Varying Carbonation Levels

I tried to do a search and didn't find the answer, so if it's a repeat thread I appologize. Link me to it if it exist already.

On to the question:

My first batch has been in the bottles for about 4 1/2 weeks now. I've been tasting one every few days just to see how it's coming along and to learn how beer ages. I'll admit, it's not the best beer I've had, but I consider it a sucess as it is my first beer and it is palattable (sp?). I had one last night and it tasted like all the rest I have had so far. They all seemed to be lacking enough carbonation (I used 1 cup of the bottling sugar when I bottled for a 5 gallon batch). I get home from work today and decide to crack one open and it was unbelievable the difference in the carbonation level from all the rest. It was just perfect and made it taste great. My question is whether one day can make that much of a difference or is it something else that causes different bottles to have different amounts of carbonation?

Thanks for the advice.

BTW, I love this board and am soaking up as much info as possible and plan to put it to good use when I start my second batch next week.

At what temp are you conditioning? Serving? And how long are the bottles at serving temp before you open them?

One way that 24 hours could make such a big difference is if that bottle was refrigerated at serving temp for 24 hrs longer than your others. Yeast needs the warm temps of conditioning to generate CO2, but the beer needs to be chilled for 24-48 hours for the CO2 to dissolve and give you carbonation. Could be your one "good" bottle was the only one chilled long enough?

Bike N Brew said:

At what temp are you conditioning? Serving? And how long are the bottles at serving temp before you open them?

One way that 24 hours could make such a big difference is if that bottle was refrigerated at serving temp for 24 hrs longer than your others. Yeast needs the warm temps of conditioning to generate CO2, but the beer needs to be chilled for 24-48 hours for the CO2 to dissolve and give you carbonation. Could be your one "good" bottle was the only one chilled long enough?

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They are conditioning at about 72 degrees in my pantry. I serve them at whatever a standard refrigerator temperature is. As far as varying times for chilling, I usually leave them in the fridge for a day or two before opening them. I know that the good one I drank tonight had been in the fridge for two days, but I've drank some after a day and others after 3-4 days and they tasted like all the rest.

Thanks.

Uneven carbonation often stems from the priming sugary not being mixed thouroughly into the beer at bottling time. What was your technique?

Sea said:

Uneven carbonation often stems from the priming sugary not being mixed thouroughly into the beer at bottling time. What was your technique?

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I boiled the priming sugar in some water for a little while. After that I poured it in to my bottle bucket and then siphoned the beer out of my carboy in to the bottling bucket. I gave it a good stir and then bottled.