need advice, Carbonated out of the secondary

I started a pilsner a while back and it all but hit the final gravity after a bit in the secondary. I then lowered the temp to 35 and lagered for a month in a glass carboy still using an air lock. Yesterday I transfered it to the bottling bucket and then started filling bottles. I then noticed than the beer was Carbonated some already. now when I took the air lock from the carboy there was no pressure at all so how did it become carbonated. I transfered the beer to the bottling bucket then to the bottles straight from the fridge. the beer was still cold going into the bottles.

Tasted like a green pils though so the flavor seemed right


Do I now have 36 flip top bombs?

I filled them all already.. any suggestions

There can be a little carbonation just from the fermentation. I wouldn't be concerned at all. The extra carbonation wouldn't be enough to explode any bottles, and likely not enough to even notice a difference.

There's a bit of pressure at the bottom of every vessel of liquid and the 35F temp made it easier for some of the co2 to stay dissolved there.

while i agree with the others you have noting to worry about. beer, an other liquids, are easier to carbonate at lower temps. the lower the temp the less priming sugar you need to get desired carbonation levels.

so in general, is it better to allow the beer to warm to room temp before transferring into the bottling bucketto aid in the release of this carbonation? or does it still not matter?

i've never made a lagger so i don't know for sure. but if your at the bottling phase then the laggering process is done and it shouldn't hurt to warm it up. but i would get some advice from other people that have more experience on the subject than me.

From what I understand you will want to bottle at the same temp that you last fermented at. The more fluctuation in your temperature, the quicker your beer will produce off flavors or spoil (at least I think thats the reasoning behind it). Im guessing the overall effect of raising the temperature for bottling is minimal compared to other factors that could effect your beer.

A second opinion on this is probably warrented, or a more detailed explanation as to why this is, or isnt, the case.

Ever wonder why all of the priming calculators out there ask for the temperature of the beer? This residual carbonation is why. The colder the beer, the more CO2 it can/will have already dissolved, which can be considerable. I doubt it would be enough to cause bombs, but it could certainly cause over/under carbonation.

Scimmia said:

Ever wonder why all of the priming calculators out there ask for the temperature of the beer? This residual carbonation is why. The colder the beer, the more CO2 it can/will have already dissolved, which can be considerable. I doubt it would be enough to cause bombs, but it could certainly cause over/under carbonation.

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So essentially because of the temperature there is more or less dissolved CO2 in the beer already at time of bottling. Which means you can add less sugar while bottling to get the desired level of carbonation?

after the debate I went to the Beer Smith and used the calculator and played a bit with it.

I am going to have 3.2 volumes of Co2 which is a bit much.

this was 5 lager and they all have been great. so I expect this too be as well. just a bit over carbed.

I also learned a great lesson which is what this place is about.

Scimmia said:

Ever wonder why all of the priming calculators out there ask for the temperature of the beer? This residual carbonation is why. The colder the beer, the more CO2 it can/will have already dissolved, which can be considerable. I doubt it would be enough to cause bombs, but it could certainly cause over/under carbonation.

Click to expand...

I know there's been lots of arguments about this, but I go by this, the temp AT the time of bottling. Not the temp it was fermented at, although most of the time that is the same thing in my house.

Most of the time with kit beers the 4.5-5 ounces of priming sugar included with it is set up to produce 2-2.5 volumes of co2, at around 70 degrees anyway.