Inconsistency

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OldSoup

OldSoup

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I recently brewed an IPA and Hefeweizen. I'm still new, they're only my 5th & 6th brews respectively. That said they are the best yet and I'm happy with them. However, both have inconsistency in carbonation (from bottle to bottle) and are a bit on the sour side -nothing overwhelming though.

Basically, I am interested in fixing both these problems. Carbonation - is this a result of poor mixing of priming sugar? - or improper capping?
Subtle sour flavor - uuuhhhh?

Thanks for any help you can send my way before my next brew.
.peace.
 
I can only speak from my experience, but this happened to me when I first began brewing...maybe 4 years ago now.

I was so worried about aerating that I never stirred the priming sugar into the beer. I gave up that fear and started making sure that the heavier sugar water wouldn't sink, and was kept in suspension while bottling. This appears to have solved it for me because I was getting consistent bottles at the end (started kegging 2 years ago.)

You don't have to aerate to stirr and keep the beer/sugar moving.

Give it a shot.

Also, I let my bottles rest at basement temps (mid to upper 60s). If you can assure that you're keeping all the bottles at the same moderate temp, you'll be doing what I did successfully. Within 3-4 weeks I had well carbonated and aged beers.
 
I pour the diluted priming sugar into the bottom of the bottling bucket and then siphon in the beer allowing it to mix from the bottom up as it fills. I've read about the dangers of getting to much oxygen dissolved in the beer at this point in the process.

Should I be doing something differently?
 
After bottling they store in the dark in the basement for at least 2 weeks prior to the first taste. The basement is in the 65 degree F range - give or take a degree or two.
 
OldSoup said:
After bottling they store in the dark in the basement for at least 2 weeks prior to the first taste. The basement is in the 65 degree F range - give or take a degree or two.
Click to expand...

This is your entire problem in a nutshell. Whenever someone says they have inconsistant carbonation it's because of both these two factors.

You don't have a carbonation problem, you just have a patience one.

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." ;)
 
Wow. Thanks. I'll just keep waiting. It's good to know that it was something so easily remedied. Now, will the bottles that are overly carbonated reduce with time? Just as those that are slightly under carbonated come up?

Also, the subtle sourness that I taste; will that dissipate as well?
 
Wait, just read the thread. Thanks Revvy! You're a sage guide through the dark water's of brewing.
.peace.
 
I've had the same subtle sour flavor on all of my beers. It's because of esters, a result of higher than ideal fermentation temps. Remember that it can be 5-10 degrees warmer inside the primary than outside it.

Anyway, I'm in FL and there's nothing much I can do in the summer short of getting a fermentation chamber. I keep my house at about 74.

But, as previously stated, patience heals most brewing wounds! I have to condition for about 2-3 more weeks than your average brewer for the sour taste to dissipate, but my patience is always rewarded with great beer.
 
Sour can also be from bacteria, in which case it isn't getting better. Every Lager I've brewed or bought when presented to my wife comes back with a "I don't like it - it tastes sour", so I know for me it's not infection but the taste of the "Noble" hops that she isn't liking or possibly the lager yeasts.

If it is "green" beer then I completely agree with the above answers.
 
Often co2 is described as being "sourish" smelling. If a beer hasn't locked in carbonation fully, you are more likely to be smelling the co2, since it hasn't fully integrated into solution yet.
 
Revvy said:
This is your entire problem in a nutshell. Whenever someone says they have inconsistant carbonation it's because of both these two factors.

You don't have a carbonation problem, you just have a patience one.

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." ;)
Click to expand...

Revvy, how do you tirelessly copy and paste day in and day out? You have the patience of 15 men drinking their own chilled homebrew!
 

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