Any way to tell if beer is carbonating in bottles?

Bottled my first batch of beer last night. I was a little concerned due to an ultra fast fermentation (2 days) but i waited the full 10 days to bottle anyhow. I tasted the beer and low and behold it tasted like Beer, i cant believe it, flat and warm but beer none the less.

Is there any way to tell if the beer is going through the small fermentation that carbonates it in the bottles? I added the water/sugar solution and I really cant tell if its doing anything. Is there any way to double check? Thanks...

Yeah, open a bottle and see if it goes pop.

They will carbonate fine. Go brew another batch and get your mind off of the bottles.

In the future, you can take a little empty plastic coke bottle and sanitize it, then bottle as usual and replace on of the glass bottles with the coke bottle. You'll be able to tell by squeezing the coke bottle how much pressure there is. I've never done this because I'll just pop a bottle anyway, but it does work.

There's no visual way to "see" carbonation...just wait it out...The yeast know what they're doing...although the soda bottle is a good idea...

and remember...3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70!!!!

If you open them before and they're not carbed or taste "funny," and start a thread asking what's wrong, we're just going to remind you 3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70!!!!

Revvy said:

and remember...3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70!!!!

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Yupper. But that said, there's nothing wrong with sampling early, as long as you understand the beer is still maturing.

I tasted mine after a week. Then another three days later...and maybe another today (three days after that)...

-Joe

nostalgia said:

Yupper. But that said, there's nothing wrong with sampling early, as long as you understand the beer is still maturing.

I tasted mine after a week. Then another three days later...and maybe another today (three days after that)...

-Joe

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Hence this line;

If you open them before and they're not carbed or taste "funny," and start a thread asking what's wrong, we're just going to remind you...

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I open my first one around the 2 week mark myself...but I don't judge the beer in anyway until after 3 weeks...If there's any flavor that is "off" i make note of it and see if it's still there after 3 weeks...

Evan! said:

In the future, you can take a little empty plastic coke bottle and sanitize it, then bottle as usual and replace on of the glass bottles with the coke bottle. You'll be able to tell by squeezing the coke bottle how much pressure there is.

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This works great.

Also, keep the small bottles like that in case you want to make any rootbeer.

Ok this makes me feel a little better. I brewed my first batch on the 17th, and I opened one on friday to see how it was doing. It let out a wimpy hiss and wasn't carbonated. They've been sitting at around 65 degrees. Should I bring them up from the basement for like another week, or is 80 degrees during the day too warm?

KCStokes said:

Ok this makes me feel a little better. I brewed my first batch on the 17th, and I opened one on friday to see how it was doing. It let out a wimpy hiss and wasn't carbonated. They've been sitting at around 65 degrees. Should I bring them up from the basement for like another week, or is 80 degrees during the day too warm?

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If it's 65 downstairs I'd bring them upstairs now...Warm room temps are fine for bottle carbing...Below 70 is not so good.

OK thank you, I thought warm/fluctuating temp was bad for conditioning. No harm in those two weeks downstairs?

No harm. It just might take longer to carb up then the roughly 3 weeks at 70 degrees.

I normally use 1 or 2 clear bottles with each brew just out of curiousity as to how it looks. If you shake one that is carbonated, you can see some bubbles come out of solution and rise up to the top.

But of course the best method, as mentioned before, is to immediately begin brewing another batch so you forget about the bottled beer for a week or 2

j_blaze said:

If you shake one that is carbonated, you can see some bubbles come out of solution and rise up to the top.

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Uhhhh, as I understand it, that's just the air from the top of the bottle getting mixed with the beer and those bubbles rising. If you shake a flat beer it'll do the same thing. When a beer is in the unopened bottle and flat/carbonating/carbonated, the airspace and the beer are always going to be at the same pressure. It isn't until the air around the beer is at a lower pressure than the beer itself that dissolved CO2 will come out of solution and the beer with be carbonated. Open up a "carbonated" beer in a hyperbaric chamber at the same pressure as the beer, and no bubbles will come out.

At least some of my previous experiences (as a scuba diver) translate over to beering.

You can get a visual cue from your beer.

Every few days, pull out a bottle and hold it up to a light upside down. Give it a slight shake to agitate the bottom of the bottle. If a cloudy swirl comes from the bottom, you know you're getting additional yeast production / carbonation.

Regardless of what you see...don't expect any reasonable carbonation to occur until 21 + days at 70+ degrees.

So when the yeast are out of food, it'll be harder to agitate them off of the bottom?

I just use some old Mr. Beer plastic bottles with each batch, they'll firm up when carbonating.