Carbonation in fermenter
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Yeast produce CO2 while doing their job. Not uncommon to have some bubbles in a sample.
This is perfectly normal. When the yeast ferment the sugars, they produce ethanol and co2... the co2 stays in solution until no more will dissolve, and then it becomes bubbles. Once bubbling is done, there is still a saturated solution of co2 in the beer. Spin the hydrometer in the sample tube a few times to get rid of a bunch of gas.
I got worried that the gas wasn't getting out or something.... I always hear ppl say that the beer should be flat. So does this mean that fermentation is still occuring and I should let the beer keep going and leave it alone? Will all the carb be gone when it is complete or will there still be carb?
there may be a little carbonation, the only way to know if fermentation is done is by consistant gravity readings a few days apart, if say you measure today, 1.014 then again 2 days from now 1.014, it's probably done. just depends on how low it should ferment down to. i just used 1.014 as an example.
No, it's not really carbonated, it has CO2 in it, it's not the same thing.
The process of carbonation is when a large amount of co2 is forced into solution, via either force carbing with a keg, OR The yeast eat the sugar solution you feed them. They "fart" co2.
The CO2 gets trapped in the bottle, so it has a couple choices...blow the top of the bottle (the cap) Blow up the bottle, or seek the path of least resistance and dive back into the beer, and get absorbed (carbonated) by the liquid. Since the cap is pretty tight (and ingenious in it's design) and most bottles don't have any flaws and can maintain the pressure, the gas more often than not, takes the third option and goes back into the liquid and is absorbed by it.
What you have is just a tiny amount of co2 in there from fermentation but not the same thing.
In fact wine makers talk about it all the time, they talk about degassing to release it. You need a very very tight place like a keg or a bottle and a lot of co2 farting/volume of liquid in the space in order for it to carbonate.
Just relax....if you are taking a reading just tap the hydrometer test jar a few times.
The process of carbonation is when a large amount of co2 is forced into solution, via either force carbing with a keg, OR The yeast eat the sugar solution you feed them. They "fart" co2.
The CO2 gets trapped in the bottle, so it has a couple choices...blow the top of the bottle (the cap) Blow up the bottle, or seek the path of least resistance and dive back into the beer, and get absorbed (carbonated) by the liquid. Since the cap is pretty tight (and ingenious in it's design) and most bottles don't have any flaws and can maintain the pressure, the gas more often than not, takes the third option and goes back into the liquid and is absorbed by it.
What you have is just a tiny amount of co2 in there from fermentation but not the same thing.
In fact wine makers talk about it all the time, they talk about degassing to release it. You need a very very tight place like a keg or a bottle and a lot of co2 farting/volume of liquid in the space in order for it to carbonate.
Just relax....if you are taking a reading just tap the hydrometer test jar a few times.
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