Carbonation Question

Hey, I just tried my first batch of Brewers Best Double IPA. My question is when I opened the bottle after 2 weeks of sitting in a dark 65-68 degree room the carbonation((when pouring) was very heavy. The OG was 1.078 FG was 1.018. Should I let it sit another week. I tried two different bottles and the same thing happen to both. Taste was good, color was good. Also I had zero sediment in the bottom of the bottle, which when I have made other beer I did have. Is that because its just a different beer? Any help would be great....

How much priming sugar did you use?

cowboy65 said:

...when I opened the bottle after 2 weeks of sitting in a dark 65-68 degree room the carbonation was very heavy. The OG was 1.078 FG was 1.018. Should I let it sit another week?... Also I had zero sediment in the bottom of the bottle...

Click to expand...

I consider myself a beginner brewer also, but I can think of a few things that might affect it:

Did you chill your beer down from 68 before you opened it? For How long? The yeast will eat the priming sugar and produce CO2, some of which will sit in the headspace at warmer temps. When you chill the beer long enough, this pressure in the headspace will dissolve into solution.

Having such a high OG, its hard to say whether 1.018 is a good FG. You really need to take a few hydrometer readings and make sure its not moving. If it was still fermenting slowly it would mean there were still sugars in the wort. These in addition to the priming sugar might have caused a slight over carbonation.

Lastly, 2 weeks bottle conditioning seems rather short, especially for a beer with a higher OG. I would wait another week, and open one on week 3 without very high expectations (rather open one just to witness the process). Personally I would start opening the bottles closer to 4 weeks conditioning time. The process of carbonation should produce another small 'flush' of yeast which will settle out once its done carbonating, so you should see some sediment on the bottom. This is yet another sign you opened them a bit prematurely.

The most important thing I have learned in homebrewing is to use the recipe as a guideline and let the beer tell you what it needs.

It was a kit, I believe it was one pound of corn sugar and boiled it in 2 cups of water...

cowboy65 said:

It was a kit, I believe it was one pound of corn sugar and boiled it in 2 cups of water...

Click to expand...

ONE POUND?

you must have meant one CUP... otherwise get ready to uncap NOW

Yes I chilled it for 24 hours, before I opened it...I will what another week and try one....Thanks

Black said:

ONE POUND?

you must have meant one CUP... otherwise get ready to uncap NOW

Click to expand...

Even at one cup, thats 8oz, and thats WAY to high.

nighthawk311 said:

Even at one cup, thats 8oz, and thats WAY to high.

Click to expand...

Agreed, although if he brewed 6 gals he wouldn't be that far off.

I hope you didn't prime the bottles with a pound of corn sugar... Maybe you added a pound of corn sugar to the Malt Extract during the boil to boost the ABV without altering flavor (in which case it's no longer 'priming' sugar)??? This sounds more likely especially ending up at 1.072...

Yeah if it is heavy with the carbonation now it will either stay the game or get more carbonated. In all seriousness how much sugar was it?. If it was more than 5 or 6 oz you could have exploding bottles. Plus 1.018 for a fg might be too high depending on the grain bill (ie if it has lots of plain sugar in the recipe that would take it down a bit)...... Speaking of which.... Did you forget to use 1lb of sugar in the boil and use it for bottling? Just occurred to me that that might have happened... But we won't know unless you tell us. I could just be making an assumption.

I rechecked the instructions and it says one pound of corn sugar.

opps my bad the one pound did go in the boil with the LME....

And you did add the 1lb corn sugar during the boil? This would make much more sense! Phew! So did you note how much priming sugar you used? Also what was the batch size, 5 gal? I believe corn sugar is 100% fermentable, and using this in the boil should lead to a drier FG though I still couldn't give specifics especially with such a high OG.
Starting with such a high OG and trying to determine the 'proper' FG through the internet would require specifics like the yeast used, ferment temperatures, attenuation and probably a dozen other variables that I can't even think of.

I go back to my original comments, either you bottled too early leaving fermentable sugars in the bottle in addition to your priming sugar. Or your priming sugar was a bit too high. From the sounds of it, the least likely at this point is insufficient cooling in the bottle before opening. I still feel like 2 weeks conditioning for such a 'big beer' sounds a bit short.

Yes "phew" indeed. I think the priming sugar was around 1 or 2 ounces( I didnt write it down, lesson learned on that) I will let it sit for another week and try one then...Thanks

Good to hear. One quick question, was it a pack of sugar that you used? Like a whole one provided by the kit? Or did you weigh it out? I've seen a lot of kits come with 5oz of corn sugar. Fairly common. That info with the volume of beer can let you know if it will be overcarbonated. Just an FYI.

Not sure how much the priming sugar was. I got almost 5 gallons of beer to make, but it was a packet in the kit..

Ok so it's a 5 gallon batch, and the priming sugar was a packet in the kit. I would also guess about 5oz, as I have seen that in a kit before. Let's assume you used the proper amount of priming sugar.

You say the beer was over-carbonated. Do you mean there was a lot of head but the beer was flat? This would mean the proper amount of priming sugar and not enough time carbing. You can tell this by lots of 'loose' head with largish bubbles. The head will be much at first, and settle down to nothing quick. No sediment also leads me to think this is the case.

The other 'type' of overcarb would be too much priming sugar and proper time resulting in a lot of head with finer bubbles, lots of bubbles from the beer and possibly a sharp bite. The head should be much and also persist from the continuous production of bubbles from the beer itself.

To be clear the first type where you opened the bottle too soon would in fact be 'under carbing' though it could still produce a lot of head.

Oaney said:

...
I go back to my original comments, either you bottled too early leaving fermentable sugars in the bottle in addition to your priming sugar. Or your priming sugar was a bit too high. From the sounds of it, the least likely at this point is insufficient cooling in the bottle before opening. I still feel like 2 weeks conditioning for such a 'big beer' sounds a bit short.

Click to expand...

Also it could be neither of these. More and more, it's sounding like you just haven't left it carbing in the bottles long enough. Open 1 bottle in a week without high hopes, and start looking for improvement in 2 more weeks (4 weeks total bottle carb). Again, take this advice with a grain of salt since its over the internet, and let the beer tell you what it needs (another reason to open 1 bottle at 3 weeks).

Like I have been told time and time again, "Worst case scenario you made beer, next time you'll make good beer."

I got info on the priming sugar, the kit comes with 5oz. As far as the head it was thick and lasted with small bubbles.....I am going to just wait another week and see how it goes, then try one in the 4th week....