Flip top bottles? What's the deal with the seal?

Last Monday I had the day off and decided to bottle my Witbier. I was concerned about timing, after all Saturday marked the 1 week mark, and the airlock stopped bubbling right about then. Would waiting a couple of days hurt or harm the beer?

I found this discussion to be very timely and relevant. How long do you let your beer ferment before you bottle? Apparently 2 weeks is the new conventional wisdom, but I suppose it really all depends on final gravity and such... Speaking of gravity, I just want to repeat, I love my thief!

I'm happy to say, this particular batch of beer has gone off without a hitch. By far the easiest brewing and bottling days so far. I just hope the final product is good, time will tell. I'm chomping at the proverbial bit waiting for a taste, but I'll be good and let the beer condition for another week or so before I crack one open. Which leads me to a question...


I've been using these flip top bottle now for a while now. The last 3 batches I've made have all found a home in the flip tops. As far as I'm concerned they beat the crap out of recycled bottles and that accursed two handed caper that came with my brewing equipment. But it's not all cotton candy and walks on the beach with these things. I would say a less than acceptable percentage of my bottles fail to provide a good seal, and some of my beer ends up flat.

One of my buddies tried to make me feel better a few of weeks ago when I opened a couple bottles of my left over Holiday Ale, in hopes of clearing the batch out and moving on with my life, only to find that 2 out of the three I opened were a little flat. He said, "Hey, it's not that bad, its like a cask ale or something..." Not quite, it's just a flat mediocre Holiday Ale...

A friend at work suggested wetting the seals before capping the bottles, but that sounds like an opportunity to introduce something to the bottles that will kill the beer. I don't know, maybe I should say to hell with it and move straight to kegging... But there's something to be said about the portability and portion control offered by bottles.

So, does anyone out there use the flip top bottles? And if so, have you had a problem getting good seals? What did you do to resolve the issue? I could use a little advice, but perhaps I should have asked this before bottling my latest batch... DOH!

Holiday Ale is now fermenting

I originally intending on brewing up some Holiday Ale with some buddies for Teach a Friend to Brew Day... But none of my friends showed much interest... Oddly enough, they're willing to drink it when it's done... Interesting... (Lazy b@st@rds! LOL!)

So I brewed solo this past Sunday, although Dave and Erik did come over to eat pizza, drink beer and do the Sunday Night Football thing.

Dave, Erik & I before we all started to hit the gym and drink more lite beer
(Photo from the big Boston trip)

In fairness, Dave helped out by securing my funnel/filter while I poured the wort in the carboy. Sounds minor, but it was a big help, thanks Dave... And while Erik may not have helped with the brewing, he at least called the pizza delivery place, no wait he didn't do that either... Well, he did provide a half a bag of Doritos... I guess that's something...

At any rate, I didn't get any photos or videos this time around, the wife had the camera and was out seeing a girl friend act/sing in a play, and we all know what she did to the other camera...

About the recipe
This beer recipe is pretty cool because it included the most malt I've used in a kit to date. Not 1 but 2 cans of malt extract, a much larger bag or crushed crystal extract than what is typical, an additional bag of crushed chocolate and black patent malt and a spice pack that included sweet orange peel, cinnamon, cardamon seed and ginger root. Plus bittering and finishing hops. This should be a very flavorful beer, and according to the directions, it should be between 8% and 9% ABV. Should be a fun beer to enjoy by the fire place next month!

Houston, we may have a problem or two or three or four!
Here's the thing, the directions were a little vague at times, so I kinda had to guess when to add the spices, I put them in during the last 5-10 minutes of the boil, hopefully that was right. I baed the decision on other similar recipes I found via google. If it's on the internet, it must be true! Right?

The other thing is, I put the bittering hops in a little late. I hope that doesn't harm the brew too much... I got a little distracted with pizza... DOH! Any of you more experienced brewers out there think there will be much impact if the hops were added about 15-20 minutes late? Feel free to leave a comment and school me up...

I also had a couple of short boil overs! Damn that tasty pizza and ample supply of cold beer, so very distracting! Again, these were short, minor boil overs. I was getting a little sloppy, but I think all will be well, I hope...

I will say this much, the airlock has been going bubbling like crazy, which is a good sign... But, my boiler is on the fritz, and the temp dropped to 64 degrees in the house today. None the less, the airlock is bubbling away, which is a bit of a relief. I was concerned the temp fluctuation would have ruined things, but the beer appears to be doing well. Fingers are crossed, stay tuned!

