9 replies to this topic

[nigel]

Hey Gang,So, a few of you may recall that I brewed up a maple wee heavy with some pretty complex/crazy fermentation cycles in late January--see here: My linkI had problems with weak yeast (despite a starter and adequate aeration using an aeration pump/stone) and also with racking too cleanly into the secondary (where I introduced 85 ounces/two-thirds of a gallon) of pure Grade B maple syrup for a BIG maple flavor and aroma), meaning that there weren't enough yeast left in the brew to gobble all that maple down and ferment it. (Yeast strike! Stuck fermentation!)Long and short, I've added two different packets of rehydrated dry yeast (Nottingham and Safale-05) over the weeks to bring the final gravity down closer to 1.030, but it's still at 1.047, only coming down about .003 from 1.050 (OG was 1.080). Lots of sugar left! I do want a very sweet, mapley beer, but I worry about bottle bombs.Spoke with a brewer at Southern Tier Brewing (they make some really sweet/malty beers), and he suggested that I let it sit in the tertiary to clear/condition and possibly continue to ferment for a while and then bottle without yeast and with minimal or no priming sugar to avoid bottle bombs. Said that, if I want a sweet beer, then I shouldn't add more yeast to chew through the maple; that flavor/aroma are more important and that I didn't want to dry the beer out by adding a yeast that'd ferment all that syrup out.So...I'd like to "test the waters," so to speak, and my idea is to siphon enough to fill two or four bottles and let 'em sit for two or three weeks and then checking the carbonation. If they've carbed enough, then I'd do the rest of the batch, and if not, then I'd add some priming sugar to the rest of the batch and then bottle it, hoping that the tiny amounts of activity I see in the carboy means that there's SOME yeast still doing their thing in there and can carbonate--but not overcarbonate/explode--the rest of the batch.Question: If I hooked up my auto-siphon with the hose, set it into the carboy, and attached my bottle filler to the end of the hose and did a couple/few bottles this way, does this sound doable? Essentially: auto-siphon in carboy to hose to bottle filler and then only doing a couple bottles, then stopping. Sound like there'd be a problem?Sorry to go on, but I wanted to give some background to help describe the situation.As always, THANKS. The brew tastes really great as is and I don't want to add another yeast batch to it (like high-grav or champagne, as they'd strip a lot of the maple to it), but clearly there's enough sugar (maple syrup) in there still--perhaps too much.Cheers,Nige

[Cliff Claven]

Your idea sounds good. I would use some soda bottles so you can tell if they are carbonating with out opening them.

[gnef]

1.047 would seem cloyingly sweet for me, and I would personally want to get it to drop significantly (your 1.030 plan sounded good to me).I know you don't want to add more yeast, but that is the only thing I can recommend, and it will take some patience and work.I would get another packet or two of nottingham, or another dry yeast, us-05 will work well for this too. Make a gallon starter with the yeast, this is just to get it primed. let the gallon starter fully ferment out, chill, and decant.Once you do this, you should have a lot of active yeast ready to go. I would then add half a gallon of your stuck beer to this yeast cake. This will be the test. If it ferments well, and you take a gravity reading and it drops signficantly, then when it slows down fermenting, add in another half gallon of your stuck beer. This should ferment more, and as it slows, add this gallon of fermenting beer, into the rest of your stuck beer, and it should be able to chew through the rest of the sugars at that point.I haven't had to do this, and I am no expert on yeast handling, but that would be my recommendation based on what I've read in the past on how to work with high sugar and/or high alcohol environments.

[nigel]

Thanks, gnef, for your thoughts on this. My homebrewing chum calls me Cloyboy, as I'm all about very, very sweet brews. My tastebuds don't really appreciate/like hops or bitterness, so for me to truly enjoy/crave something, it needs to be pretty sweet. As a result, I drink a lot of sweet stouts, English barleywines, and Scotch ales. The residual sweetness isn't a problem at all for me--I did, after all, add 85 ounces of strong (Grade maple syrup to it; wouldn't've done that if I didn't like sweeeeet beers (though I know that most people would barf at the sound of that).Again, I did say that I've already added the initial two packets of Wyeast Scottish Ale yeast and then a Nott and a Safale 05 to it; that's three kinds of yeast--way too much in my estimation.My main concern's the possibility of bottle bombs, remember, not to change the flavor/sweetness of the beer.NOTE: tested the brew again for gravity today (first time in a few weeks) and it's down to 1.043 (from 1.047); guess it's still SLOWLY fermenting in there. Maybe I ought to wait to bottle it and leave it in its tertiary carboy?

[nigel]

Your idea sounds good. I would use some soda bottles so you can tell if they are carbonating with out opening them.

Thanks, Cliff. That's a really good idea. If you were in my shoes, what would be your method of getting the beer into a couple of 20-oz. plastic soda bottles? Would you use an auto-siphon or do you siphon manually? Would you attach the bottle filler to the end of the siphoning hose or just crimp the hose when you're done. Of course, the brew has to be tranferred as "quietly" as possible to eliminate the chance of oxidation at this stage.Nige

[gnef]

If it is still dropping, you definitely want to wait for it to finish fermenting before bottling.Given how slow it is going, it may take a month or more to stabilize.If you like it sweet, then that's what you should do!Now, when you add the priming sugar, you should also expect it to take a while to properly carbonate - could be a couple months even.

[nigel]

If it is still dropping, you definitely want to wait for it to finish fermenting before bottling.Given how slow it is going, it may take a month or more to stabilize.If you like it sweet, then that's what you should do!Now, when you add the priming sugar, you should also expect it to take a while to properly carbonate - could be a couple months even.

I was afraid someone would say that. I'm getting impatient!! Brewed on 1/26, I'd hoped to bottle it this coming week (3 months later), but I guess you're right: I should just be patient. :/It's my first solo brew, and I knew it'd take a long time, but didn't think it'd be another couple months. Oh well, at least I've another in the secondary (gotta update my signature) and one or two more planned....Cheers.

[gnef]

It will definitely be better to let it ferment out completely and wait however long that takes, rather than bottle too early and risk the bottle bombs. It is definitely good you have more beer ready, that way you can take your mind off the current batch, and allow it to be ready when it is ready.Having enough beer on hand was one thing that allowed me to make better beer as I wasn't rushing every batch to drink it. Now I have the opposite problem, I have too much beer on hand!

[nigel]

It will definitely be better to let it ferment out completely and wait however long that takes, rather than bottle too early and risk the bottle bombs. It is definitely good you have more beer ready, that way you can take your mind off the current batch, and allow it to be ready when it is ready.Having enough beer on hand was one thing that allowed me to make better beer as I wasn't rushing every batch to drink it. Now I have the opposite problem, I have too much beer on hand!

'Atta boy! (Assuming you're a boy.) Having a pipeline is better and does wonders for one's patience. I'm only on my second batch now, but it's the move. The wife recently got me a second 5-gallon carboy, so I've my 6-gallon one free for a primary on my next batch, which I'll be making especially and as a surprise for her. Shhhh. Don't anyone tell her!

[jammer]

id just wait it out for a while longer. 1.080 is a decent size beer. more time certainly wont hurt.