Bottle carbonating problem x2

I'm new to brewing. I have brewed 2 batches from kits that I ordered from Austin Homebrewing. One was a Texas Blonde Ale and the other was a Mexican Lager. Both tasted fine but not enough carbonation. Both batches I bottled and stored for 4 weeks. I put some in the fridge for a week or so and they would be flat when I opened them. I thought maybe I didn't get a good seal on the caps so I shook them up and opened a hot one and it went everywhere. So I tried a warm one out of the closet without shaking it and it was carbonated. So I shook some up, refridgerated them a few days and they were kinda carbed but not enough. I thought that I did something wrong while bottling but my last batc of the Mexican Lager did the same thing. any ideas ???

Can you share a little more information about the process you used when bottling? What did you use for priming sugar? How much priming sugar did you use? Without knowing those things it is a bit difficult to guess what might be going on.

The Homebrew Nerd
thehomebrewnerd.com

I used the priming sugar that is sent with the kit. Followed the instructions that were sent with the kit. I don't remember the exact amount but I boiled the amount of water the instuctions called for, added the priming sugar to the water and boiled it for specified time and put it in my bottling bucket then moved my beer from the carboy to the bottling bucket using a siphon.

Should I try stirring the beer after adding it to the bottling bucket or maybe try more sugar ???

fishanhunt said:

Should I try stirring the beer after adding it to the bottling bucket or maybe try more sugar ???

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Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the kit or the kit instructions, but it is important to make sure that the priming sugar is thoroughly mixed into the beer in the bottling bucket. In my experience, if you add the sugar to the bottling bucket first, the act of transferring beer into the bucket on top of the sugar usually is enough to get things mixed well. It's not a bad idea to stir gently with a sanitized spoon to make sure everything is well mixed before bottling.

Before you add more sugar, I'd weigh the amount of priming sugar that came with the kit. Of course you wouldn't want to add too much extra sugar and end up with way over carbonated beers, or worse yet, bottle bombs. Assuming it is corn sugar, you'd typically want to add somewhere around 4 ounces for a 5 gallon batch.

i think ahs kits come with 4.5oz of corn sugar. i like to use closer to 5oz for wheats & lighter ales--i like fizz in summer.

i always use a sanitized spoon to gently stir the beer before bottling.

strangest thing though--i occasionally get a few bottles that have a film on the bottle just above the beer line, like a dried sediment. those bottles are always flat!
it may only be 2 or 3 bottles out of a batch, if at all. never knew what was going on, just used the flat ones for braising.