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gdavidson78

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I have just bottled my second lager, muntons continental lager. I found my first lager to be a little flat I.e. not fizzy from the bottle.

Can anyone give me any tips to make it fizzier??
 
usfmikeb said:
How are you determining the amount of priming sugar?

Hi, when you say priming sugar. Can I assume you mean second stage, when bottling??

If so the packet suggests 0.5 teaspoon per pint so I am doing 0.5 per 500ml bottle
 
I'd recommend picking up How To Brew by John Palmer. It has all the info you need for priming techniques and amounts for priming agents
 
Hi, when you say bottling bucket. Do you mean fermenter?

Or is there a third stage of bottling that I am missing? So you syphilis from fermenter to a bucket, then add the required amount I sugar as per the link you sent, then bottle?
 
Oh Jesus don't add syphilis it will be horrible. Unless you are some Mossad agent or something
 
Ok sorry, got that out my system. For a lot of folks Here we ferment in glass carboys. The plastic bucket fir bottling is only for gravity fed bottling, hence bottling bucket. After you finished fermenting a lager is put in a secondary and chilled for months. After that it goes to the bottling bucket and into bottles.

Are you sure it's a lager and not an ale? Because an ale should be ready to bottle
 
Remind me to never do a bottle swap with you, trying to avoid getting syphilis!

However, the answer is yes. Once beer is ready to be bottled, rack it over to a bottling bucket that already includes the appropriate amount of priming sugar dissolved in some distilled water. Then bottle from the bucket. There are other ways to do it, for example, I don't bottle very often, but use a corny keg when I do.
 
Read my bottling sticky to get an idea about the bottling process....make sure to read post 8 as well, the one titled "Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning" as well, and usdrstand that for a beer to carb it needs to be stored around 70 degrees for a minimum of 3 weeks for it to fully carb.
 
I see, I have seen those gravity fed systems.

No, it's definately a lager. Its just an off the shelf kit, can of ingredients separate yeast and that's it.

Have you brewed one? As I said I am a compete novice. I basically follow the instructions on ye can, but the first one wasnt that fizzy. What am I looking for prior to bottling, and then what should happen when I add the priming sugar? The first time not alot happened I just added it and capped it. The one I did today when adding the sugar it gassed up straight away and I had to be pretty quick with the capping to stop it going everywhere.
 
Hmmm. Def take revvy's advice it'll help a lot. I have lagerd and I have one in the fridge about to go to bottle. Ok I feel you on the auto correct! Arrgh. When I go from lager fridge to bottling bucket I wait until the carboy settles after carrying it around and let it get to room temp. If you use the yeast in the secondary they are sleepy, tired, and maybe a little mad at you. Some re yeast for conditioning because of this. I haven't had a problem as of yet but I'm sure one day I'll press my luck. No whammy no whammy.....

I hope this one turns out and you never lose the bug to brew... Cheers
 
Ok excuse my ignorance.

The fizzing up happened when adding the priming sugar prior to capping. So I syphoned from the fermenter to the bottles then once done added the sugar capped and it's now sitting in a room at around 21c.
 
The fizzing was likely just the dry sugars coming into contact with co2 that's dissolved in the beer, I wouldn't take it to be any evidence of fermentation activity.
 
liquiditynerd said:
Hmmm. Def take revvy's advice it'll help a lot. I have lagerd and I have one in the fridge about to go to bottle. Ok I feel you on the auto correct! Arrgh. When I go from lager fridge to bottling bucket I wait until the carboy settles after carrying it around and let it get to room temp. If you use the yeast in the secondary they are sleepy, tired, and maybe a little mad at you. Some re yeast for conditioning because of this. I haven't had a problem as of yet but I'm sure one day I'll press my luck. No whammy no whammy.....

I hope this one turns out and you never lose the bug to brew... Cheers

Sorry mate, not much of what you said makes much sense. I probably not as advanced as a novice yet!!
 
