I had an issue with under-carbonating, which was solved when I switched from sugar pills to dissolving sugar in boiling water and waited longer to refrigerate. That worked perfectly for my next 2 batches (both over 9%ABV), but on my most recent one (ABV 6.3%) all but one of my bottles fizzled out the top and I lost almost half of the volume due to over carbonation. Taste-wise it was perfect though. Would appreciate any thoughts as to where I went wrong.
As far as amounts go, I brew 2.5gal batches so I dissolve 1/4 cup sugar in 1/2 cup of boiling water.
There is no one size fits all sugar ratios. I recommend you use the priming calculator offered by our host.
It takes into account the style and the temperature of the beer.
It may be that your yeast was not 100% done fermenting so it got going again with the priming sugar and then, now woken up, kept on going and finished your beer. Or you have an infection of something like Brett. When I find myself in this situation the thing that helps most is long periods of time in the fridge (minimum of 3 days) before opening. The longer it is in there the less explosive it becomes as more CO2 is dissolved into my tasty beverage.
I tried to find this photo that shows the same beer and the effects on its head based on days in the fridge. I cannot find it but it would have been an excellent illustration that time matters.
As @squeegeethree mentioned the yeast could have stalled out a bit and when racking it to the bottling bucket rousing the yeast restarted fermentation. This can occur when you use a highly flocculant yeast; it floccs out before finishing the job.
Another cause could be incomplete mixing of the priming sugar. Wouldn’t surprise me if you have some over carbed beers and some under carbed beers.
Good point. I have taken to stirring vigorously with my bottling wand in my bottling bucket. I put the priming sugar in the bottling bucket first, racking stirs it up somewhat and then i work on it some more with the wand. Also @juanitalou 1/2 cup of water does not seem like enough. I use a whole pint (might as well get a free beer out of it) and I still notice residual sugars on my pot as I clean it up. As @loopie_beer points out getting the yeast up and about via racking makes it active again yeast is also lazy and prefers simple sugars. When making big beers with adjuncts I have taken to adding the adjuncts after the yeast has done it’s job on the malt. Supposedly this allows the tired yeast to do its job correctly before pigging out on chips and falling asleep on the couch.
This all makes so much sense. I had put most of the beer in The fridge less than 24 hours before this happened (at a beer tasting I was hosting of godamn course) but the bottle that had been in the fridge a few days didn’t have this issue. Thanks so much for the good humored advice. I love this forum
I agree with the advice you got above but would counsel you to be careful how “vigorously” you stir. You don’t want to introduce oxygen to your beer just prior to bottling. Putting the sugar solution into the bottling bucket and racking the beer in after is a good way to mix it. Stirring every 6 bottles or so helps to keep it mixed but try to to create any bubbles with you stir.
Also you don’t mention taking a gravity reading prior to bottling… always do a couple of readings within a few days to make sure you’re reached terminal gravity and the yeast isn’t still working. If you bottle too soon you could get something worse than foamy beers. Bottle bombs are no bueno!
Bottling always seemed messy to me too. One of the reasons I don’t do it anymore. Some of the bottlers on here may have more suggestions but the main thing is no splashing or creating bubbles in the beer after fermentation is complete. So if you use a racking cane or siphon be sure the tubing is connected well and doesn’t suck air. Careful gentle stirring to avoid making bubbles or foam.
More to @dannyboy58 's point, some of the remainder of your bottles,EDIT (you may have implied they’re all gone now, one gallon batch?) may in fact be at some risk of becoming explosive…I’ve had this happen before once, with a beer that wasn’t done fermenting, FINAL GRAVITY was about 1.021, and it should have been much lower. But I was young(er) and reckless and …I’d get them all cold and be careful opening them, goggles and gloves might be good(not kidding)…
When I stir vigorously i’m creating a whirlpool but not a frothy beating. I’ve never experienced oxygenation in anything but a very long stored stout. If you drink your beer, and it’s only 2.5g, you should not encounter origination.
Do you experience it as a cardboard taste or are you more likely to experience it as a loss of hoppiness or perhaps a sherry like quality. I have never had the cardboard descriptor, I have had, I suppose, loss of hoppiness, and in an old stout I have had the hint of sherry. With 2.5 gallons you have roughly 26 beers. I will mosdef drink those before they oxidize
Subdued hops flavor and aroma mostly on the more recent one a couple years ago. An IPA I was racking to the keg and turned my back on, then had to restart the auto siphon… Cardboard flavor but very mild.
I have had the sherry like quality in much older bottled beers. I have a belgian dark strong that’s about 5 years old now and starting to exhibit a sherry like flavor. Likely oxidation but it’s pretty high abv so you don’t mind it so much after a pint. Adds to the character of the beer. Not so much in other styles so luckily I’ve learned since then.
I seldom bottle directly from the fermenter now. Mostly closed transfer to a keg then bottle from there if I want to save something. Much better results long term. A doppelbock I bottled off the keg 3 years ago is at it’s peak right now.
Oxidation matters and will rear it’s ugly head. You may avoid it’s worst affects through quick comsumption or heavy carbonation in kegged beers but some palates will recognize it very early on in bottled beers.
sometimes it is even more obvious. Brownish to purple coloration, not infection, from oxidation, from exposure to oxygen due to the particular process required to make this style.
A few months ago I was talking about dark disgusting oxidized homebrewed NEIPA which can happen… even commercially
Sneezles61
