So I’ve been having trouble with my carbonation in bottles.
First of all, I want to stick with bottles and not do kegging. Mind you, I would love to do kegging and forced carb, but wife would kill me if I got any more gear. At least this year. 8)
So here is what I’ve experienced so far:
Fizz drops that come with the kits, give a lot of foam/head and dissipate very quickly. Okay carbonation and consistent, but some style you want less carb and others you want more and its hard to control with the fizz drops.
Adding corn sugar has produced fantastic head retention in comparison with fizz drops. However, its consistently over-carbonating my beers (at least I think I am):
- Here is what happens: when I pour it is almost all foam. When I let it set for 20 minutes it final dissapates but then there isn’t much carbonation in the beer (its all come out). So I’m not sure if this is overcarbonation or something in the process which causes the CO2 to come out of solution too quickly?
- Bottles are pretty consistent throughout the batch, indicating good mixing. I dissolve the sugar first using boiled and cooled water and then add first to bottling bucket, siphon in the beer, mix carefully to avoid oxidation and proceed to bottling.
- I tried low-balling the amount of corn sugar based on NB priming calculator in my latest batch and it still had the same thing happen.
A couple of thoughts I had:
The affect of beer temperature with bottling? I don’t control my temperature past primary fermentation and its warm in my apartment (75-80F). Although I correct for this in the NB priming calculator.
Cooling in the fridge pre-opening. I generally put the beer into the fridge to chill 24hrs before opening. I know that more CO2 will go into solution when its cold than warm. Is it possible there is something funny with cooling and warming of the beer?
Could the amount of headspace in the bottle affect this? I usually try to have minimal headspace in the bottle so I get more beer in the bottle (less the 1in in a 12oz bottle). Less headspace more CO2 in solution? maybe?
To make matters more frustrating my wife has been doing batches of root beer and she is consistently getting UNDER carbonation, and we aren’t sure why either. Different process I know, but its still frustrating.
It sounds like you’re doing everything correctly so that eliminates process. The only thing I can think of is that you are entering a higher volume of beer than you actually have to bottle. This too will lead to over carbonation.
Final volume of beer could be an issue. I don’t measure the amount from the fermentator to the bottling stage, so I might be over/under estimating my volume.
pretty sure I’m at FG. I usually do about 3 weeks in the fermentator and its usually a good solid 2 weeks after primary is finished bubbling. I usually don’t do 2 FG readings to make sure it hasn’t changed but I may now.
Sounds like too much priming sugar. How many volumes are you targeting? NB’s calculator doesn’t quite steer you right with the temperature. Are you entering the current temperature of the beer, or the highest temperature it reached post-fermentation? The calculator asks for the first - it’s actually the second you want to use, though.
Looks like it could be a volume issue. All you need to do is try this again…
“- I tried low-balling the amount of corn sugar based on NB priming calculator in my latest batch and it still had the same thing happen.”
but reduce even further (by about 1.5 tablespoons or so) and I can virtually guarantee great results. Also consider that cane sugar can give you the same results but cheaper than corn sugar. Use about halfway between 1/2 cup and 2/3 cup for 5.0 gallons (5/8 cup or slightly less).
[quote=“dmtaylo2”]Looks like it could be a volume issue. All you need to do is try this again…
“- I tried low-balling the amount of corn sugar based on NB priming calculator in my latest batch and it still had the same thing happen.”
but reduce even further (by about 1.5 tablespoons or so) and I can virtually guarantee great results. Also consider that cane sugar can give you the same results but cheaper than corn sugar. Use about halfway between 1/2 cup and 2/3 cup for 5.0 gallons (5/8 cup or slightly less).[/quote]
Thanks for the tip about cane sugar… I hadn’t thought about that.
I’m bottling this weekend so I will give it another go with even less sugar…
Had a couple batches that didn’t carb as expected: NB’s Bavarian Hefe and Petite Saison. Picked up carb drops, and they worked in the Hefe; opened each bottle and dropped one in, but it overcarbed a little.
Was going to use the rest of the drops on the saison, but was thinking of dropping in a sugar cube instead to keep it from over carbing.
[quote=“CameronBrews”][quote=“dmtaylo2”]Looks like it could be a volume issue. All you need to do is try this again…
“- I tried low-balling the amount of corn sugar based on NB priming calculator in my latest batch and it still had the same thing happen.”
but reduce even further (by about 1.5 tablespoons or so) and I can virtually guarantee great results. Also consider that cane sugar can give you the same results but cheaper than corn sugar. Use about halfway between 1/2 cup and 2/3 cup for 5.0 gallons (5/8 cup or slightly less).[/quote]
Thanks for the tip about cane sugar… I hadn’t thought about that.
I’m bottling this weekend so I will give it another go with even less sugar…[/quote]
Going by weight of priming sugar is much more accurate than trying to eyeball volume. Walmart sells a digital scale for $20. The scale also weighs in grams, great for hop additions. (A good scale is just handy to have for kitchen duties too.)
Are you bottle conditioning warm enough and long enough? 72° to 75°F is a good bottle conditioning temperature. Low ABV ales need at least two weeks, more like three though, of conditioning time. Some beers will need five to six weeks, or longer.
Try refrigerating some of your beers, after a good length of bottle conditioning time, for at least three days before opening. More CO2 will be forced into solution. May eliminate the foamy pour and no CO2 left in the beer itself.
How many ounces of beer actually made it into bottles for the last problem batch? How does this volume compare to the volume entered into the priming calculator?
Keep good notes to use the next time you brew the same beer.
+1 on this! I always cold crash prior to bottling. When I started using a priming calculator I would take the current temperature of the beer, which would vary widely depending on how long since I had pulled the carboy out of the fridge. Not surprisingly my carbonation levels were very erratic until I read a post like this one. Since I started using the post-fermentation pre-fridge temperature in the priming calculator, my carbonation level has been fairly consistent.
