Questions On Stuff I don't Understand???

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Hey guys just going over a recipe for my First IPA!! and if I am to do a 23L batch of Beer then my calculations are for a 6Gallon batch? and if so is it ok just to add the 5Gallon + 1Gallon ingredients together to work out a 6Gallon batch?

Second question...If dry hopping is optional and says "you can add a handful" what measurement is that? and always with about 4-5 days left in fermentation left you do it?

Third question.....How do you work out the IBU (bitterness?) level if not stated in recipe?

Last question......How many packets of dry yeast US.05 would you use? basing it on adding the 5G + 1G together, it would be 1 and a half??

Cheers Guys appreciate it. 

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Do you racking cane works better over a bottle tube which attaches to the tap of fermenter? For reducing the amount of sediment you pick up. I am going to cold crash on Wednesday and bottle on Saturday think that amount of time will help? Hop bags too would help even whole boiling does that reduce trub?

[Cain Harland]

4 days will help heaps. I just bottle or keg from the tap but with the racing cane you could start filling from the middle rather than bottom then move it down as the level drops and avoid the trub a bit more. After cold crash the trub is pretty solid anyway and not that easy to disturb so I wouldn't buy one specially for the job.

Plenty of arguments for and against the bag, in the bag the hops are contained and cant make it into your bottle, with out the bag they have more exposure to the wort so you can get a bit more out of them. I bag for dry hop and use a hop spider (bag thats held open at the top) for boil hops until 10 mins, any thing after they floats free. If you are going to bag just make sure its a decent size. The hop sock is pretty good, its a good size, not huge like a grain bag and the mesh is a bit courser than a grain bag which lets liquid flow through more freely but still keeps the hops. The hops expand as they take on liquid and if they are packed into a small bag you won't get much out of them.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

That hop-sock you put up link for, is that the type you use for your fermenter? seems really long? do you attach it to the top or outside so doesn't sink? I dry hopped on Monday afternoon, and want to bottle on Saturday.....which day would you cold crash? I was thinking Wednesday afternoon start it?? cheers.

[Cain Harland]

I used to put an empty baby bottle in to make it float so I could fish it out before bottling but these days I just chuck it in and let it sink. I haven't quite figured out optimal timing between dry hop and cold crash but weds sounds reasonable. 

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Yeah that's what I thought too but just started it right this minute down to 3C so I get a good time of 4 days cold crash, I dry hopped yesterday afternoon so over 24 hours ago with 42grams of cascade, is it too early? cheers. So about 31hours total...dry hopping before cold crashing.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

I also sent you a link thru a message to your inbox on another hop bag, could you check it out please

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Hey on bottling day is it ok to start bottling  the beer at cold crash temp?

[Craig Howard]

I dont think thats a problem as long as you let those bottles come up to a warm temperature afterwards so that the yeast and the carb sugars will work and begin conditioning.

In my limited brewing experience I have bottled from the fermenter keg after fining for 2 days.  The brew is warm as I bottle it with carb drops  (eg 20 degrees) and so when these go into their boxes..I just keep them in a warmish space with a couple of blankets over them.  They seem to maintain that temp pretty well due to the fermenation going on in all the bottles ( secondary). One brew I used the heat pad under it all for just a week due to really cold ambient temps at the time ( 6-8)

[Harry]

Yes, but it can change the amount of CO2 in solution already so you may need to use a smaller amount of sugar than when bottling at room temp

[Cain Harland]

I usually bottled cold when I bottled assuming less sediment will make it into the bottle. Harrys point about CO2 is interesting (cold beer absorbs and holds on to CO2 much more) but you have had it in the fermenter for quite a while so there probably isn't much (or any) left.

I recon the measures on those bottling spoons are a bit too generous anyway and slightly over carbonate most beers, I've taken to using the 350ml one for a 500ml bottle and its still heaps. Its your first brew so you probably just want to stick to the measure.

[Sam DT]

Bring it up to at least 12 or so or adjust the amount of sugar you add. Bottling with standard sugar amounts at crash temperature is a recipe for over carbonation. The solubility of co2 increases almost exponentially as temperature decreases, it approximately doubles between 20 and 0 degrees.

I did this deliberately recently to carb a Berliner Weiss - they require around 2.7 volumes vs the standard 2.1 - 2.4 worked a treat. On the flipside II also over carbed an entire batch of lager earlier in the year by forgetting to warm my beer before bottling...
.

[Cain Harland]

Very interesting I wouldn't have thought there was enough CO2 or pressure in a cold crashed fermenter (assuming fermentation was fully completed at normal temp before cold crash and you not pressure fermenting) to make any real difference. Guess I was wrong.