The fizzing was likely just the dry sugars coming into contact with co2 that's dissolved in the beer, I wouldn't take it to be any evidence of fermentation activity.

Mike's right. What is happening is cause by nucleation sites. What you are seeing is the Mentos/Diet coke effect.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjbJELjLgZg]MythBusters - Diet Coke & Mentos - YouTube[/ame]

 
Last edited by a moderator:
usfmikeb said:
The fizzing was likely just the dry sugars coming into contact with co2 that's dissolved in the beer, I wouldn't take it to be any evidence of fermentation activity.

Is that a good thing or just one of this things that inevitably happens??
 
Yeah, prime the whole batch at the same time. While siphoning you probably intoduced a little oxygen and woke up the yeast. The added food ( sugar) must have made them happy. Probably will settle down as the co2 is infused to the brew while carbonating.
 
See I'm not anymore educated than you! That's what this forum is about, exchange. I learn something everyday. Ok most days, sometimes less than others, but dMn where else can you find this out in ten minutes!
 
Ok. That makes sense.

Does that have a good effect or bad effect on the final fizz.

Also is there a good amount of time I should store in a cool place for the second stage. Also after I have waited this amount of time should I bring it back to room temp prior to chilling and drinking or does it not matter??
 
Is that a good thing or just one of this things that inevitably happens??

I've never done it that way, so I don't know that it's a good or bad thing. Put the bottles somewhere warm (i.e. low 70s), and let them sit for the next few weeks.
 
usfmikeb said:
I've never done it that way, so I don't know that it's a good or bad thing. Put the bottles somewhere warm (i.e. low 70s), and let them sit for the next few weeks.

That's weird the instructions say. Bottle warm place for 2 days then cool place for 2 weeks??
 
That might be why your first batch didn't carbonate...

Exactly.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, 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.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out. You have green beer.

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 more 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've carbed hundreds of gallons of beer, and never had a beer that wasn't carbed, or under carbed or anything of the sort (Except for a batch where I accidently mixed up lactose or Maltodextrine for priming sugar). Some took awhile, (as I said up to six months) but they ALL eventually carbed.
 
Revvy said:
Exactly.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, 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.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out. You have green beer.

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 more 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've carbed hundreds of gallons of beer, and never had a beer that wasn't carbed, or under carbed or anything of the sort (Except for a batch where I accidently mixed up lactose or Maltodextrine for priming sugar). Some took awhile, (as I said up to six months) but they ALL eventually carbed.

Would you mind giving me a very basic overview of what you would recommen with regards to timescales etc. I have a basic kit, fermenter & plastic bottles.
 
Would you mind giving me a very basic overview of what you would recommen with regards to timescales etc. I have a basic kit, fermenter & plastic bottles.

I don't understand what you're asking....you bottle your beer (read my bottling sticky I linked earlier for tips), then you stick it someplace warm for AT LEAST 3 weeks. Chill one or two for about a day, and test them to see if they're carbed or not...if they're not, check one in another week or two.
 
That's weird the instructions say. Bottle warm place for 2 days then cool place for 2 weeks??

I think this is at least part of the problem. You need at least 2 (and usually more) weeks at 70F (21C) for carbonation to occur. I've had some beers that took considerably longer, like 6 - 8 weeks.
Other possible inconsistencies that haven't been discussed are what is a pint? what is a teaspoon? and what is sugar?
An imperial pint is considerably larger than a US pint, so will require more sugar to prime.
A UK teaspoon is larger than a US teaspoon.
Sucrose (table sugar) gives more carbonation than an equivalent weight of dextrose (corn sugar).
usfmikeb gave a link to tasty brew. I can recommend this calculator, but you may need to do some conversions from US units to whatever you use.

-a.
 
Thanks to all the folks who gave me advice. I cracked open my first bottle of my latest batch and way hey plenty of fizz. :)
 
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