bottling and sanitation question

[Waldo]

I sanitized a bunch of bottles in the oven the way palmer described in his book (350 for 60 minutes). I put them in with tinfoil over the mouth of the bottle. How long will these keep if I leave the tin foil in place? I was going to bottle yesterday but my gravity is still dropping. I hopping it is almost done and I can bottle in a couple days...I don't want to recook these bottles if I can avoid it.

[speed]

as long as they are covered you will be ok, nothing is going to get in.

[Waldo]

sweet, I will be testing my beer again today and as long as it hasn't dropped anymore I will be bottling later on - Thanx broths

[Bugeater]

sweet, I will be testing my beer again today and as long as it hasn't dropped anymore I will be bottling later on - Thanx broths

The above quote raised a bit of a red flag in my mind. It looks like you are planning to bottle as soon as the gravity stops dropping. Even though the gravity has stopped dropping, the yeast is still working. At that point the yeast is metabolizing many of the esters produced during fermentation. I would hold off bottling for at least 3 days after fermentation has appeared to stop. I generally wait at least a week before kegging or bottling. This allows the yeast to clean up after itself and give you a better tasting beer.

Wayne

[Mills]

Good advice Bug +1

Mills

[Waldo]

Thanks Bug, I will let it sit for a few more days if the the gravity has stopped. It's my first cal common that I have made and The yeast (wyeast 1220) is taking a bit to finish up.

[brewinhard]

Wise advice Bug...

I always let my average strength ales go for a total of 2 wks in the primary to be sure they have conditioned well. Stronger beers and lagers can go for 3 wks or more if needed.

[Waldo]

I brewed this at the end of November and then racked to secondary about three weeks after, I have it sitting in my bulkhead now because that is the coldest place I have right now for lagering. I have never used a lager yeast before, and I didn't take into account how much slower they are at the end of fermentation.
This batch is all mucked anyway. I finally have an outdoor burner with a ten gallon pot and it boils much more vigarously than I am accustomed to. So I boiled off to much volume and then I did not add back water to bring the volume up (and the gravity down)...so I want to get this bottled to free up the fermenter. Of course this could be an excuse to by another fermenter...and a keg....and another burner
I will just have to have patience i guess. 2011 is the year of tightening up my technique and learning my system. hanks for the advice. -Bill