First two bottles were over carbonated....the next two had almost none?!?

[Justdrumin]

So it's been about two weeks since bottling with my first batch. I opened one with my dad and as soon as I opened it, foam started comin out. The second one did the same. Then I came home and opened one that was just about as flat as a pancake. So I said what the hey, I'll try another....again, flat as a pancake. I noticed one of the caps on one of em seemed like it was bulging up a bit more than the others. So I opened this one and it was pouring out foam. I know I added too much priming sugar because I lost some from trying not to pick up a bunch of trub, but why would some be super over carbed and some aren't??

Edit: They were all stored in the cardboard box they came in at about 65*F.

 

[freisste]

Didn't mix well enough.

 

[Revvy]

Didn't mix well enough.

Nope. That's bunk. Two fluids of nearly identical densities mix fine on it's own.

Justdrumin, the reason you have inconsistant carbonation is simple. You opened them too soon.

It's only been two weeks.

Whenever someone says they have inconsistant carbonation it's really that you don't have a carbonation problem, you just have a patience one.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out. You have green beer.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

You may have just caught the beers as they were individually starting to pop, and happened to have grabbed the first ones that actually did carb, and assumed the rest already did, when they hadn't yet.

Inconsistant carbonation, usually simply means that they are not ready yet. If you had opened them a week later, or even two, you never would have noticed. Each one is it's own little microcosm, and although generally the should come up at the same time, it's not an automatic switch, and they all pop on.

A tiny difference in temps between bottles in storage can affect the yeasties, speed them up or slow them down. Like if you store them in a closet against a warm wall, the beers closest to the heat source may be a tad warmer than those further way, so thy may carb/condition at slightly different rates. I usually store a batch in 2 seperate locations in my loft 1 case in my bedroom which is a little warmer, and the other in the closet in the lving room, which being in a larger space is a tad cooler, at least according to the thermostat next to that closet. It can be 5-10 degrees warmer in my bedroom. So I usually start with that case at three weeks. Giving the other half a little more time.

Bottom line, it's not that the sugar's not mixed, it's just that they all haven't come up to full carb yet....Three weeks is not the magic number for finality, it's the minimum time it takes....

Pull them out of the fridge, give them a little shake to kick the yeast up, and make sure they're above 70 for a couple more weeks.

 

[wherestheyeast]

Did you xfer the beer to the bottling bucket or put the priming sugar into your fermenter? Did you boil the sugar with some water?

The method I use is boil the priming sugar with 1-2 cups of water, cool, add to bottling bucket, rack the beer onto the sugar, stir gently with a sanitized spoon, begin to fill.

Sit for 2-3 weeks @ 70F, place one in the fridge for a couple of days & evaluate.

I had some inconsistent carbonation from bottle-to-bottle on a batch that I DIDN'T stir. It took some bottles 2-3 months to carb up.

 

[fozzie14]

Mr. Beer kit has you putting sugar in each bottle before filling. That sounds sensible, as every bottle will have almost exactly the same amount of sugar. Why don't serious brewers do it this way?

 

[jethro55]

The gushing has been a feature of a bottling infection for some. If the priming sugar was introduced all together in a bottling bucket, and then stirred to evenly distribute; then it would be abnormal to see a big difference from bottle to bottle.

Carbonation difference at two weeks has not been an issue here, with corn sugar added between 2.5 and 4 volumes of CO2. They have all been pretty much the same. It might be that you are running near the limit of overcarb when you bottle or something in the technique did not evenly mix the carbonation sugar.

 

[unionrdr]

Here's another wrench in the works. I've been having carbonation problems since last June. Tried every conceveable thing to fix the problem. Even noticing the bit of scale built up on the lips of the bottles. It was cleaned up as well,even brushed the bottles after rinsing them out.
It didn't dawn on me that the capper wasn't quite crimping the caps as tightly as they normaly would be,due to the scaly,grainy build up around the lips of the bottles. I've used the Red Baron wing capper for about 2 years straight. Apparently the bell got stretched out just barely enough to not crimp the caps tight enough.
Now,while I couldn't turh the caps by hand,I noticed that some were a bit easier to pop open than others. So along with my monthly brew supplies,I ordered the Super Agata bench capper. I'm gunna mount it on a piece of 2 x 12 that's a bit rectangular in shape so when the lever is pulled,it won't tilt forward.

