Simple secondary fermentation question

DavidDetroit · Oct 11, 2019

+1 ^^^
It makes perfect sense to bump a thread that is pertinent to the poster's question/concern. Absolutely no reason to apologize.

UKSkydiver · Oct 11, 2019

MyQul said:
No problem starting a new thread if you want to ask a question

One of my bug bears is seeing a question that has been repeatedly asked before. I like to do a decent search before blindly asking - as it's likely to have been asked before - and if it enhances an existing thread, all the better. clapa

MyQul · Oct 11, 2019

UKSkydiver said:
One of my bug bears is seeing a question that has been repeatedly asked before. I like to do a decent search before blindly asking - as it's likely to have been asked before - and if it enhances an existing thread, all the better.

Tbh, most questions have been asked before and if you google your question you'll probably find the answer somewhere or other. However, if people didn't ask and answer questions, the forum would die

Chippy_Tea · Oct 11, 2019

UKSkydiver said:
One of my bug bears is seeing a question that has been repeatedly asked before. I

The mod team have never been heavy haded when it comes to people not searching before posting one reason for me is that things change so sometimes creating a new one is better than bumping a six year old one, I am guilty of doing this sometimes it's a pain to find the answer or the answer doesn't answer your particular question therefore no one will ever be pulled up here for not searching.

UKSkydiver · Oct 11, 2019

davidfromUS said:
Priming sugar is added just before bottling. Bottle ASAP if you've already achieved your final gravity which is determined using two gravity readings that are the same a day or two apart.

FG is all good - it's down to 1.002 and has been for over 4 days

davidfromUS said:
I am interested to see how this turns out for you.

Me too. I think I will bottle today when the capper turns up. If I'm meant to condition these for 2 weeks in the bottle, I can't imagine that <24 hours "loss of CO2" will make too much difference. There is clearly sugar and yeast still in there #FingersCrossed

UKSkydiver · Oct 11, 2019

Chippy_Tea said:
... no one will ever be pulled up here for not searching.

Thanks for taking the time to respond and explain, much appreciated.

UKSkydiver · Oct 11, 2019

UKSkydiver said:
Me too. I think I will bottle today when the capper turns up. If I'm meant to condition these for 2 weeks in the bottle, I can't imagine that <24 hours "loss of CO2" will make too much difference. There is clearly sugar and yeast still in there #FingersCrossed

Annoyingly, Parcel Farce have failed to deliver the package, so no caps / capper until Monday.
Apparently, "No one was in when we called" - how about no f****er came anywhere near the door and my CCTV proves it.

Chippy_Tea · Oct 11, 2019

UKSkydiver said:
Annoyingly, Parcel Farce have failed to deliver the package, so no caps / capper until Monday.
Apparently, "No one was in when we called" - how about no f****er came anywhere near the door and my CCTV proves it.

I hate it when they lie, can you pick it up from the depot in the morning?

.

cushyno · Oct 11, 2019

Check the gravity again to see how much priming sugar remains in the secondary. You should be able to calculate if any more needs adding when it does come to bottling time.

UKSkydiver · Oct 12, 2019

cushyno said:
Check the gravity again to see how much priming sugar remains in the secondary. You should be able to calculate if any more needs adding when it does come to bottling time.

Yeah. Thought about this. Not sure how much extra gravity I added by adding the 80g sugar.
Any ideas how I check what I would have added and then to calculate getting the same back again?

Slid · Oct 12, 2019

UKSkydiver said:
Yeah. Thought about this. Not sure how much extra gravity I added by adding the 80g sugar.
Any ideas how I check what I would have added and then to calculate getting the same back again?

The day after you add sugar to a fermented beer, reckon it to be essentially gone. Just prime as you would have, it will be fine.

cushyno · Oct 12, 2019

Slid said:
The day after you add sugar to a fermented beer, reckon it to be essentially gone. Just prime as you would have, it will be fine.

Are you sure? It takes a couple of weeks for my PB's and bottles to fully carbonate, which tells me the sugar is used up slowly when the beer isn't sitting on a huge yeast cake.

Slid · Oct 12, 2019

cushyno said:
Are you sure? It takes a couple of weeks for my PB's and bottles to fully carbonate, which tells me the sugar is used up slowly when the beer isn't sitting on a huge yeast cake.

Good question and one I did actually ponder almost as soon as I posted!

I always rack to a secondary FV and add a sort-of "priming" quantity of sugar at that time to drive out oxygen or any airborne stuff. The bubbler starts within hours and finishes in a day or so.

Here is a for instance - I racked a Porter today at circa noon and added half a small ramekin of sugar to the secondary. It is bubbling like an initial ferment now, ten hours later. This will be finished 14 hours hence, or I am a Monkey's Bum (this, of course, is a line in the Modern Defence, for all you chess players out there).

UKSkydiver · Oct 14, 2019

So - a quick update on this... I didn't want to over prime (if that is the correct expression) and have the possibility of bottle bombs, but I also don't want flat beer... so I've gone for a middle ground solution of adding another 50g of sugar diluted in 80-100ml water. I managed to borrow a capper and capped all the bottles yesterday. I won't be able to tell what the result is until a couple of weeks, so in the mean time thanks for all of your generous input and I will update you when I open the first bottle.

UKSkydiver · Oct 29, 2019

As promised....

As a help forum, it's great that you can post a question, and get loads of suggestions, but I have found that it's not always the case that people come back with results. I think it's really important to find out what was done and what the result was, otherwise you're kinda left wanting...

So - I've opened a couple of bottles, let's bring you up to speed.

As I mentioned previously, I added a further 50g sugar diluted in <100ml water, added to the secondary vessel and stirred lightly and bottled.

I left the bottles stood upright in a room at a constant 20 deg C for two weeks. I then transferred a couple of bottles to the fridge (~4 deg C) for 2-3 days.

When I opened, there was a definite pfffftt of pressure and a smallish head, certainly no gusher. The brew itself is a still a bit hazy. It was actually clearer at 20 deg room temp.

It keeps a small head whilst drinking - so i think the results are reasonably positive in terms of carbonation... For me I'd maybe like to see a little more head, without having to resort to pouring from height. But for a first go - it looks, smells and tastes like beer - so it's a success in my book!

I appreciate all your words of advice. Thank you.

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