Carbonation question

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Catch20two

Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2006
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Hi,

I've just sampled my first batch after a week in the bottles. I know it is early I was just tasting it because I want to see how it develops over time.

There was barely any carbonation, and no head whatsoever. Is this normal after a week in the bottles? I was under the impression that the carbonation should occur relatively quickly, and the additional time in bottles was for conditioning. I'm a bit worried that a relatively good tasting beer is going to be ruined by a lack of carbonation.

I used the priming sugar that came with the brewers best ingredient kit. The bottles have been stored at ~68 F.
 
I poured (fairly aggressively) and tasted mine after a week and it had no head and tasted like "drinking a glass of water that was trying to be carbonated". Basically it sucked all around, even in taste.
When it hit ten days I popped open another bottle and expecting the same, poured it straight down the middle thinking there would again be no head.
Well I was wrong! It gave me half a glass of head and I had to let it settle before pouring the rest. It tasted much better too. Now at three weeks it's real beer!!!:rockin:


Tommy
 
Thanks, I'll move it to a slightly warmer location.

Brewno, thats exactly what my experience was as far as the carbonation goes, aggressive pour and "trying to be carbonated." It's encouraging to hear that everything worked out well.
 
Its the english brown ale brewers best kit, with white labs english ale yeast. I'll probably sample it again after it has sat for a few more days, and I'll put it in the fridge overnight before I do.
 
Keeping it in a warm area won't cause it to over carbonate, the ammount of priming sugar will controll the carbonation.

The temp it is served at will vary the carbonation a bit. Colder liquids will absorb more gas. The warmer temp will allow more gas to come out of suspention when poured.

Another week to carbonate should do wonders. Most of minne sit around the same temps as yours has been with no issues.
 
D*Bo said:
Keeping it in a warm area won't cause it to over carbonate, the ammount of priming sugar will controll the carbonation...
If the temp is low (60s) it'll take longer to carbonate than if it is higher (70s).

The amount of sugar will not control the carbonation. It provides more food for the yeast to produce more CO2 to be absorbed by the beer (thus making carbonation).

Once the bottles have reached a carbonation level you desire then you can place all of it into the fridge to retard the process (render the yeast dormant).

Of course, all of this depends on the fact that you've allowed your beer to ferment all the way out or within the guidelines for the style.:D
 
Catch20two said:
Hi,

I've just sampled my first batch after a week in the bottles. I know it is early I was just tasting it because I want to see how it develops over time.

There was barely any carbonation, and no head whatsoever. Is this normal after a week in the bottles? I was under the impression that the carbonation should occur relatively quickly, and the additional time in bottles was for conditioning. I'm a bit worried that a relatively good tasting beer is going to be ruined by a lack of carbonation.

I used the priming sugar that came with the brewers best ingredient kit. The bottles have been stored at ~68 F.
68 degrees is probably OK to carbonate but even if you put it in a warmer location, it will take another 2 weeks to be fully conditioned.
Don't worry about it yet.
 
Well I checked again at the 13 day mark and there is still very little carbonation and no head when pouring down the center of the glass. I would say there was a small bit more carbonation then last time, and there is a small psst when opening the bottle, but still pretty flat.

Should I expect that it will continue to carbonate at a slow rate and eventually be at a high enough level, or is it just as likely that this is all I'm getting?
 
One thing I've found is most kits come with 3/4 C (5 oz.) of corn sugar for priming which I find doesn't produce a satisfactory carbonation, so I use an additional 2 Tablespoons of corn sugar when priming, and I seem to get the perfect carbonation that way.

Cheers!
-Rick

Primary: Honey Amber Ale
Secondary #1: Octane IPA
Secondary #2: Oatmeal Stout
Bottled/Drinking: American Amber Ale
 
could it be that the wort was not oxygenated enough in the first place, and your yeast died off at a higher rate than what you might have wanted?
 
Well I tried another bottle at the three week mark and unfortunately it is the same...slight sound when I open the bottle but no head. I have a second batch that has been in the bottles for a week now...hoping this has just been a fluke. The only thing that I did that seemed potentially wrong was I didn't fully cool the water/sugar mixture before putting the beer in it when it was in the bottling bucket, but I've heard this isn't that big a deal. Also I didn't use purified water, just regular tap, but I wouldn't imagine a pint of water could do too much damage.

I oxgenated as much as I could, splashed things around quite a bit and shook everything up when it was all in the carboy.

Is there anything else I can try? I know some have tried opening bottles up and using the carbonation pellets but I can't imagine they'd work any better then the 3/4 cup of sugar from the BB kit.
 
You could try re-suspending the yeast in each bottle and keeping at warm temps...72-74deg for another week.

Take each bottle and gently roll it around to get the settled yeast on the bottom of the bottles re-suspended.
 
At normal room temperature (for me that's 18C or so), my bottles magically become carbonated at the 10 day mark. I try (in vain) not to sample before then.
 
Just wanted to update in case others run into the same problem and come across this thread.

The beer did indeed eventually carbonate to a normal level after several more weeks. It tasted great! I did shake it up a bit and move it to a slightly warmer location, but it could have easily just been the extra time that carbed it. So even after three weeks don't necessarily give up hope.

In the meantime my second batch had carbonated in a more typical 1-2 weeks.

So two batches under my belt and both turned out great! Unfortunately I didn't anticipate how quickly it'd disappear and am a bit behind in brewing more. I actually didn't want to have a finished batch and no bottles to put it in, but I just got a secondary so I should have more flexibility in bottling.

Anyway all is well and thanks everyond for the advice!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top