Stumped
Ever have a beer that just won’t hold carbination. So we have 40 bbls of beer in a 60bbl brite tank that won’t hold a steady carbination level. There is no leaks on the tank and has steady head pressure. We checked the carb stone before filling the tank. All is fine with it. The temperature is 30 degrees. Checked with zahm and carbination was 2.4 volumes. Then ran 3 bbl in kegs and checked carbination level again with the zahm and was 1.9 volumes. Head pressure is holding at 15 psi and nothing changed there and again no leaks in the tank. Borrowed a zahm from or friends brewery and checked to make sure it wasnt it ours and ours and thiers matched the same reading. So thought co2 issues but carbonated 20 bbls of beer with same co2 tanks. We thought ok its not carbinating all the way through so we let it sit in brite for two days and checking carb and head presure all is holding. Then after running a few kegs checked and lost carbinations again. Has any one ever had this issue and how did you solve it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know alot of us here are just home brewers but any theories would help
You said you checked your stone. Did you check your wetting pressure?
What style of beer? Beers high in oils (hop oils, oils from coffee, etc) can cause carbonation retention issues unless you break the surface tension.
Also, did you switch pressure gauges to see if the brite’s is accurate?
It seems ridiculous you can’t carb the brew… Even water will carb… Not wanting to run over some of the same old ground… A wardrobe issue?(equipment) Yes, solubility in oil is a tough cookie… but there can’t be that much from the grist… unless the gauge had an oil face that leaked into the batch? City water also had some… Petrol leaking in somewhere… You can’t get it from pumps, hoses… A natural mineral oil from an outside source…
Whats the other buzz kill… I wasn’t thinking wife either… Very hoppy brew? Something sprayed/mingled with the hops? Sneezles61
Its a ipa. We checked every thing the zahm the user all three of us took reading. Head pressure. Sprayed for leaks. Swithed valves. Tried a friends zahm. Its not that hoppy beer even though its ipa enough for the oils to hinder carbonation. We brewed it and carbed it before. The strange thing is even lost of carb running small canning run. Its like the beers not fully carbed like eight bbls in and then is flat. Nothing leaking. Tank holding pressure makes no sense
There is one thing we did dry hop it this time with cryo hops. We didn’t the last batch. I know the oil content in cryo is higher. Still wouldnt think that would change how it carbed though
I assume this is the same bbl and brite you have been using and not a new, bigger one? If your volume height changed your delta p increased which means you’d have to hit it with a higher psi.
Also, are you convinced that your CO2 source gauge is accurate?
Could it be pinholes in the co2 line. So it loses co2 true there. I would try a different co2 reg as well. And the co2 tank. Could be. The tank valve. There is a teflon seat in there. The seat pops out. We have it at work with a oxygen bottle. Could not draw enough. O2. For filling a nitrox tank. Went way to slow. Just a thought
Just spit-balling but could there have been some residual cleaner in the tank or not fully rinsed? Vaugely along these lines:
I’m not much help with brewing on that scale but I did learn something. Had to Google zahm A.K.A. a Zahm & Nagel CO2 volume meter.
If its the same equipment your using all the time without problems I would guess it’s recipe based. I know some of my beers carbonate faster than than others and some hold carbonation longer. I’m sure it is exaggerated by scale. Was the prefillng process the same. Did the previous beer leave something behind. Doesn’t sound like you had anything crazy in this batch. Maybe it was the new hops or the way they were packed.
Reread the original post. Is the carbonation holding in the kegged and canned beer or is it showing a loss there as well?
I feel your pain. I have a sour saison on gas almost a month and it’s not taking on carbonation. Little different from your situation @damian_winter but frustrating all the same
Sorry friends i been busy busy. So here the just of everything. I finally figured out the problem and been playing alittle catch up. The problem was a glycol issue. We had it worked on a few weeks before and on the 40 bbl and 20 bbl brite tank only have two cooling belts and what was happen was the beer below was reading the correct temp at the sample port and above the belt was near freezing. And could not disolve the co2.
Well now I’m stumped. I thought cold temperatures helped absorb co2
It does but when ice crystals form it won’t dissolve and the co2 was rising to the top of the brite. Had good head pressure
So the gas won’t mingle with crystals… Those poor girls… Sneezles61
