - How much of a donkey do you think I feel right now.

Thanks!
 
Not at all, it's just one of things that makes brewing an adventure.
I'd go for cheap bottles water, 1 litre bottles, and use the water to start your next brew. I wouldn't transfer to the kegs after carbonation in the bottle. Keep them for your next brew. Conditioning in bottles or mini kegs is going to take 4-6 weeks, anyway. Maybe longer so you need to get loads of beer on the go so that some of it will actually reach maturity.
The conservatory is not the best place to ferment because of the swings of temperature you record above. 30C is too hot for most yeasts anyway. Find somewhere with a fairly steady temperature and dark.
Good luck with the brewing.
 
If you are the UK and want a quick cheap solution, buy some 2 litre bottles of supermarket own brand sparkling water (17p each in Tesco) and use them. Fill almost to the brim. Prime. Squeeze the air out as you seal the cap and off you go. Carb up and store in a dark place (ie out of the light).
When it gets to serving use a 1 litre glass serving jug (Wilko £1.50) like this
https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-functional-glass-jug-1l/p/0316128
Pour up to a litre of beer into the jug ands reseal the bottle.
Beer will keep for a 2/3 days but will need a day or so to clear again if you have distrurbed the sediment.
If you dont fancy 2 litres at a time the next cheapest PET bottle option seems to be supermarket own brand 1 litre bottles of tonic water (£2 for 6 in Tesco).
And the bottles can be re-used until they get a bit tatty. And PET bottles keep their pressure in spite of what others will tell you. And since they are pressurised air/oxygen can't get in.
 
Last edited:
Or buy some glass bottles from your HBS and put the next batch in the kegs.

I know pet bottles are good to check carbonation, but it just doesn't feel right pouring a pint from a plastic bottle. It would be like selling wine in plastic milk cartons.
 
MonkeyMick said:
Hi..

I started the Evil Dog double hopped IPA a week ago, and despite reading the instructions planned on a brewing time of 3 weeks.

Fermentation has stopped after 7 days with the specific gravity reading 1.010 last night and again this morning.

The FV was kept in the conservatory where daytime temperatures were hitting 30 degrees and nighttime around 12 - 18.

Anyway, my cock up has been ordering mini kegs to carb the beer in, but they won't arrive for another 2 weeks.

My cunning plan to mitigate this is to buy a number of cheap bottles of pop, ditch the pop down the drain, sterilise and then carb up 1.5l of beer per 2l bottle to allow for the CO2 that's produced.

1 - Is this a good idea, and could I then transfer the carbed beer into the kegs when they arrive?

2 - How much of a donkey do you think I feel right now.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would do different.

I am reading that you beer as only been in the FV for a week. If this is the case then I doubt you have even done the second dry hop yet. I would plan the dry hop around the original plan of waiting for the mini kegs.

I would save the money you would have spent on pop or water bottles. Beer in plastic bottles is meh, well in my opinion anyway. Also I do starters in plastic and they always distort due to pressure. I also would fill to an inch off the top as you want the co2 in the beer and not on top.

I would go to your local pub and take away some empty bottles, magners are usually good for removing labels etc. I would buy some caps and a capper. In my experience mini kegs don't take the right carbonation required for IPA's so you may want to bottle some to compare.
 
terrym said:
Fill almost to the brim. Prime. Squeeze the air out as you seal the cap and off you go.
Click to expand...
Ain't this a recipe for bottle bombs? Totally agree what you say about using PET bottles, use them myself... Great water, No need to clean bottle, Reuseable etc.

Pic PET bottles.jpg
 
Appreciate the replies, and I've certainly learned not to rush to get a brew on without having the kit ready for bottling.

The dry hops bags went into the brew yesterday, as per instructions and should be in there for another couple of days before bottling - which I'll now do over the weekend.

I'll probably use 1l PET bottles this time round, and gift a lot of the brew out to friends if I'm not keen on it. They can suffer for my art!

Thanks again for all the advice, I appreciate!
 
