Some carb/some not

I am drinking an American Ale that came out pretty good. I am using the "Grolsch" style bottles. The carbonation is very good but a few of the bottles have been flat. Does anyone know why this would happen?

Are you using new gaskets on the seals or are you recycling the ones that came on the bottles when they still had beer in them?

The ones that did not carb seemed to have good seals upon opening. These seals have only been used one other time. I mix (quietly) my priming sugar, but I'm wondering if some bottles don't get enough priming sugar from the bottling bucket. Sounds crazy but I'm puzzled. I just opened one(same bottle type/same batch)and it is a bit over carbed. It has only been two bottles out of about 12 opened so far.

I see your question now. New purchased bottles. New seals only been used once.

Hmm, well new bottles and new seals sounds like a good start. I have a small number of swing top bottles that I've been using for bottling cider and haven't had any issues yet.

How long have the bottles been carbing? Have they been at the minimum three weeks at 70 degrees?

How are you bottling? Do you rack from a primary into a bottling bucket? If so, how do you add your priming sugar? You say you mix it in quietly, what does that mean?

In bottle for 20 days to date. I pour in the priming sugar/1 cup boiling water mixture at beginning and toward end of rack from primary to bottling bucket. Then the quietly thing is a slow stir to not add any oxygenation to make sure the priming sugar is mixed in.

This beer is a bit over carbed and I'm wondering if it is not forcing out a not properly seated gasket. I'm going to take a close look at gasket seating and head space. I try to use about 3/4 inch.

in the empty bottling bucket, add the boiled priming sugar/LME and let it sit for a few minutes to cool. rack the finished wort onto the 3/4 cup of dissolved priming sugar. gently stir as the wort is being siphoned into the bottling bucket and, as you are filling your bottles, give a gentle but effective stir periodically. this should maintain even distribution of priming sugar.

got it. that sounds like what may be the problem. I have thought it may be uneven distribution.

On a separate note how do i put up my avatar picture? I have it on my profile page but it does not show up on my posts.

Thanks for all the input. This forum rocks!

it took me 3 weeks to figure out how to put a picture up. i can help with brewing, not with computering. sorry!!

George1965 said:

In bottle for 20 days to date. I pour in the priming sugar/1 cup boiling water mixture at beginning and toward end of rack from primary to bottling bucket. Then the quietly thing is a slow stir to not add any oxygenation to make sure the priming sugar is mixed in.

This beer is a bit over carbed and I'm wondering if it is not forcing out a not properly seated gasket. I'm going to take a close look at gasket seating and head space. I try to use about 3/4 inch.

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Just to clarify, you're putting in part of your priming mixture at the beginning and part at the end?

So, would you estimate about 1/2 a cup at the beginning and another 1/2 cup at the end. If so, it does seem like a bit much, but I'm not sure because I prime based on weight and once I start the siphon flowing I just add the whole thing in and let it mix naturally via the whirlpool created by the transfer. I've heard 3/4 cup total by volume disolved in water. However, please tell me you're not putting 1 cup at the beginning and 1 cup at the end!!!

I suppose if the gaskets aren't seated correctly I could see an overcarbed beer releasing some of its CO2 past the seal, but I would be speculating as I've never witnessed that.

EDIT: blackwaterbrewer could have a point about distribution. However, I have never bothered to stir. I disolve in water and then dump the whole thing in a few seconds after I begin the transfer. I just make sure my hose is set up so that it creates a whirlpool and let her rip!

George1965 said:

On a separate note how do i put up my avatar picture? I have it on my profile page but it does not show up on my posts.

