Just cracked open my second batch (Irish Red) last weekend after almost 3 weeks of conditioning. While it turned out very good, I've been noticing that the carbonation in the bottles is a bit inconsistent from bottle to bottle. I poured the sugar/water mixture into the bottom of the bucket prior to racking (which I figured would evenly mix into beer). Anything I can do to make this more consistent with my next batch? Thanks.
Equal carbonation throughout entire batch
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Clann
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I rack and bottle the same way and am usually consistent, but if you are having inconsistent results you can stir gently before bottling trying not to areaite.
TheDom
Well-Known Member
What you describe usually works pretty well. When you racked into the sugar water, did you let it form a little whirlpool as it transferred? If you just rack into the sugar water, it and the beer don't always mix uniformly. I think it has something to do with the different gravities of the solutions, but I'm really not sure. Putting the end of the siphon below the surface of the sugar water at an angle such that you get a little whirlpool action helps to mix them better.
If you did that, I'm not sure what else could have gone wrong. Where did you store the bottles for conditioning? What temps were they stored at? It is possible that some bottles were a bit colder than others, and still haven't finished fermenting the priming sugar. Hope this helps.
If you did that, I'm not sure what else could have gone wrong. Where did you store the bottles for conditioning? What temps were they stored at? It is possible that some bottles were a bit colder than others, and still haven't finished fermenting the priming sugar. Hope this helps.
ultravista
Well-Known Member
What is the process to properly mix the sugar solution prior to bottling? If air is an issue, how do you ensure a proper mix?
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Yes.
Start kegging.
Start kegging.
I rack onto the sugar solution then give it a gentle stir before starting to bottle. I find it hard to believe that the additional exposure to air caused by this would have any adverse consequences for my beer. It's not like I'm using a drill-mounted wine whip.
A friend who mostly makes wine but dabbles in beer stirs every dozen bottles. Seems like overkill.
A friend who mostly makes wine but dabbles in beer stirs every dozen bottles. Seems like overkill.
Tall_Yotie
Well-Known Member
Sorry, momentary rant coming.
Whenever someone asks about bottling, there is one person who says "answer = kegging". Why? We are happy bottling, I know personally I don't want to pay for the equipment or lug around a keg and CO2 tank whenever I want to share a brew with a friend.
/rant
To the OP: As others have said, that method does tend to work, it is what I always do. I let the bottom of the bucket get above the siphon tube to assure the wort won't splash up and aerate, then open it up a bit more to really get a whirlpool going. Also, I tend to bottle rather quickly after this so the sugar water doesn't settle out if it didn't dissolve completely.
This being all said, I do get the occasional variation in carbonation, though it is uncommon and could be attributed to as much as the weather and temp of the bottle as it is to the priming.
You're not doing anything wrong...they simply aren't ready yet.
Uneven carbonation is simply a matter of not enough time. The sugar solution integrates itself pretty well when you rack (despite what many new brewers may believe)
BUT, just 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.
Each little bottle is a seperate microcosm, so they will react slightly different to each other. But usually they all will balance out given enough time.
But really with time all the bottles in a batch will carb up...
The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that 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.
I explain this and more, in my blog, here Revvy's Blog, Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.
Uneven carbonation is simply a matter of not enough time. The sugar solution integrates itself pretty well when you rack (despite what many new brewers may believe)
If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them ore 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.
Uneven carbonation is simply a matter of not enough time. The sugar solution integrates itself pretty well when you rack (despite what many new brewers may believe)
BUT, just 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.
Each little bottle is a seperate microcosm, so they will react slightly different to each other. But usually they all will balance out given enough time.
But really with time all the bottles in a batch will carb up...
The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that 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.
I explain this and more, in my blog, here Revvy's Blog, Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.
Uneven carbonation is simply a matter of not enough time. The sugar solution integrates itself pretty well when you rack (despite what many new brewers may believe)
If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them ore 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 agree; it's obnoxious to hijack a thread to tell somebody with a bottling question to keg.
Having said that, you can bottle from kegs and (in some ways) get the best of both worlds (bottled beer that doesn't require pouring). I've done it a couple of times but am not certain it's worth the effort.
Yeah it bugs me all the time as well. It's obnoxious, it doesn't help the original question, and it also implies that we're all DUMB, and have never heard of these things called kegs, (especially considering this is the bottling and kegging section, we must have heard of them.
) Bottlers don't highjack the thousands of kegging threads by making a plithy comment like, "You wouldn't have this problem if you just bottled."
/rant #3
Am I wrong in thinking that varying the amount of headspace in the bottle would also change the carb level? I always thought that more headspace equals higher carb level. If OP's headspaces were all slightly different...
Thanks...wow..kegging appears to be the end-all answer to everyone's bottling questions. There should be an automatic response to anyone's questions regarding anything that has to do with bottling that simply states the following:
START KEGGING..
START KEGGING..
My first batch of IPA suffers from uneven carbonation. After 6 weeks in the bottle, all of the bottles have "carbonation", but only some have any head so to speak. Some of them, have absolutely zero head when poured.
