1st Taste of 2nd Batch

[WSURaider41]

Well, I popped open a bottle of my AHS Holiday Ale. This is how it went...

Very little carbonation. It has been conditioning for 13 days. The carbonation was just a bit light for my taste. Made the pour rather flat looking. The color was slightly lighter than Coca-Cola and there was very little aroma to it at first sniff. The flat pour resulted in little to no head and/or a late forming head that was still relatively thin. When I say late forming, I mean about 3-5 seconds after the pour was completed, the head started to form. The flavors still seemed rather young. There was a roasty flavor with some hints of chocolate. Very little, if any, hop flavor. Rather hard to drink due to the lack of carbonation.

I am going to let it condition a bit longer and see what comes of it. My question is... would it take longer to bottle condition 22oz bottles as opposed to 12 oz bottles? I unfortunately did not have any 12 oz bottles available the weekend I bottled, so I was forced to go out and buy some 22 oz bottles because the entire city of Cincinnati seemed to be out of 12 oz bottles. Furthermore, what is causing the head to form so late?

Help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[earwig]

The 22oz bottles do take a bit longer. What temperature are you conditioning them at? I like to bottle condition between 71-75 Fahrenheit. Also, how long did you leave them in the refrigerator before opening them? If you leave them in for 24+ hours the co2 will be absorbed a bit better and you'll get a nicer more carbonated beer.

 

[Calder]

Cincinnati/Newport, OH/KY. I guess you live on a boat in the middle of the river!?!

I don't find any difference in carbonation time between 12 and 22 ozs bottles. They have the same amount of yeast and priming sugar for a given volume. There probably is a difference due to the smaller headspace (per volume) in the 22 oz bottles, but I doubt you would be able to measure it.

Now the outside temperature has not been above freezing for a couple of weeks. If the bottles were in a place below 70 F, it might take quite a bit longer to carb. Mine are in my basement, and it's taking at least 3 weeks right now.

 

[logan3825]

The head-space should be pretty proportional. Your head-space will be whatever room the bottle filler took up in the bottle. The amount of contact area at the top of the bottle may affect how fast the CO2 will be absorbed.

 

[WSURaider41]

Thanks everyone. I will let them condition for another week and then transfer them to the fridge to sit. They definitely just sat in the fridge long enough to cool off for tasting.

The bottles have been conditioning at around 68F. That's what I've been trying to keep my apartment at lately.

 

[logan3825]

3-4 weeks is still on the low end of bottle conditioning. We saved one 22oz bottle and that tasted better than the rest of the batch by far. We drank it at 2 months. The rest was gone by 4 weeks. The beer was still good at 4 weeks but nowhere near as good as at 2 months.