letting the fizz out of the bottles

Yes the 2 wks at fermentation temps. give the carbonation.
When you fill the bottles make sure there is at least 2 inches of headspace from the top of the beer to the top of the bottle, this will allow any gas to pressurise the bottle, this will reduce the risk of explosions if you were to over fill (No joke !!)

 

I often wonder why the instructions in kits are so vague, epecially the cheaper kits. How expensive is it to make a decent instruction leaflet? I'm doing a California Conniseur wine kit at the moment, I think they are quite a high end wine kit and the instructions are misleading. It says after primary is complete, syphon into a secondary container then put the airlock back on the primary container...WTF?

 

hi bob, yes I was shocked at the Geordie kit tbh.. my first kit but the instructions are shockingly bad.. and you are right how much effort to add another 100-200 words to make the instructions decipherable at the very least.. :)

 

I'm all for ease of measuring (and everything else). When I make a 40 pint kit and the instructions are to add a teaspoon of sugar (per pint) to prime, 1 teaspoon is 5ml so for 40 pints that's 200ml of sugar to batch prime. I decant by pouring carefully from the brewed-in bin into a clean bin to get rid of most of the trub but it carries over enough live yeast cells. I then put 200ml of ordinary white sugar in an ordinary kitchen measuring jug, then add the minimum practicable amount of very hot water to the measuring jug to dissolve the sugar which makes a thickish sugar syrup, then mix the sugar syrup into the brew bin, then bottle, sealing the bottles as I go along.
It may not suit the purists, but it works for me.

 

If you prime at the rate of 1tsp sugar to one pint this will give you a carbonation rate of about 3.3 volumes which is really unsuitable for most beer styles except perhaps wheat beers. I suggest you use this to calculate priming sugar rates and you should get a carbonation that is better suited to the beer style you are brewing, unless of course you like really effervescent beer in your glass.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

hi terrym, the kit i have says i quote ' put half a level teaspoon of sugar per pint into each bottle' is this the wrong information? since i plan to 1 tea spoon in each litre bottle is this too much?

 

As I indicated '1 tsp per pint' gives a very high carbonation rate. I would follow the kit instruction of half that. Thats more or less the rate that I use irrespective of style of beer since that suits me. But do try to understand and then use the Brewers Friend calculator I referenced since it takes the guess work out of things.

 

ty terrym :)

 

Once bottled - My Wilko Velvet Stout instructions say 'stand 2 days in a warm place, then leave in a cold place for 14 days.

I have just bottled, leaving the 2" of headspace and squeezed the pet bottles too, but should I keep them warm the 2 days or the 2 weeks?

 

I have never heard of anyone advising to leave as much as 2" space in bottles at filling time. I usually leave about an inch between bottle top and beer and since I use mostly PET bottles squeeze the air out before I screw the cap on. Within a day or two as the headspace is getting pressurised and that space has been restored. The only reason you might get 'explosions' is if you overprime or bottle too early. And 2 days is not enough to carb up, leave it two weeks in the warm and then two week in acold place to condition before you sample. It will improve for keeping longer though.

 

Ignore this as it's incorrect.
If you over prime it will be abottle bomb no matter what space you leave. Having such a large headspace will just introduce a lot of oxygen in to the bottle and ruin your beer