My beers have been coming out waaayyy too flat. It’s ruining the taste and driving me crazy. I’ve gone by the recipe that came with my extract kits (usually calls for 2/3 or 3/4 cup priming sugar). I’ve also tried to go by NB’s priming sugar calculator. Everything seems to be under-carbonated. I tried rousing the yeast in the bottles and moving them to a warmer spot, as well. Should I just use the whole 5 oz packet for a 5 gallon batch? 5 oz is way more than the 2/3-3/4 cup the recipes call for. Any advice?
the 5 oz packs of priming sugar seem to come out right for me but it could be personal pref. chilling the beer will help the carbonation absorb in to the beer. also shaking the bottles will help keep the yeast in suspension and help carbonate it, I only have limited knowledge so others will be of more help. Cheers
Assuming you are bottling - you might also have a poor seal on your caps. Some types of bottles and cappers don’t work well together, like my red wing capper and Bass bottles.
How flat is flat? Do you hear a hiss when opening the bottle? Is there any foam or bubbles?
Using all 5oz won’t hurt anything, but you’ll end up with a VERY carbonated beer. 2/3 to 3/4 cup should give you reasonable levels of carbonation. If you’re not getting at least some carbonation at this level , something is wrong. Capping problems are a possibility. Are you giving them adequate time at room temp to bottle condition? 3 weeks is recommended, but 2 is usually enough. Also, you can keep the bottles a little warmer than you do primary to speed things up, upper 70s is fine. Lower temps will work too, just takes longer. Are you sure your priming sugar is adequately mixed with the beer before bottling? If not, you could have some flat bottles and some very carbed bottles.
+1 to all of this
Use a priming sugar calculator for the best results, dissolve your priming sugar in a small amount of boiling water, stir it into the beer gently, and be patient
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/