Carbing

[ElTejon]

Brewed the Brewers Best Pumpkin Spice Porter. Added the entire amount of provided priming sugar (5oz). Been in the bottle two weeks. Good flavor but seems too carbonated. Went to Joe Brewer's BeerBlog and according to that calculator, used too much sugar. Should you adjust the amount of sugar according to carb calculators or just blindly use all the sugar provided?

Thanks,
Rick

 

[Turfmanbrad]

Made this mistake too. My problem was, after trub loss, I only had 4ish gallons to bottle and added all the sugar required for 5 gallons. Obvious issue there. Another problem could be that your fermentation wasn't finished so you're getting more co2 than just the bottling sugar would produce. My remedy was to chill all the bottles (warm beer explodes much more) and gently vent a little air from the bottles. 3 or 4 puffs worked well. After resting for a day or so, I had a feel for how much I needed to vent and all turned out well (after learning the hard way with 5 or 6 bottles.)

 

[ElTejon]

Full 5 gallon before bottling. Pretty sure it was done fermenting (3 weeks in primary with a FG of 1.014 two days running). Several calculators show that for the proper carb volume, 5 oz. is too much. How do you vent the bottles without losing the seal altogether?

Thanks,
Rick

 

[Turfmanbrad]

I just figure 1 oz/gal for the sugar. To vent, I use a bottle opener like bartenders use that makes a full circle at the head (so it contacts the cap all the way across) and gently lift the cap until I hear a hiss. It flexes enough to bleed a bit out. I'm not sure how a giveaway type claw opener would do. Plenty of options, give it a shot, just make sure it's cold first.