Thoughts on Yeast & Ice on Bottling Day Eve

I'm still concerned about my yeast and their lethargic efforts... So I'm reaching out to the beertools.com community for advice. Below is what I posted in the forums over there this morning.

Lazy Yeast? Please Help!

I brewed a batch of English Pale Ale (From a Brewer's Best Kit) last Sunday. My airlock stopped bubbling on Wed. Or so I thought. Yesterday, Sat, Upon closer look, I was getting 1 or 2 bubbles subtly in about a minute.

But here's the deal, there's very little foam on top of the beer in the glass carboy. Shouldn't there be a ton of foam?

The funnel I got from my brew supply store that I used to dump the wort into the carboy on brew day had a strainer, so most of the "clumpy stuff" did not make it into the carboy, was that my mistake? Did I short change the beer on some yeast or other important ingredient for the fermentation process?

Should I add more yeast or something? Please let me know, THANKS!

I hope some brew-guru reads that and offers me some sage advice. Were the yeast lazy because my beer kit was a 4 - 6 months old? Was it that damned funnel with the strainer? Or was it something else I did on brew day that slapped the yeast into a coma? And what the hell is yeast any way?

What is it?

Yeast belongs to the fungi family. It is a very small single cell micro-organism. Like all other fungi it doesn't have the power to produce food by photosynthesis. Instead it ferments carbohydrates (sugars) to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol...

Bottom line, there's tiny monsters in your beer... Frightening isn't it? But back to business...

Did I make a mistake?

I wonder if I cooled the wort down too slowly, or not enough, before adding the pitched yeast? As stated previously, I don't have a chiller, and depend on the kitchen sink filled with water and ice. What about adding ice directly to the wort as part of the water required? Would that work? Here's a tip I picked up on line that I will need to read more up on and perhaps try with my next brew...

If you don't want to invest in the wort chiller I mentioned before, here's another trick for cooling the wort a bit more quickly than an ice bath.

If you follow the steps, you'll notice that you start with 2.5 gallons of water (step 1), into which you put some malt extract - typically a quart or two (step 3) - and then somehow manage to pour 5 gallons of cooled mixture into the fermentation bucket.

What actually happens is that you pour about three gallons of cooled wort into the fermentation bucket, and then fill it the rest of the way to the 5 gallon line with water.

The trick I wanted to mention is that you can actually use ice instead of some or even all of the water. One pound of ice is equal to one pint of water. So once the wort comes off the boil, pour it into the fermentation bucket and pour two five pound bags of ice in there. The ice will melt, becoming five quarts (1.25 gallons) of water. Top it off to the 5 gallon mark and you're ready to go. - scottb (found here)

Does this work? Any one else have an opinion? Could there be any harm in using this method?

UPDATE! The Yeast Still Has the Farts!

In my previous post I mentioned, with some genuine concern, that my current batch of beer (still in the fermentation stage) is no longer producing bubbles in the airlock. In other words, the yeast is no longer farting... *GULP*

I posted this in the hopes of fishing for some advice, but either no one read my blog today, or no one had any hints to share. So I was going to wait it out and press on with the next phase on Monday all while hoping for the best.

The wife and I are having company tonight, so I had to pitch in with some house cleaning this afternoon. Sadly the brewery smell is no longer in the kitchen, it left some time shortly after last Sunday night. So cleaning was fairly quick and painless. On my way downstairs to the do some vacuuming, I decided to check in with the beer, in the hopes that perhaps the yeast woke up and started to fart again.

There's it was sitting there all alone in the dark, with no one or nothing for company but the box fan I set up to keep it cool. It still proudly wore the yellow beach towel I wrapped around it to block any sun that may seep in through the window, blowing in the fan's breeze, it looked more like a super hero's cape than a beer making accessory. Sorry, I how long was I out just then?


Here's the thing, I thought I caught the airlock bubble once out of the corner of my eye. So I sat there on the floor staring lovingly at the glass carboy, like a father waiting for his son's first steps. And sure enough about 45 seconds later, another subtle bubble appeared. This thing may not be a bust yet... Stay tuned!!!


Cheers!

What happens when the yeast stop farting?

Seeing that airlock bubble is a good thing. It lets you know "stuffs happening", the wort is becoming beer... I always think of the bubbles as yeast farts. Gassy yeast are happy yeast, and happy yeast make happy beer. At least that's my theory...