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It's possible you may need to be a supporting/paying member to post an avatar. I seem to remember that I couldn't post one during my first few months on the forum.

i also "quietly" mix in my priming sugar. as long as you mixed pretty well, there should be at least SOME carbonation in those problem bottles. a couple duds would indicate dud gaskets.

i've used recycled grolsch bottles almost exclusively for the past 2 years. if a few bottles are COMPLETLY uncarbed, i'd say its a couple of bad gaskets. had 1 uncarbed batch...the whole batch...obviously forgot to add priming sugar at bottling. gaskets are cheap. before you replace all the gaskets you can flip them. never done any scientific experiment, but i'd say each side of the gaskets is good for at least 5 uses.

here's a trick i've been doing in the past year: when you store you bottles, don't compress the gasket by locking the top in place. just rest is on top or leave the bottle open if you keep them in a covered box. you could also remove all of your gaskets and set them aside and inspect them before you bottle.

haven't done it yet, but i've considered using a permanent marker on the bottle to keep a tally of it's uses. once i get up to 5: flip the gasket. 5 more: replace the gasket and remove the tally marks

as for headspace, i've always used a spring activated bottle filler tube. works like charm and always leaves the perfect amount of headspace when i pull it out of a full bottle.

I only use 1 cup H2o/to 3/4 cup priming sugar per 5 gal batch. I will keep a critical eye on the seals before opening.

As far as weighing volume for priming.....I is a left handed, aggie, pollock, so that is a bit above my brewing level just yet.

George1965 said:

I only use 1 cup H2o/to 3/4 cup priming sugar per 5 gal batch. I will keep a critical eye on the seals before opening.

As far as weighing volume for priming.....I is a left handed, aggie, pollock, so that is a bit above my brewing level just yet.

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As far as I know, 3/4 cup is considered the proper amount by volume. You shouldn't be too carbonated at that level. I would do as blackwaterbrewer suggests to insure even distribution and, if you're still having issues, I would suspect something about the method of sealing.

I had the same problem with a batch this summer, and I had a variety of 16 oz swing tops and 12 oz crown tops. Most of the swing tops carbed OK with one being a volcano, then most of the 12 oz crown caps were flat.

I talking this over for a long time with the beer club, we decided it was a combination of two problems. I too poured in half of my priming sugar to start, then added the remainder about 2/3 of the way through siphoning into the bottling bucket. We believe this does not create a good mixture. I recommend putting all of the priming sugar liquid in the bucket firts and rack/siphon onto it. Occasionally giving a stir.

Make sure your priming sugar does not pool under your dip tube in the bottling bucket, this will push a high concentrate of sugar into that area and will not mix well. Tip the bucket away from the dip tube until you have racked enough liquid into it to mix well.

Lastly, I believe that I did not let my "cold crashed" fermenter warm up enough before racking and bottling. If you cold crashed (and its an ale) and did not warm it back up enough, you may have not had enough active suspended yeast to do the trick.

Mainly we decided it was the first part of this with the priming sugar and only possibly the temp after cold crashing.

Hope this helps.

If you close them and it feels wimpy then you're not getting a good seal. Any pressure build up is escaping before it can be absorbed into the beer to produce carbonation.

If it closes "wimpy" you can:

1. change the gasket
2. rebend the cage (this also weakens the metal eventually)
3. use 2 gaskets.

Some ready. Some not.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Some ready. Some not.

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+100,000,000

Yep, that's Usually the case. Not that you did anything wrong....Not that you didn't integrate the sugar properly, it integrates fine on it's own.

It's just that ALL the bottles weren't ready yet, simple as that. Each bottle is it's own little microcosm, and they are all going to come to come up to carb in their own sweet time. You're dealing with yeast, a living microrganism and since it's alive it has it's own agenda.

When we say 3 weeks at 70 degrees, we say that that's usually the average minimum time it's going to takes.

If if bottles aren't ready by then, then you just gotta wait some more.

I've had beers that have taken 6-8 weeks before they were all carbed up. My Belgian strong took 3 months.

It really is not a matter of need to do anything but wait. You don't have to stir the priming sugar, the solution will integrate itself quite fine as you rack on top of it.......You just have to have patience.

ALL beers will reach their level of carbonation eventually. In fact, it's possible (and proven by running the numbers in beersmith) to NOT add priming sugar and get minimal carbonation/style of a few volumes in time (in old brewing british brewing books they didn't add sugar to some ordinary bitters, and milds and relied on time and temp to do the work naturally.)

More info can be found here....Revvy's Blog, Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

But it all usually really boils down to the fact that, if not all bottles are carbed, then the batch isn't really ready yet.

Betcha anything, that if you hadn't bothered to open any til it was 4 or 5 weeks, you never would have noticed.

Thank you Revvy. The video was very enlightening.