 

[jethro55]

Here's another wrench in the works. I've been having carbonation problems since last June. Tried every concoveable thing to fix the problem. Even noticing the bit of scale built up on the lips of the bottles. It was cleaned up as well,even brushed the bottles after rinsing them out.
It didn't dawn on me that the capper wasn't quite crimping the caps as tightly as they normaly would be,due to the scaly,grainy build up around the lips of the bottles. I've used the Red Baron wing capper for about 2 years straight. Apparently the bell got stretched out just barely enough to not crimp the caps tight enough.
Now,while I couldn't turh the caps by hand,I noticed that some were a bit easirt to pop open than others. So along with my monthly brew supplies,I ordered the Super Agata bench capper I'm gunna mount it on a piece of 2 x 12 that's a bit rectangular in shape so when the lever is pulled,it won't tilt forward.

Union - I have not had any carb problems. Have I been lucky?

 

[unionrdr]

^^Probably. I do pull rather firmly on the wing capper handles,but not enough to break anything...well,save for once or twice. And those times I was just in too much of a hurry & broke the necks off some SN stubbies.
It'll happen sooner or later. It's like how I've never had an infection. Being careful & methodical with cleaning & sanitizing EVERYTHING has been the reason. But I couldn't tell the the capper's bell had stretched out mearly by looking at it. It was uneven pressure on the bottle opener that finaly told the tale. Things wear out eventually,so you'll probably run into it in the future.
It was a good excuse to get the better capper I wanted in the first place anyway.

 

[freisste]

Didn't mix well enough.

 

[freisste]

Didn't mix well enough.

Duplicate post. My sure what happened. (Not just me being stubborn...)

 

[unionrdr]

I don't mix very well in public,so does that mean I'm not very bubbly??
But his likely wasn't mixing too well on it's own. You need to make sure the racking tube curls half way around the bottom of the bottling bucket. This induces the swirl that gets mentioned in these threads. the other things I mentioned were extreme examples of breakdowns & the like that can have the same effect. When the room I store the boxed beers in gets up to 80-85F or so,I could swear I was geting wiffs of a sweet malty smell as well as the uneven crimp on the caps when poping them.

 

[Justdrumin]

I didn't mix very well at all. I was so worried about oxygenation that maybe I needed to mix a lil better next time. This was my original thought. I knew it was still probably too early as well. My instructions say two weeks conditioning....but I've read here NUMEROUS times that the instructions can be very wrong. The one I opened after the two that had almost no carb at all had foam comin out of it for a few minutes which kinda scares me....I'm hopin I don't end up with bombs on my hands. Not even thinking about it I heated up the whole pack of priming sugar (5oz) with water and in the end I had just under 4.5 gallons :smack: the one that I last described has a very sweat flavor to it too. I'm really hoping that it's just my impatience and its still green. Thanks for all of the quick replies!! I'll quit being impatient and leave em be like I know I should have to begin with.

Edit: I poured my cooled priming sugar in the bottling bucket and racked on top of it, then bottled filling it to the top with the wand in.

 

[jethro55]

OK....bottling.....

Add the priming sugar solution to the bottling bucket.
Position the end of the siphon tube on the bottom of the bottling bucket and then drain the beer into the bucket. No splashing occurs when done correctly.

Stir it gently in a circular motion for a minute or so to distribute the priming sugar solution. Start bottling, and stir it every gallon or two.

You can put them in a rubbermaid container if you have concerns about bottle bombs. Keeping them cold will stop any further carb as well.

 

[unionrdr]

No need to stir every couple of bottles just maybe a dozen gentle stirs at the beginning should do it.

 

[Justdrumin]

OK....bottling.....

Add the priming sugar solution to the bottling bucket.
Position the end of the siphon tube on the bottom of the bottling bucket and then drain the beer into the bucket. No splashing occurs when done correctly.

Stir it gently in a circular motion for a minute or so to distribute the priming sugar solution. Start bottling, and stir it every gallon or two.

You can put them in a rubbermaid container if you have concerns about bottle bombs. Keeping them cold will stop any further carb as well.

This being my first brew, as I stated earlier, with no prior experience, I was not aware of needing to stir after adding priming sugar...my instructions did not instruct me to and I have done extensive research on many different things but I have yet to read about stirring before filling the bottles. I may have made a small mistake but yet again......it was my first batch.

But thanks for all the help everyone!! I really appreciate it!

 

[mblanks2]

This being my first brew, as I stated earlier, with no prior experience, I was not aware of needing to stir after adding priming sugar...my instructions did not instruct me to and I have done extensive research on many different things but I have yet to read about stirring before filling the bottles. I may have made a small mistake but yet again......it was my first batch.

