When bottling, it seemed slightly carbonated... normal?

Hey guys,

Last night I was bottling my latest brew and noticed it seemed a little carbonated already. I tasted it and it did not seem as flat as I am used to coming out of the second fermentor. This is also the longest I have let a brew sit in the second (about 3 weeks). Is this normal? Do you think I will have any problems with the bottles?

I know this a only a little info with out seeing it first hand... but thanks in advance for your help!

Don't confuse the unique taste of very young beer with carbonated product. Three weeks is plenty of time for full fermentation. Some residual fermentation will continue and trace amounts of CO2 will continue to be produced, but unless your beer was chilled and sealed, that gas would continue to escape. I'm assuming here there was not a lot of lag time between priming the beer and bottling. You should be fine.

There's always co2 present from the minute fermentation begins...but that's not the same as carbonation. It's not until you trap co2 into a vessel, like a bottle, or a keg and it gets forced into solution is it technically carbonated.

Some CO2 stays in solution during the process, and the amount in solution is usually linked to the fermentation temp.

Yup, you're always going to have some residual CO2 dissolved in the beer from fermentation. This actually helps keep your beer fresh in the bottle- some of the CO2 comes out of solution when it gets bottled, covering the bottle in a little layer of CO2 that pushes the air out of the bottle before you cap. That way, no oxygen gets into your bottles (well, not much).