Carbonating blues

Guys! I'm out of my mind.....three different batches of the same pale ale recipe. 6.5 pounds of light LME, 4 oz of Centennial hops, 1 oz of Chinook. Five gallons of the best tasting brew ever.

I'm still priming (each bottle by funnel and measuring spoon) with corn sugar. 12 oz bottle gets about 3/4 tsp of sugar each. (Yeah, I know I need to start using a bottling bucket, but I'm not there yet.)

My problem is really inconsistent results in carbonation from batch to batch. After aging the brew awhile, one batch will foam up and fill a 44 ounce tumbler. The next batch, same aging period, same priming, will have hardly any head.

What the heck am I doing wrong?

Jim Karr said:

I'm still priming (each bottle by funnel and measuring spoon) with corn sugar. 12 oz bottle gets about 3/4 tsp of sugar each.

My problem is really inconsistent results in carbonation from batch to batch.

What the heck am I doing wrong?

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Seek the answer in your question and ye shall have no more questions left to answer.

The variation is not between bottles in each batch, but between batches.

Conditioning temps the same?

Cheers!
Justin

Everything is identical from one batch to the next....same water, same ingredients, same equipment, same sanitation, same storage temperature

Jim Karr said:

Everything is identical from one batch to the next....same water, same ingredients, same equipment, same sanitation, same storage temperature

Click to expand...

Oh i see...yeah thats an anomaly for sure.

Jim Karr said:

Everything is identical from one batch to the next....same water, same ingredients, same equipment, same sanitation, same storage temperature

Click to expand...

Yes, Grasshopper, but NOT the SAME AMOUNT OF SUGAR PER BOTTLE!!! That's your problem. You are your own worse enemy by priming each bottle.

Want to solve your problem? Go buy a bottling bucket.

Ever heard of "If you always do what you've always done you'll get the same results everytime"?

Don't want to solve your problem? Continue doing what you've been doing?

Since any food grade bucket can be used for bottling, you might as well just purchase one. Measuring 3/4 tsp per bottle is tough, my spoons come in 1/2 & 1 tsp. If you aren't using actual measuring spoons, it's really easy to be off.

If you're not redy for a bottling bucket yet try the priming tabs. It will be a bit more accurate and eaiser to controll, but a bottling bucket is fairly cheap.