Weird Carbonation batch?? New one for me!!

So this was a 5 gal PM, IPA extra hoppy, OG 1.047 FG 1.010

Added 5 oz of corn sugar on bottling day.

2 weeks have passed and in 1 box of 24, 9 or 10 of them have a white foam at the head of the bottle, when I pop these, theres no carb, no Psssssshhh at all??? Yet the others that have no foam at the head and are crystal clear aside from the normal residue on the bottom carbed fine!!!

I used my normal method : Sugar in first, then rack on top.

Anyway, I popped the tops on the foamy ones, added carb drops, and recapped.

Any idea how this happened, or what's the foam deal at the top of some of these?.........

You added MORE sugar to foaming bottles?!?!?! Why? Do you like bottle bombs?

The reason you have odd, inconsistant AND FOAMING carbonation is simple, you're opening them too soon. That's it....there's no other reason.

And you jumped the gun if you added MORE sugar to beer that you ALREADY added sugar too, that the yeast WASN'T DONE EATING YET. SO you added more sugar to beer that already had enough sugar.

he co2 is in the headpsace and NOT in solution.

We get this all the time from impatient folks who open their bottles WAAAAAYYYYYYY early.

If you watch Poindexter's video on time lapsed carbonation, you will see that in many instances, before a beer is carbed it my gush, that's not from infection, or mixing of sugars, but because the co2 hasn't evened out- it hasn't been pulled fully into the beer. Think of it as there's a lot of co2 being generated and most of it is in the headspace, not in the beer, so there's still "over pressure" in the bottle, so it gushes when it is opened.

But when the beer is truly carbed it all evens out, across the bottles.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlBlnTfZ2iw]time lapse carbonation - YouTube[/ame]

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."

Additionally once the three weeks or so has passed, chiling them down for a few days (not just a few hours or over night as most new brewers want to do ) will help the carbonation settle.

If you indeed added more sugar, I would be VERY careful and isolate your bottles in a rubbermade box or something to contain any possible explosions. AND I WOULD LEAVE THEM ALONE for at least another 3 weeks...and be ready now for over carbed beer.

And in the future, I would not touch my beers for a MIMIMUM of three weeks. And also come here look at the answers on here (which get asked a hundred times a week) or ask the question, BEFORE you try to fix things...

You didn't have a problem, but since you added more sugar, you PROBABLY do now....totally different from what you expected.

unionrdr said:

Sounds like the priming solution didn't mix evenly at all,being dumped in the empty bottling bucket then racking. I let maybe 3-6 inches of beer rack over,then pour in half the priming solution. Wait till about 2/3's of the way racked over,& pour in the rest of the priming solution. Finish racking it over. By then,since the beer has been slowly swirling,it should be mixed better.

Click to expand...

I still don't believe in the "priming sugar doesn't mix on it's own," idea...he has inconsistant carbonations, because the beer was opened too early not because anything was wrong.

I still believe that Inconsistant carbonation, usually simply means that they are not ready yet. If he had opened them a week later, or even two, you never would have noticed. Each one is it's own little microcosm, and although generally the should come up at the same time, it's not an automatic switch, and they all pop on.

A tiny difference in temps between bottles in storage can affect the yeasties, speed them up or slow them down. Like if you store them in a closet against a warm wall, the beers closest to the heat source may be a tad warmer than those further way, so thy may carb/condition at slightly different rates. I usually store a batch in 2 seperate locations in my loft 1 case in my bedroom which is a little warmer, and the other in the closet in the lving room, which being in a larger space is a tad cooler, at least according to the thermostat next to that closet. It can be 5-10 degrees warmer in my bedroom. So I usually start with that case at three weeks. Giving the other half a little more time.

Ok, thanks for the write up, I think I popped the caps on about 12 of them last night, and put in 4 little carb drops, the package said four for a medium carb......I have a heavy towel over the box right now, but I'll go ahead and move it inside a cabinet when I go home for lunch.......

BTW: Just checked my notes, and this batch was bottled on 1/6/13

I've yet to have an issue with pouring the priming sugar solution in the bottom of my bottling bucket and then simply siphoning the beer on top of it. When it's actually ready every bottle has been the same, well carbed, no duds, no gushers.

Most of these problems are caused by people being impatient and jacking with stuff before it's ready.

Rick

I think the shape of the bottling bucket makes a difference as well. Mine is a 10 gallon square tote from wall mart and it does not spin at all when I am racking the beer. I used to have some issues with carbing but once I started to stir it a little the issues stopped

^

Usually I'm quite patient, it's just that in the past I've checked a bottle within 1 week, and although the beer was young, it still carbed (the nice Pshhhh sound)........These just had me worried for some reason.....Live and learn I guess.