conditioning and carbonation

[william2010]

So I have my ipa I bottled two and a half weeks ago and had been keeping it in the garage. I went to try one at two weeks and I noticed it wasnt carbed that much. Well I think it has something to do with temp and how it didn't have all that much time. So I moved them into my house where its about 68 and took them out of the box and on the carpet. I felt the bottles again after a couple days and they still seem cool to the touch. I don't know what to do. Any ideas.

 

[TopherM]

Can you describe your bottling process? Did you boil priming sugar in water, cool the dissolved priming sugar, add it to your bottling bucket, then rack your wort/beer on top?

About 3 weeks will do it for average OG/ABV beers. If your IPA is over about 1.06 OG/7.0 or so ABV, it is going to take proportionally longer to carb.

No issues carbing at 68, though, they should be fine at that temp.

 

[HibsMax]

So I have my ipa I bottled two and a half weeks ago and had been keeping it in the garage. I went to try one at two weeks and I noticed it wasnt carbed that much. Well I think it has something to do with temp and how it didn't have all that much time. So I moved them into my house where its about 68 and took them out of the box and on the carpet. I felt the bottles again after a couple days and they still seem cool to the touch. I don't know what to do. Any ideas.

Leave them longer. Seriously, that will work (assuming you added priming sugar, etc).

 

[william2010]

Well we boiled it and did all that but we put it on top after we put the beer into the bottling.g bucket. We used dextrose. In my opinion and I'm not all that sure because I have only done a couple batches but it seems sucrose does better. But not sure. The bottle had a small amount of carb. But didn't have any head.

 

[william2010]

Does anyone have a preference with sucrose or dextrose

 

[eastoak]

Does anyone have a preference with sucrose or dextrose

if it's a sugar it will work. some sugars you can add less of than others, there are tables and calculators online, but they all work when used in the correct amount. you can also use DME or even unfermented wort.

 

[homebrewdad]

Well we boiled it and did all that but we put it on top after we put the beer into the bottling.g bucket. We used dextrose. In my opinion and I'm not all that sure because I have only done a couple batches but it seems sucrose does better. But not sure. The bottle had a small amount of carb. But didn't have any head.

I would worry that you didn't get a good mix. You should always put the sugar solution in first, then rack the beer on top of it to ensure a good mixture. Adding the sugar last doesn't give you a great way to mix, which may lead to uneven carbonation.

Also, yeah... just give it more time.

 

[TopherM]

Simple sugar is simple sugar as far as the yeast are concerned. As long as the basic chemistry's the same, they consume it the same.

Where you went wrong is you put the dextrose solution on top of the beer, when you should have put it in the bottling bucket and racked the beer on top of it.

The way you did it, it is very very likely that you have the right amount of sugar in there, but didn't get a good mix, so you are going to find that you have some bottles with overcarbonation in addition to the ones you have already found that are undercarbonated. All the sugar's in there, it's just not mixed thoroughly throughout the beer.

That's probably your issue! Next time rack on top of the sugar solution, which serves to help mix it up without oxidizing it.

 

[hombreman]

One thing that jumps out is that you say you put the priming solution “on top” of the beer in the bottling bucket. Did you stir it and/or leave it to disperse? If not, it may be that some bottles are more carbonated than others. If you put the solution in the bottling bucket first it mixes evenly as you add the beer.

In terms of dextrose or sucrose, both are fermentable sugars and assuming you calculated correctly there shouldn’t be any problem there.

If leaving it in the warm for a few weeks doesn’t solve the problem, another thing you could try is shaking the bottles. It could be that the yeast settled to the bottom before they converted the priming sugars.

Hope the beer turns out well in the end.

 

[william2010]

Is it possible to over carb your beer?

 

[smalltownbrewer]

Heck yeah, you can over carb, you need to know the volume of beer you have and then calculate the amount of sugar needed for priming, there are calculators on the net for that. Also you need to be checking your fermentation process with a hydrometer and assure that the fermentation has completed ie. OG and FG, to avoid bottle bombs.

 

[william2010]

Heck yeah, you can over carb, you need to know the volume of beer you have and then calculate the amount of sugar needed for priming, there are calculators on the net for that. Also you need to be checking your fermentation process with a hydrometer and assure that the fermentation has completed ie. OG and FG, to avoid bottle bombs.

Do you think you can over carb and still have great tasting beer? How do you know if you over carbed it. Besides how much sugar you put in

 

[smalltownbrewer]

Well those calculators will let you chose each style of beer and give you the average co2 level expected for that style and the desired amount of sugar for all types, for example, a porter would have less carbonation then say a pilsner. So I guess depends how you like your beer, but then you also don't want your bottles exploding either.

 

[duboman]

Do you think you can over carb and still have great tasting beer? How do you know if you over carbed it. Besides how much sugar you put in

If you regularly drink beer you will definitely know you over carbonated. You can wind up with a couple things:
1. Bottle Bombs
2. Gusher bottles upon opening
3. A sharp carbonic acid taste when drinking
4 Major Disappointment

If you do find the bottles are over-carbonated you can place them in the fridge for several weeks to condition the bottles but if they are way over carbonated it may not go away