I recently bottled 5-gal of Oktoberfest, NB Recipe SKU: U1350. In the past I’ve always added the full 5-oz packet of corn sugar during the bottling process, at times it seemed that my bottles would be over carbonated the longer they aged. So this time I only used 2/3 cup of the corn sugar to try and reduce the carbonation level. Unfortunately this approach didn’t seem to work for me, the beer doesn’t have enough carbonation. Is there something I can do to increase the carbonation level at this point? Can I add Prime Dose Carbonation Capsules and re-cap the bottles? Can I re-bottle the beer and add more corn sugar? Or am I just screwed? Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
Before opening the bottles I would just suggest longer and warmer conditioning time for a 1.058 beer. I wouldn’t expect the beer to be fully carbonated until they have had six weeks at 70°F.
How long have the bottles been conditioning and at what temperature?
Bottles getting overcarbonated as they age sounds to me like you may have been bottling them too early. NB gives a brew schedule for their kits, but if you ferment on the cool side you could easily need more time than that before fermentation is truly done. It slows down a lot near the end. My rule of thumb is to wait till the beer falls clear before I take it out of the primary.
For this batch, I agree with flars: you may just need more time.
Guys, thanks for your replies. Once I bottled the beer it sat in cases in my dining room, about 68 deg environment. After about 1-week I then moved them into the basement where it is cooler, not sure on the temp but if I had to guess I would say about 60 deg.
Below are the specifics on the beer itself:
Brew date: 11/22/14
OG: 1.08
Secondary date: 12/7/14
Bottle Date: 2/7/15
FG: 1.014
ABV: 8.66%
A big beer that sat a long time in secondary. That can be a bit hard on the yeast; some brewers add a bit more at bottling time just for insurance. I have only done that a few times, but those have been in situations like you have. For now, I’d just recommend you bring the beer back to a warmer place and hope it will finish in the next few weeks. Not a lot of good options if that doesn’t work.
OK, thanks for the advice!
