headspace on 1 liter grolsch bottles?

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BoxerDog

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I brewed a porter which is pretty good, the only thing is I am getting inconsistant carbonation in my 1 liter bottles. Some of them are normal, others are carbed , just not enough as they should be.

I did notice that the headspace varies greatly from almost 3 inches to about 1 inch. What should my headspace be for these types of bottles?
 
Are you sure those are one liter Grolsch's, not half-liter? I've never seen a liter Grolsch! If they are, I'd sure like to get some!

I just fill my bottles until the beer touches the top (trying not to overflow). When I take out the bottling cane, the displacement from the cane and syphon tube is just about right, leaving about 1" of headspace. Three inches sounds like a bit too much.
 
BoxerDog said:
Not actual grolsch bottles, I was talking about the grolsch style fliptops.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh. Now I get it. Yeah, I've seen them for sale at Midwest. Gotta get me a couple. I would think you would want the same amount of head space, regardless of the volume the bottle holds: 1" to 1.5". Another variable that can effect carbonation, though, is how thoroughly your priming sugar was mixed in.
 
It doesnt matter. The less headspace the better imo, headspace=air=02=bad.
Ive bottled with zero headspace and the only thing is that it takes longer to carb.

Even with zero apparent headspace there is still some space between the cap and the beer and according to Dave Miller a few millimeters is all you need.

Be prepared to wait months though for the beer to fully carb with zero space.
 
Ivan Lendl said:
Be prepared to wait months though for the beer to fully carb with zero space.
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I'm confused (nothing new). I would think it would take less time to carb with little/no head space, not more time. Isn't carbonation caused by the yeast giving off CO2 after consuming the priming sugar, but since there's nowhere for the CO2 to go (no airlock or blowoff tube), it remains in the beer, ready to be released when the beer is uncapped and poured?

Wouldn't, therefore, more headspace allow for more CO2 to be given off by the yeasts, rather than "stored up" (so to speak) in the beer, thus making it less carbed or probably, take more time to get properly carbed?

I'm no chemist, so maybe I'm missing something here.
 
mountainrev said:
I'm confused (nothing new). I would think it would take less time to carb with little/no head space, not more time. Isn't carbonation caused by the yeast giving off CO2 after consuming the priming sugar, but since there's nowhere for the CO2 to go (no airlock or blowoff tube), it remains in the beer, ready to be released when the beer is uncapped and poured?

Wouldn't, therefore, more headspace allow for more CO2 to be given off by the yeasts, rather than "stored up" (so to speak) in the beer, thus making it less carbed or probably, take more time to get properly carbed?

I'm no chemist, so maybe I'm missing something here.
Click to expand...

Yeah I dunno why either except that it has something to do with pressure, saturation, equilibrium, and Plancks constant or something.

Im sure the kegging peeps could explain carbonation...
 
I always fill my bottles to the top, pull the racking cane back and then press it against the mouth of the bottle, filling it to within 1/2" of the top. I let the bottles sit for 15 minutes to allow CO2 to form, pushing the O2 from the bottle, then cap. 1-2 weeks later you have carbed beer. :)
 

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