Requesting advice on clearing and bottling AG brew

[Lightman]

Hi,

Over the last couple of weeks I have been fermenting my first AG brew. It looks as though it’s done fermenting now and I am ready to move to the next stage. But, before I do so, I would like check that I am actually doing this right.

I plan to do the same thing as I do with wine at this stage, I’ll rack it off and clear it. I am guessing that Vinclear would clear beer as well? So, move it to another demijohn, add my Vinclear and give the whole lot a shake and let it settle. Hopefully in a week or so I have a clear beer to bottle. I’ll get about eight 500ml bottles from my batch and plan to prime each bottle with about one teaspoon of sugar. If I then keep them somewhere dark for a few weeks, I should be able to enjoy my beer.

That’s my grand plan, if I am on the brink of ruining my batch please tell me now so I can change my methods.

Thanks,
L.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I guess it depends a bit what style you're brewing, and also what type of yeast you used because some settle out (flocculate) much better than others.
However I've never found it necessary to use finings with bitters, for example, because they have always dropped nice and clear for me by the time they are properly ready for drinking :-)
If it's cleared down reasonably well in the demijohn and isn't too hazy then I'd be tempted to put it in the fridge for a couple of days just to encourage the last yeast to precipitate out; and then just prime and bottle.
The yeast activity from the priming sugar will create a little sediment anyway...

 

[jayk34]

Hi,

Over the last couple of weeks I have been fermenting my first AG brew. It looks as though it’s done fermenting now and I am ready to move to the next stage. But, before I do so, I would like check that I am actually doing this right.

I plan to do the same thing as I do with wine at this stage, I’ll rack it off and clear it. I am guessing that Vinclear would clear beer as well? So, move it to another demijohn, add my Vinclear and give the whole lot a shake and let it settle. Hopefully in a week or so I have a clear beer to bottle. I’ll get about eight 500ml bottles from my batch and plan to prime each bottle with about one teaspoon of sugar. If I then keep them somewhere dark for a few weeks, I should be able to enjoy my beer.

That’s my grand plan, if I am on the brink of ruining my batch please tell me now so I can change my methods.

Thanks,
L.

Did you check the amount of priming sugar required for that style ? 1 teaspoon per bottle might be too much. Up until this point most of mine have all been 1/2 teaspoon per 500ml bottle.

 

[stubrewworx]

If you add vinclear, which I doubt you'll need; i wouldn't give it a good shake as this might oxidise the beer.

 

[obscure]

First weigh how much sugar is in your teaspoon typically a teaspoon of sugar is about 4-5g which starts to put you into wheat beer territory in terms of carbonation.

As for adding vinclear I can’t see an issue on principle although personally I tend to not bother with adding finings to beer, as I find that time and low temperatures tend to clear beers well enough for my taste, as for shaking it this to me to be a bad idea as @stubrewworx mentions you run the risk of oxidation.

I personally take a fairly lazy approach and bottle straight from primary and don’t bother with finings, I haven't seen any notable increase in the levels of sediment at the bottom of my bottle, it might not be crystal clear but it still tastes fine.

But ultimately the only major issue with your proposed method that I can see is the shaking (and possibly consider using a priming calculator to determine the ideal level of carbonation for your beer)

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

 

[Lightman]

I'm pretty much following Clibit's posting here..

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/have-a-go-at-simple-ag.51779/
I used Marris Otter malt and Cascade hop pellets. the yeast I used Young's general purpose home brew yeast. There is quite a bit of sediment in the demijohn, partly because I had some difficulty straining my wort in to the demijohn. There is no activity from the airlock; I am pretty sure that it's done fermenting. It's still a little hazy.

I might just rack it off and see if it clears anymore before resorting to Vinclear.

Thank you for the advice. I won't give the brew a shake after racking off and I'll lower my amount of priming sugar. Better to have it slightly flat on the first run than have to clean up after exploding bottles.

Regards,
L.

 

[Cwrw666]

I’ll get about eight 500ml bottles from my batch and plan to prime each bottle with about one teaspoon of sugar.

Ales need about half a teaspoon per 500ml bottle. Some other styles may need a bit more but a whole teaspoon is a bit much.
You also don't need to rack off your beer or use any kind of finings. Any cloudiness in the beer will drop out after about 2 weeks in the bottle. Some yeasts will then stick pretty well to the bottom which makes for easy pouring. Others are less sticky so you have to pour more carefully.

Just seen your last post - as it's in a demijohn and has a lot of sludge in the bottom, yes you'd better rack it off, but just to make bottling easier.

 

[Buffers brewery]

I prefer batch priming than individual bottle priming so, if it was me, I’d rack the beer off to a sanitised container (demijohn or bucket) that has been primed with the appropriate amount of sugar solution (for a 5 gallon/22 litre batch of pale ale I’d make a sugar solution with 3 ozs sugar and 10 fl.ozs. water) and bottle immediately.

 

[moto748]

Yeah, as others have said, that's all fine. You shouldn't need finings. I always bottle from a demi-john like that. I wouldn't go more than 3 g of sugar per 500 ml bottle. Try to have at least one or two clear glass bottles in your bottling batch; it makes it so much easier to see when the beer is clearing.

have you taken a hydrometer reading? I suggest you do.