carbonation varies bottle to bottle

I put priming sugar (boiled in pint glass of water) 3/4 to 7/8 cup in bottling bucket then add beer. I have even stirred gently several times and still my carbonation varies greatly bottle to bottle. I give 1.5 to 2 weeks room temp for carbonation. Dont really want to add to each bottle but might have to? Any help? Tks. in advance!

Try 3 weeks at room temp. What is your room temperature?

organ said:

Try 3 weeks at room temp.

Click to expand...

At least.

Most of the time when a beer is acting weired, it's just that it's not fully carbed yet. And if you're below 70, or were below 70 for any period of time during the 3weeks, then the beer hasn't fully carbed yet.

Inconsistant carbonation, simply means that they are not ready yet. If you had opened them a week later, or even two, you never would have noticed. Each one is it's own little microcosm, and although generally the should come up at the same time, it's not an automatic switch, and they all pop on.

But they all will pop on when the time is right.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."


A tiny difference in temps between bottles in storage can affect the yeasties, speed them up or slow them down. Like if you store them in a closet against a warm wall, the beers closest to the heat source may be a tad warmer than those further way, so thy may carb/condition at slightly different rates. I usually store a batch in 2 seperate locations in my loft 1 case in my bedroom which is a little warmer, and the other in the closet in the lving room, which being in a larger space is a tad cooler, at least according to the thermostat next to that closet. It can be 5-10 degrees warmer in my bedroom. So I usually start with that case at three weeks. Giving the other half a little more time.

Bottom line, it's not that the sugar's not mixed, it's just that they all haven't come up to full carb yet....Three weeks is not the magic number for finality, it's the minimum time it takes....

I put one bottle in fridge overnight and sampled it the next day. Well carbonated, so I put the whole batch in fridge. When I went to drink : some was over carbonated, some under and some just right?

I understand the waiting deal and thank you for the information. I was trying to figure out the vast differences in the same batch?

If you let it sit for a while I'd guess the first few bottles would have had more yeast in as the yeast settled to the lower part of the bottling bucket (especially if the beer was cold after cold crashing for example).

Then the amount of head room would probably make a bit of difference in each bottle.

So many variables... but just give it time or pitch fresh yeast if you're that bothered, which i doubt you are.

On another note.... why 70F when most yeast I use like the mid 60's?

Room temperature high 60's to low 70's. Thanks for the responses.

>>Piney

I have same problem with my 6-month-old tripel. Some have typical fluffy Belgian carb, others 0 carb.

I began looking into this "problem" by collecting bottles and caps (parts) that belong to "good" and "bad" samples. So far, I have collected the parts from 1 good and 5 bad samples. My observation is that all the bad samples have additional rubber material (shaped like a "lip") near the seal-zone. My guess (at this point) is that this additional material leads a non-ideal seal.

i will collect more data to make myself believe this is the case.

Piney said:

Room temperature high 60's to low 70's. Thanks for the responses.

Click to expand...

It may not seem much to you and me, but high 60's means a lot to the yeast, if it's below 70, it's going to be slower than if it's above 70. Just give them time.