How long does it take to get a good carbonation in the bottle
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ZebulonBrewer
Well-Known Member
Ten days - two weeks at 70-75F. Three weeks at something like 65-67F. Be patient, young padewan.
Read around on the forums, also, there is a lot of good information on here.
Read around on the forums, also, there is a lot of good information on here.
3 weeks at 70F+ is a good rule of thumb. Higher ABV beers can take a lot longer. An Apfelwein I bottled took a full 6 weeks to reach its peak.
The waiting can be a real B1TCH
Solution. Get cracking on the next batch, and the next and the next... ya see where that goes.
A pipeline of beers at various stages is great if you are bottling.
The waiting can be a real B1TCH
Solution. Get cracking on the next batch, and the next and the next... ya see where that goes.
A pipeline of beers at various stages is great if you are bottling.
Im around 68f so should wait longer,thx
Every bottle you open that's not ready is one less to enjoy in its prime. Give it a couple more weeks.
Or kegging
True, its just that they all are ready to drink so much faster. 5 kegs on the go at the moment. Lucky me!
Gnomebrewer
Well-Known Member
It depends on the yeast and the temperature. WY3068 is ready in about 3 days, most yeasts need at least 2 weeks (preferably 3 weeks). It can take much longer at low temperatures.
brewshki
Well-Known Member
I agree with the pipeline comment. Waiting on those first few batches really really sucks. It gets way easier when you have beer fermenting, another batch carbonating, one batch already in the fridge ready to drink, and an empty fermenter ready for your next brew day.
it will get better. Almost all of my beers are actually pretty well carbonated at 5-7 days (70-73F). But I think waiting 2 weeks, or even 3 weeks is not a bad idea. It carbonates more and allows some conditioning, which will improve the taste.
I had one batch that did not want to carbonate for a long time. Almost everything was done carbing by 2 weeks or so.
slym2none
"Lazy extract brewer."
It really all depends. 2 weeks is my personal minimum, and I know big beers can (but not always have to) take longer. My 11% barley-wine wasn't but lightly carbed last time I checked (about 2 months ago, 2-1/2 months after bottling) but my 8% RIS I brewed recently was nicely carbed (and perfectly fine to drink, although I know it will get better with age) after 2 weeks.
ABV is part of the equation, but not all of it.
ABV is part of the equation, but not all of it.
yewtah-brewha
Well-Known Member
my average is 4.0 percent and It usually takes 5-7 days, you'lll ge tto the point where you you forget you have beer carbonating, just bottle it and move on to the next recipe!
Subdivisions
Well-Known Member
As a reply to your question, do a search on this forum or on google with the addition of site:homebrewtalk.com to find any answer you're looking for. You are certainly not the first person that has opened his bottles way too early and found that they weren't carbonated enough.
Brew_G
Well-Known Member
But it's a significant up-front cost that not all home brewers are willing and/or able to afford.
Rhumbline
Well-Known Member
it depends entirely on the beer. I have a Saison right now that was fully carbed in less than a week.
Stouts have taken months.
Typically, three weeks is reasonable.
I have never opened a bottle in less than 2 weeks at about 70 degrees. Of those at 2 weeks, some were carbonated and some were not. But ALL of them TASTED BETTER at 3 weeks and longer, some much longer.....
slym2none
"Lazy extract brewer."
*applause*
During the heat of the summer my indoor temperatures got into the 80s - I could get away with 10 days at room temperature priming with DME. I found that my hop forward beers were at that age and only went down hill when left for 2-3 weeks.
Brew_G
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I'd love to start kegging if someone wants to send me everything to get setup
I hear ya!
A co-worker is going to give me his one corny since he's not brewing now, but that's just a small start since I'd like to have a three-keg setup!
matyas
Member
I've got a stout carbonating right now that's been in the bottles for three weeks. I tasted it the other day, and the flavor was good, but it was very flat. Generally, my beers have been good to go by the three week mark. I've been brewing for about two years now but still pretty much consider myself a newbie. However, I've never seen a beer take more than this to carbonate. I should mention that the bottles are being stored in a room where the ambient temperature has been around 70 degrees fahrenheit or so. Should I be worried?
How long was your beer in primary, and did it also spend any time in secondary? I'm right where you are with a RIS bottled 8/22/15. Mine spent 5 weeks in primary, then another 5 weeks in secondary on a bourbon soaked oak spiral. With that much time having passed since fermentation, I decided to hydrate some champagne yeast and and it along with my priming sugar when I bottled. I haven't opended one yet, but I'm getting pretty anxious so will probably put one in the fridge tonight and drink it on Saturday.