Most home brewing directions and how-to books I've read say the bubbles should keep coming for about 5 - 7 days. In this case, I brewed last Sunday, and by Wednesday, the bubbles stopped. I'll admit, I'm a little concerned...

I was so concerned that I called the guy at my local home brew supply shop. According to him, I shouldn't be worried. But he admitted he was more of a wine making guy, I guess the beer guy was out sick or something, he really didn't say...

So the wine guy said I should stick to the plan, and come Monday (which is an off day at work for me! Yeah!) I should take a reading with the hydrometer, and if was where it should be I could bottle. So, I'm going to stand bye and see what happens.

Unless someone out there has a better suggestion? It's only Sat morning, if I need to do something to save this beer, please chime in and let me know...

First time brewer goes flat in front of Jim Koch

Michael S. Marsh over at the Cigar Aficionado recently gave home brewing a try at the urging of the one and only Jim Koch. The good folks from Sam Adams sent Mr. Marsh a home brew kit to promote their 2007 Samuel Adams American Homebrew Challenge.

When the time came to show off his creation to Mr. Koch here's what happened...

He was genuinely happy to see that I had attempted what he has been so successful at, and immediately cracked one open. His first impression was encouraging. From the aroma, he was surprised that it was my first homebrew. He noted hops, citrus and a flowery note.

So far so good, but then...

Then came his first sip and it was back down to earth for this homebrewer. It wasn't that it tasted bad, in fact, he said, it tasted very good compared to thousands of homebrews he'd sampled in the past, just that it was lacking carbonation. He questioned if I had properly sealed the caps as he felt gas might have escaped. It should be more carbonated, he said, and suggested that adding an extra teaspoon of priming sugar could help, but most likely it was because I hadn't crimped the bottle caps tight enough.

Damn. I was positive those caps were on as secure as they could be. Oh well, I was happy with the results.

Happy with the results? He's delusional! Damn, Mr. Koch went easy on him! LOL! I'm just kidding! But that must have been a little embarrassing, falling short in the face of a beer making legend. Live and learn I guess...

Round two was a disastrous brew

I had done it, I had brewed a great batch of beer, despite my clumsiness and technical issues. I look back and consider the pride in my mother's eyes when the entire family would rant and rave about a wonderful meal she cooked. I experienced a similar sense of satisfaction seeing friends and family enjoying my beer. Then I remembered Grandma's special "root beer"...

My parents never brewed, but there was the legend of Grandma's famous "root beer" that may not have been "root beer" at all. Rumor has it that her infamous beverage was more "beer" than "root" and that it packed a serious kick. Was this just some old family joke passed down by my cousins, or was Grandma a closet home brewer? I'll never know. And if my second attempt at brewing is any indication, brewing simply does not run in the family...

My second batch of beer was a complete failure. I think I had some handicapped yeast this time. The recipe kit I used (I brain dumped what brand it was, so don't ask...) came with a "slap pack" of yeast. You slap the pack and the yeast activates. You know you're good to go when the packet bloats up. But something may have gone wrong with the yeast. The amount of bubbles produced in the airlock was dismal, but it may have been an issue of sanitation, or something else.

I didn't get past my issues with the hydrometer either, I just can't get a clear reading. This should be simple, but for some reason it's not for me. I really could use a digital hydrometer. But does anyone use those for brewing? I've only found expensive scientific digital hydrometers, I need something cheap and effective. If anyone is reading this and can help, please leave a comment...

I also had some difficulty with the bottling process. Those damn caps didn't want to go on this time, and I'm not sure if it was because I was using a different brand of cap, or if it was something else. I sad it before and I'll say it again, two handed cappers suck!

Next time I'll use the "Grolsch" style bottles with the flip caps. No more cleaning smelly old empties, and no more crappy two handed capers and cheapo bottle caps!

Bottom line, when I opened the first few beers at the end of the entire process, they tasted OK. Not great, but not bad, just OK. But then I opened a few more and they either tasted like crap, or were flat. Some smelled terrible. I'm convinced the flat beers had something to do with poor capping on my behalf. The beers that tasted and smelled funny may be another issue all together. At least I think. If anyone reading this has some insight, I'm all ears...

I didn't check each individual beer. But after opening a few crappy bottles in a row, I gave up on the entire batch, and gave up on brewing up until now.

So, my wife is about to leave the country for about 3 months on military duty. Yes, we're both in the military. I'm going to take that time to try my hand at brewing once again.

Stay tuned for batch number three. Let's hope I can do Grandma proud this time around...