carbonation problems

Hey guys,

I have a batch of blonde ale that I'm loving, but after a few weeks in the bottle some are perfect but some are flat and one exploded. What can cause this? Could the bottling sugar been unevenly distributed through the beer? Is there a way to fix the flat bottles?

Thanx...

Uneven distribution of priming sugar could be the reason. How did you introduce you priming sugar to the batch?

Another possibility is that you didn’t sanitize your bottles well enough. Bacteria in bottles cause over carbonation.

I poured it into the bottling bucket at the beginning of the syphon. Maybe I stirred it - I don't remember. The bottles are clean.

Yep, uneven is what it sounds like to me. You have to keep stirring it in while bottling or it can settle some and youll get more in some bottles then others!

Ahhh, Papzian makes it seem optional. I got tired of fussing with spoon. I'm going to start saving the flat ones and try rebottling them. That should be a fun experiment.

What can cause this?
If some are flat, some perfect, and one exploded, I would guess that it is either uneven distribution of the priming sugar, or poor bottle capping
As Kickass said, an infection could be the cause of the explosion, but that wouldn't explain the some flat, and some perfect.
The explosion could also be caused by bottling too early (before fermentation had finished), but if that were the case, all the bottles would be over-carbonated.
If you use some screw top bottles, and some regular, then the screw tops may not be sealed properly causing low carbonation.
How did you mix the priming sugar with the wort?
Ideally, you should mix the sugar with a small amount of water (about 1/2 - 1 pint for a 5g batch), and boil for 15 minutes; then cool and dump the sugar solution into the bottling bucket. Then you should rack the wort on top of the sugar solution, and bottle.
Some don't bother to cool the solution before racking. This will kill off a very small percentage of the yeast when you rack, but probably not enough to worry about.
Others say you should stir gently after racking to mix the primed wort. I have never found this necessary, but it shouldn't hurt providing you stir gently.
Still others say you should give a stir periodically while bottling. I think this is complete overkill, but that's just my opinion.

Hope this helps.

-a.

I always cool and add my priming sugar to the bottom of the bottling bucket then rack on top of that. I've never stirred after adding the beer and have yet to experience uneven carbonation. Maybe your problem is that some didn't get a snug enough capping.