Another higher alcohol beer that I made last year was the only other beer I've ever done a secondary with. It also took about 4 weeks to carb up. All my other beers with no secondary have been carbed in 10-14 days.
matyas
Member
My beer did spend longer than I prefer in both the primary and the secondary. I'd have to check, but I think it was probably about four weeks in each. Should I just give it another week or two? I've heard of people re-bottling, or cracking the caps and putting carb drop in the bottles.
Most likely you just need to wait longer. 2 months is not enough that the yeast should be a problem.
I would allow another month or three before doing anything to carb the bottles.
This is certainly not typical for most. I have brewed hop forward beers and as I said before they all tasted better at 3 weeks or longer.
Taste is subjective, but hops will always degrade over time - that's just a fact especially considering the way home brewers bottle their beer. Once the CO2 is produced via bottle conditioning it must have time to absorb into the beer - this is required for proper mouthfeel, head, etc.. After the CO2 has absorbed into the liquid, hop forward beers should be good to go. They shouldn't need time for the flavors to "meld" or "mellow" IMO. So the question is how long should bottle priming and the absorption of CO2 take. Given the fact that primary fermentation usually doesn't take more than a week or two, I don't see how it could possibly take 3 weeks for the yeast to go through the priming sugar. After all, the amount of gravity that priming adds is very small. Once the beer has finished fermenting and creating CO2 it should be able to go into the fridge to help absorb the CO2 back into the beer.
Personally, I don't see how it would take more than 10 days to finish bottle conditioning even at lower temperatures. After 10 days at room temp and a few days in the fridge, beer should be carbonated unless the yeast was extremely unhealthy. I could see this applying to big beers like IIPAs or RIS, but your average beer shouldn't have this problem.
Like I said, taste is subjective so you may prefer your hop forward beers at 3 weeks but it is a fact that the hops will have degraded somewhat in those extra 11 days at room temp. With that said, I must disagree with you that all beers, especially those that are hop forward, taste better at 3 weeks.
OK, go ahead and disagree. I have never opened a beer in less that 2 weeks and less than half of those were properly carbonated at 2 weeks. If it works for you great but you are the FIRST that I have ever read that says that bottle conditioned beer can be properly ready in a week.
I do agree that the hop flavor will fade, but it is not my experience that it will fade anywhere near that fast.
I said 10 days, not a week. Papazian himself suggests 10 days to beginners in The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. If you're storing your beers around 70F and getting weak carbonation after 2 weeks it sounds like your yeast is unhealthy when you're bottling.
Resonator
Well-Known Member
Depends on the beer. I've had beers carb in a couple days to a week, and others that took 5-7 weeks to carb up. As long as your yeast isn't too overworked with the alcohol and you have a decent amount of priming sugar you should be good. I would say 2 weeks is usually the average for most beers to have a good carbonation level.
slym2none
"Lazy extract brewer."
There seems to be some rumour/myth that carb drops don't work. I can't see why they wouldn't, they are sugar compressed into a tablet. They will dissolve in water (beer is 95% H²O or so) and the sugar doesn't just not work. I think people with carb-drop problems have bad seals and/or inactive yeast. Just MHO.
For anecdotal evidence, I have used carb-drops twice and had perfect results with them.
For anecdotal evidence, I have used carb-drops twice and had perfect results with them.
I've heard people say that about the tablets as well. The only thing I can think of is that it doesn't distribute through the beer as well as mixing it the sugar water. I've gone 8 weeks and always had some carbonation after a week of priming. Most are fully carbonated in two weeks.
N4teTheGreat
Well-Known Member
I used carb drop in my first batch as I mistakenly fermented in the bottling bucket and didn't want to both with a bunch of racking. The beer had been in the fermentor for nearly 8 weeks. It was a stout which I bottled into bombers. I was seeing activity in the bottles within a week, and when I chilled and opened a couple at week four they were both well carbonated. For control I'll certainly use sugar next time, but in a pinch they seem to work just fine.
-- Nathan
-- Nathan
Assuming you used a proper amount of priming sugar when you bottled, I don't think adding carb drops would make any difference. I don't think you said what your gravity readings were, but if it's a fairly high ABV, they seem to take longer to carb by my experience. So I would certainly give them a couple more weeks, but if they're still flat, it's more likely to be not enough viable yeast, as opposed to not enough sugar.
Are you also giving them several days in the fridge for the beer to absorb the CO2 before you open them? I like to chill for a minimum of four days for the first couple bottles in any batch.
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