Bottle carbonating

Northern Brewer General
1

So I bottled the dry stout on 2/19 with the gold caps. Used the recommended amount of priming sugar from Beersmith which came out to .49 cup so I used a half cup or a smidgen more. I now feel like I should have weighed it out on a scale and will do so next time I bottle.

Anyway, I also filled a water bottle, squeezed all the air out and put the lid on. The water bottle is tight with about 2 inches of space in the top now. I put a six pack in the fridge Friday and cracked open a couple bottles today with my middle son. The beer tasted great but no head at all, very little evident carbonation. There was a thin layer of yeast at the bottom of the bottles. We’ll probably finish off the six before the night is over just to test for difference in carbonation.

Bottling the Innkeeper tomorrow afternoon after 48 hours cold crashing at 42*. I’ll definitely use SWMBO’s fancy digital kitchen scale to weigh out the corn sugar for that one. My first bottling experience is helping me justify a kegging system…

2

:cheers: Kegging is great.

You’re under two weeks for your bottle conditioning, give it some more time.

Just a side note, alot of water bottles are pretty thin, a soda bottle might be a better idea with carbonation.

3

Although the plastic bottle is solid, it still takes some time for the CO2 to build up enough to be in the solution. You are only 12 days in. Give it another week and try 1.

4

Anything is justified if you’re doing it for science! Enjoy. 8)

5

[quote=“mrv”]:cheers: Kegging is great.

You’re under two weeks for your bottle conditioning, give it some more time.

Just a side note, alot of water bottles are pretty thin, a soda bottle might be a better idea with carbonation.[/quote]

I bottled a lager a month or so ago and tried one after two weeks: some carbonation, almost no head. After four weeks: way better.

6

soooo I was in the same spot… only with an Irish Red, ( :cheers: ) but i just needed more time. If you are doing a stout I would say 4-6 weeks for carb… Mine took 3 weeks to be just right and have a nice rich head.

7

I’m having the same experience with all my beers. The head retention seems weak. I have 3 different beers bottle conditioning, no kegs. A cream ale conditioned for about 5 weeks, an Irish red about 4, and a chocolate milk stout at 2. None seem to consistently have a good head to them. I am wondering if I mastered a no-head pour in college drinking all that Natty Light from tossed around kegs and it has just become habit.

The strange thing that gets me is that I have been trying at least one beer after each week of conditioning. The first beer I tried from each batch (after only 1 week of conditioning) had a nice thick head. After that, the rest of the beers seemed to have little to no head. Am I that (un)lucky to pick out the 1 beer that is condition ready out of 48 beers 3 times in a row?!?

8

Just a heads up…dish washing detergent or rinse residue will kill beer head. Try rinsing good in cold water before pouring the next beer.