Gulpitdarn said:
Ain't this a recipe for bottle bombs? ]
Click to expand...
Why? The idea is to squeeze out the air/oxygen. Once the yeast starts to work on the sugar the internal pressure rises and the PET flexes to expand to accommodate the pressure rise, until it goes no further. Clearly you cant do either with glass. Conversely open a PET bottle of fizzy water and see how the level rises as the bottle volume decreases and the pressure is released.
And if you are looking for a temporary solution like the OP whats the problem with using PET.
If you are like me and use mostly PET bottles that's fine. Just like its fine for those who prefer glass. In my opinion its whats in your glass that counts unless you are in a competition or out to impress others.
 
Richie_asg1 said:
Or buy some glass bottles from your HBS and put the next batch in the kegs.

I know pet bottles are good to check carbonation, but it just doesn't feel right pouring a pint from a plastic bottle. It would be like selling wine in plastic milk cartons.
Click to expand...
You're right, Richie_asg1, and I think the same every time I go to pour the next pints. But, as I take the glasses to the beer and pour it out of sight (kegs or pressure barrels would be the same) nobody sees it but me. If we're drinking strong, good stuff, I use Belgian beer bottles with a champagne cork and cage. And before Steve starts calling me a posh tvvat, it's either that or bottle up everything in 33cl bottles- there aren't any decent 50cl bottles over here.

I'd be against using pop bottles (not sure about tonic) in case the chemical flavours taint the beer.
 
Last edited:
A good point about taint from the pop bottles (didn't see the reply above until after I'd posted...) . I'll look short term for water bottles and am now considering the IKEA Korken swing top bottles as a longer term storage solution instead of buggering about with the kegs. I'll keep those for something else!
 
MonkeyMick said:
A good point about taint from the pop bottles (didn't see the reply above until after I'd posted...) . I'll look short term for water bottles and am now considering the IKEA Korken swing top bottles as a longer term storage solution instead of buggering about with the kegs. I'll keep those for something else!
Click to expand...
Any bottle used for storing beer should really be capable of holding a pressure although the IKEA bottles may well be capable of doing that. And any clear bottle with beer in it should be kept out of light, particularly sunlight/UV light because it can apparently spoil the beer. Its called skunking.
Finally if you fancy fliptops Grolsch bottles are often used. You can get them when on offer in supermarkets (and drink the contents)or sometimes they come up used on ebay.
 
terrym said:
Why? The idea is to squeeze out the air/oxygen. Once the yeast starts to work on the sugar the internal pressure rises and the PET flexes to expand to accommodate the pressure rise, until it goes no further. Clearly you cant do either with glass. Conversely open a PET bottle of fizzy water and see how the level rises as the bottle volume decreases and the pressure is released.
And if you are looking for a temporary solution like the OP whats the problem with using PET.
If you are like me and use mostly PET bottles that's fine. Just like its fine for those who prefer glass. In my opinion its whats in your glass that counts unless you are in a competition or out to impress others.
Click to expand...
My understanding was that pressure needs an air space to expand into, I'm probably wrong though because the PET bottles being plastic can expand in themselves whereas glass bottles cannot. I'm increasingly using plastic PET bottles for my brews because of their convenience. I still use glass bottles for presentation, but I will try your way of pressing to remove all air space before screwing on cap. :D
 
Gulpitdarn said:
My understanding was that pressure needs an air space to expand into, I'm probably wrong though because the PET bottles being plastic can expand in themselves whereas glass bottles cannot. I'm increasingly using plastic PET bottles for my brews because of their convenience. I still use glass bottles for presentation, but I will try your way of pressing to remove all air space before screwing on cap. :D
Click to expand...
I picked up this idea from another forum member some time ago (@Godsdog ?). Last week I bottled some of a brew into some 1 litre ex tonic water bottles (the ones with a long thin neck) squeezed most of the air out as above and now the liquid level is about 40mm down the neck from the top, but the bottles still have some 'give' in them although carbing has probably now finished.
 

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