Genuinely stupid move here...

maestro · Post by **maestro** » Tue May 05, 2015 5:30 pm

I did something so genuinely stupid even my wife laughed at me and she has no idea how to brew.

After giving it a few extra days, it still bothered me. So, in a moment of "high intelligence" I decided to rack it again. It was only the other day when I realized what I just did. I now have a clear batch of pislner sitting here and I'm planning on bottling this weekend. I use primming sugarwhen I bottle so I'm worried now that when I try to bottle, there will be no carbonation.

Thoughts? Ideas?

Had someone say to use the left over from my IPA beers I'm drinking and dump that into my pilsner but I'm quite sure that's a horrible idea.

Help!

AllanMar · Post by **AllanMar** » Tue May 05, 2015 5:46 pm

Is your concern there isn't enough yeast left to carbonate?
IMHO you can't rack off enough yeast to prevent carbonation. Ive seen people even filter then bottle carbonate, as long as the filter isnt too fine.

Woody · Post by **Woody** » Tue May 05, 2015 6:23 pm

You can rack a few times without issue it just increases the chances of oxidation and infection but with solid cleaning techniques this shouldn't be an issue. I agree with Allan you will have lots of yeast to carbonate. I've left beer for extended times in secondary and sometimes it just takes longer to carbonate but the yeast is still present. Bottle wait 3 weeks and crack a bad boy open.

mstead · Post by **mstead** » Tue May 05, 2015 8:16 pm

There will be lots. I wouldn't worry. Might just take a little longer to carb up.

maestro · Post by **maestro** » Wed May 06, 2015 9:43 pm

Thanks everyone!

So my next question would be: I usually use about 160-170g dextrose to carb my brew. Should I increase this amount from racking or just use the same amount and wait longer?

jeffsmith · Post by **jeffsmith** » Wed May 06, 2015 9:57 pm

I'd recommend using a priming sugar calculator. It'll tell you the exact amount of sugar you need based on volume, temperature, etc.

Post by **chalmers** » Thu May 07, 2015 7:30 am

http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Input the volume of beer, volumes of CO2 desired (2.5 is a safe bet for pilsner), and what the temperature of your beer is now (either room temp, or lower if you will crash cool it first).

I've re-read your post several times, and still can't figure out what "stupid move" you made! Either I'm missing it (entirely possible), or you've done what lots of us do, with great results. Cheers!

mumblecrunch · Post by **mumblecrunch** » Thu May 07, 2015 9:07 am

chalmers wrote:http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

Input the volume of beer, volumes of CO2 desired (2.5 is a safe bet for pilsner), and what the temperature of your beer is now (either room temp, or lower if you will crash cool it first).

Isn't the temperature you enter used to try to calculate the amount of CO2 already in the beer?

During primary fermentation, the beer absorbs more CO2 the cooler it is. Unless you do something to knock that CO2 out, even if the temperature is raised to room temperature at bottling the CO2 is still there and needs to be accounted for (by using less priming sugar). I know the beer has been racked in this case but I don't know that racking would knock the CO2 out (I know it doesn't for wine, unfortunately

)

Likewise, if you ferment warm and then cold crash before bottling using the cold crash temperature in the calculator would be wrong because it didn't ferment that low and is not likely to have nearly as much residual CO2 as the calculator would predict. So you'd need more priming sugar.

The advice I follow, although I can't find the original citation, is to use the primary fermentation temp unless it was a very long fermentation in which case you're probably guesstimating. Of course I am not a chemist and am open to being completely wrong about this

Post by **chalmers** » Thu May 07, 2015 7:54 pm

Hmm, not sure. Maybe it's a level of complexity that is beyond what is necessary for homebrewing? Or are you saying find a number that works for you, and stick with it (assuming same level of carb required for future batches)? Or both!

maestro · Post by **maestro** » Thu May 07, 2015 11:03 pm

So I read this post and realized where people would wonder what my stupid move was.

After completing primary fermentation, I racked to my carboy. But after a week(ish), my carboy was merky and cloudy. I gave it a few days but in a moment of genious I racked the beer again to clear it out. Hence the questions above. I was worried that I may have cleared my beer too much and that it wouldn't carbonate.

Bottling tomorrow, so we'll see in a few weeks!

spears104 · Post by **spears104** » Thu May 07, 2015 11:09 pm

Even if your beer looks clear, there will still be millions of yeast cells floating around.

mumblecrunch · Post by **mumblecrunch** » Thu May 07, 2015 11:55 pm

chalmers wrote:Hmm, not sure. Maybe it's a level of complexity that is beyond what is necessary for homebrewing? Or are you saying find a number that works for you, and stick with it (assuming same level of carb required for future batches)? Or both!

What I was trying to say was that I think the best bet for the temperature to plug into the priming calculator is the temperature the beer initially fermented at because that's going to best determine the amount of residual CO2.

Post by **chalmers** » Fri May 08, 2015 7:20 am

mumblecrunch wrote:
chalmers wrote:Hmm, not sure. Maybe it's a level of complexity that is beyond what is necessary for homebrewing? Or are you saying find a number that works for you, and stick with it (assuming same level of carb required for future batches)? Or both!
What I was trying to say was that I think the best bet for the temperature to plug into the priming calculator is the temperature the beer initially fermented at because that's going to best determine the amount of residual CO2.

Gotcha. Sounds good to me.

Broob · Post by **Broob** » Fri May 08, 2015 11:15 am

maestro wrote:So I read this post and realized where people would wonder what my stupid move was.

After completing primary fermentation, I racked to my carboy. But after a week(ish), my carboy was merky and cloudy. I gave it a few days but in a moment of genious I racked the beer again to clear it out. Hence the questions above. I was worried that I may have cleared my beer too much and that it wouldn't carbonate.

Bottling tomorrow, so we'll see in a few weeks!

I've cold crashed a few beers at 2-3 C for a couple of days and there was still enough yeast left in suspension to bottle carb. Took about 3 weeks though.