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**dfc** · 09-23-2010, 10:49 PM

When I brewed my chile pale ale and added the chiles I first seared them in a pan with a little olive oil. Then I soaked them in Vodka in the freezer for 24 hours. Some of the oil transferred to secondary though and eventually to my bottles. I opened one last Sunday after it had been bottle conditioning a little over 2 weeks and it was carbonated, although barely. It's the only one I've opened, but I know I mixed the proper amount of sugar into my bottling bucket.

Could the olive oil be affecting my carbonation?

**Revvy** · 09-23-2010, 10:54 PM

I don't think so.....If it's barely carbonated, then it's simply not ready yet...there's nothing wrong...it's just not ready yet.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them ore time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

RCCOLA · 09-23-2010, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dfc

When I brewed my chile pale ale and added the chiles I first seared them in a pan with a little olive oil. Then I soaked them in Vodka in the freezer for 24 hours. Some of the oil transferred to secondary though and eventually to my bottles. I opened one last Sunday after it had been bottle conditioning a little over 2 weeks and it was carbonated, although barely. It's the only one I've opened, but I know I mixed the proper amount of sugar into my bottling bucket.

Could the olive oil be affecting my carbonation?

Did you stir the beer after adding the priming mix? If you don't, sometimes you will get some under and some over carbed botles.

**dfc** · 09-23-2010, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revvy

I don't think so.....If it's barely carbonated, then it's simply not ready yet...there's nothing wrong...it's just not ready yet.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them ore time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

I appreciate your great wisdom being bestowed upon my N00b self.

**dfc** · 09-23-2010, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RCCOLA

Did you stir the beer after adding the priming mix? If you don't, sometimes you will get some under and some over carbed botles.

I created a cyclone in the bottling bucket, but did not stir it.

Docjowles · 09-23-2010, 11:20 PM

Is it actually not carbonated or does it just have a terrible head? I make a beer with a bunch of crazy junk in it (ginger, lemon, honey) and the first time I poured one there was almost zero head so I figured it wasn't carbed. But it's fizzy as heck on the tongue so it's just bad head retention. I think I remember hearing that oils will totally destroy head retention.

**dfc** · 09-23-2010, 11:24 PM

It's carbonated, but not as much as other brews I've done. No head retention whatsoever.

RedBeard1 · 08-21-2012, 10:16 PM

So I made an extract beer from misc ingredients i had laying around leftover from precious batches with the intention of adding some New Mexico green chiles to secondary. Recipe here. After fermentation, it was so good, I decided to bottle half and add chiles to the other half. After two days, I tasted the chile beer, and it is ready to get off the chiles! My question is the same as the OP. How do I achieve good carbonation? I ask, despite Revvy's advice, because I was inspired to add chiles to the secondary by Eske's Green Chile Beer, brewed in Taos, NM. When I spoke with the brewer a year or two ago, he told me that he had trouble with carbonation, and that it was only a problem with the Chile Beer. Something about the chiles seem to cause the CO2 to have a difficult time dissolving in the beer. It's getting bottled tonight, with corn sugar appropriate for about 2.4 volumes. Just wondering if anyone had feedback from chile beer experience.

**dfc** · 09-18-2012, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedBeard1

So I made an extract beer from misc ingredients i had laying around leftover from precious batches with the intention of adding some New Mexico green chiles to secondary. Recipe here. After fermentation, it was so good, I decided to bottle half and add chiles to the other half. After two days, I tasted the chile beer, and it is ready to get off the chiles! My question is the same as the OP. How do I achieve good carbonation? I ask, despite Revvy's advice, because I was inspired to add chiles to the secondary by Eske's Green Chile Beer, brewed in Taos, NM. When I spoke with the brewer a year or two ago, he told me that he had trouble with carbonation, and that it was only a problem with the Chile Beer. Something about the chiles seem to cause the CO2 to have a difficult time dissolving in the beer. It's getting bottled tonight, with corn sugar appropriate for about 2.4 volumes. Just wondering if anyone had feedback from chile beer experience.

Update?

RedBeard1 · 09-18-2012, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dfc

Update?

The beer turned out great! Good chile heat and flavor after 3 days in the secondary. I even used the beer soaked chiles in enchiladas after. Carbonation is good but not what I expected with the amount of priming sugar. Not really much head, maybe a quarter inch that dissipates quickly. Really great beer though. I'll post the recipe when I get home if you're interested.