Bottle carbing

Have brewed several batches of beer and have had mixed results on carb levels. I seem to be low on all of my batches of ambers and wheat beers. I use corn sugar to bottle and have it sitting anywhere from 65-75 degrees and use 5 oz of corn sugar. How much is too much corn sugar? I just bottled a caribou slobber with 5.25 oz's and still waiting for it to be ready. That is the most I have used. Any help would be appreciated.

Usually you bottle to style...
I've included a nice calculator but is this because you want it to carb faster?

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

No just want consistent results

if a recipe calls for 5 oz for priming is it a bad thing to add .5 to .75 oz more without getting bottle bombs?

So after using the calculator above I have noticed that there is a beer that for 6 gallons you need to add 10.1 oz of priming sugar. What is the risk if I put say 7 oz of corn sugar in an American pale or amber ale I stead of the 5 oz the calculator calls for? I am just afraid of getting bottle bombs and if you can up to 10 oz on a heavier dark beer and note get bottle bombs then why can you not add just a couple more oz's of corn sugar to a light beer to get the carb where I want it.

Am I just off my rocker or is this possible?

Bookem15 said:

So after using the calculator above I have noticed that there is a beer that for 6 gallons you need to add 10.1 oz of priming sugar. What is the risk if I put say 7 oz of corn sugar in an American pale or amber ale I stead of the 5 oz the calculator calls for? I am just afraid of getting bottle bombs and if you can up to 10 oz on a heavier dark beer and note get bottle bombs then why can you not add just a couple more oz's of corn sugar to a light beer to get the carb where I want it.

Am I just off my rocker or is this possible?

Click to expand...

Sure, you can do that - as long as the carbonation vessel can handle the resulting pressure. That calculator has a built-in "style" table that sets the ranges based on generally accepted carbonation levels for each type of brew, but you're certainly able to go off the chart and created an effervescent Pale if you want...

Cheers!

Yes you can do whatever you want but you are risking overcarbonation (tons of foam and head) and possibly bottle bombs...

In my opinion you should stick to the calculator, or , any recipe.
The reason I say this is because 5 oz for example may be plenty to carb your 5 gal batch.
Its just a matter of being patient, most beers will be ready in 3 weeks time.
Some beers will be partially carbed after a week but even if they were carbed in a day its better to wait. Drink one after a week, one after two, another after 3 this helps you determine the length to carb for that style of beer and the aging benefits.

trust me the aging benefits are great, go buy a six pack while waiting.

I have beers that have been sitting for 2 months that to me just seem a little shy on the fizz. I have watch sooooo many videos where they pop the top of a ez cap bottle and it sounds like it almost breaks the bottle when the cap pops. I am only going to be adding about .5 - 1 ounce more to get just a little more.

Thanks for all the replies.

The more you bottle the more experience you will obtain. Using the various calculators (tasty, beersmith, Promash) etc. will allow you to carb to style either on the low end... or in your case the high end.

For the higher gravity beers I always add yeast (many here do not) to enusre proper carbing.

Funny, I just finished bottling a batch of slobber myself and was having these same worries. I primed and bottled my last batch, a stout, almost 6 weeks ago and there is barely a hint of carbonation. I even used the calculators to determine the right amount of sugar.

There must be some other variables to this that we just haven't figured out yet, maybe?

When I was still bottling my methodology was dead simple: 2 weeks fermentation, 2 weeks in the bottle at room temp, 2 weeks conditioning in the fridge. I never had a carbonation problem, it just worked. Even the big @$$ brews carbed up nicely (like 90 point stouts, for instance).

When I read the same people saying that it often takes months to carb a bottle and to just keep on keeping on, I'm left scratching my noggin' and wondering why...

Obviously this isn't helpful, but I'm been biting my lip about this for months, and as I've just beat the crap out of myself doing yard work and followed that with two medicating strong pints with a keg kick 'n' swap in between, I couldn't help but post this missive.

Sorry 'bout that

Cheers!

Since you only left your beer in primary for two weeks you probably always had more yeast in suspension. Bottle carbing and conditioning is a fickle thing that can vary based on any number of variables. Give each beer at least 3 weeks to carb up, but expect bigger beers to take up to 2 months to be where you want them. In the meantime just brew another batch!

I had consistency problems when I didn't stir the sugar in the bottling bucket well enough. It got better but I never really produced a consistent carbonation product. Kegging was my salvation.

I bottle right after a 2 week primary.
I add table sugar to the bottle sindividually at 4-5 gr per 630ml and have never had a problem. My last wheat beer was way carbed with only 4gr per bottle after 5 days under my stairs.
So, warm and lots of yeast still in suspention.