But thanks for all the help everyone!! I really appreciate it!

I just made the same mistake. Hoping I don't have bombs. I have them stored at 68* and covered with a few towels. I'm going to look into a few Rubbermaid containers. Same situation with me, 1st batch, concerned about getting it done and skipped the very basic step of stirring. Lesson learned. Hopefully it'll all be OK. I know, RDWHAHB.

 

[Justdrumin]

I just made the same mistake. Hoping I don't have bombs. I have them stored at 68* and covered with a few towels. I'm going to look into a few Rubbermaid containers. Same situation with me, 1st batch, concerned about getting it done and skipped the very basic step of stirring. Lesson learned. Hopefully it'll all be OK. I know, RDWHAHB.

I wish I could RDWHAHB!!! Seein how this is my first batch I don't have any homebrew relax and drink O well...guess I'll have to resort to some beer from the store! I made a mistake...and I learned from it. I have rubbermaid containers, maybe I should think about puttin em in it just for safety. I wish I could just crash cool em but some are super carbed and some aren't at all. I guess I'll just wait it out another week or two and see how it goes. In the mean time...I'm experimenting with a 1g batch of EdWorts Apfelwein!! I'm gonna make it a bit sweeter though, for the SWMBO.

 

[Yooper]

Mr. Beer kit has you putting sugar in each bottle before filling. That sounds sensible, as every bottle will have almost exactly the same amount of sugar. Why don't serious brewers do it this way?

Because that's a real pain, and sometimes I use different sized bottles in a batch, like some 22 ounces, 12 ounces, and even 16 ounce Grolsch bottles.

This being my first brew, as I stated earlier, with no prior experience, I was not aware of needing to stir after adding priming sugar...my instructions did not instruct me to and I have done extensive research on many different things but I have yet to read about stirring before filling the bottles. I may have made a small mistake but yet again......it was my first batch.

But thanks for all the help everyone!! I really appreciate it!

I never stirred my beer in my bottling bucket- never even once. When you siphon the beer into the bottling bucket, if you put the tip of the tubing in a circle on the bottom, the beer will swirl in the priming sugar as the beer fills up from the bottom. It's enough to mix it and I've never had a problem.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,some swear that stirring isn't needed. I set it up for the swirl,& the BB ale pail has a barrel tap on it! Swirls like mad with the 5/8" hose that it needs to rack with. Still need to stir it to get the priming sugar mixed evenly top to bottom of the fluid column. Moreso with the 3/8" spigot. Altough I have needed a new capper,since the bell on the red baron seems to be stretched a little as well. We'll see come next batch & some more time.

 

[bassman22]

Yea...I don't stir either. Haven't noticed a problem.

As stated, I boil sugar in 1 cup water, let cool. Add sugar solution to bottling bucket. put your bev tube in the bottom of the bucket laying flat on the bottom, as if you were coiling a rope into a bucket. the flow of the liquid is enough that it will swirl the sugar and mix it sufficiently.

 

[unionrdr]

I boil 2C of water in a covered sauce pan that has a small valve in the glass lid. After letting it boil a few minutes,I remove from heat,stir in the sugar,cover & cool down to near pitch temp. Then use as normal.

 

[Justdrumin]

So given the advice from many of you that posted, thanks to all btw, I am going to have to say that stirring was not the problem and it's my impatience that's the problem!! Lol. I did add the full 5oz package of priming sugar solution to my batch...so I'm sure that had something to do with the ones that are carbonated way too much. I'm sure with time they will all be carbonated WAY too much!! Thanks again everyone!!

 

[mblanks2]

I never stirred my beer in my bottling bucket- never even once. When you siphon the beer into the bottling bucket, if you put the tip of the tubing in a circle on the bottom, the beer will swirl in the priming sugar as the beer fills up from the bottom. It's enough to mix it and I've never had a problem.

That's good to know, because I did have a good swirl in place when I siphoned into the bottling bucket. I have the bottles stored currently in the Rubbermaid containers, just to be safe. (They're close to my teenagers gaming area and he knows that I keep an accurate count.)

 

[Kate00]

Mr. Beer kit has you putting sugar in each bottle before filling. That sounds sensible, as every bottle will have almost exactly the same amount of sugar. Why don't serious brewers do it this way?

cuz mixing it all at once and giving it a little stir is way easier. getting the same amount of sugar in a bottle isnt an issue.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Nope. That's bunk. Two fluids of nearly identical densities mix fine on it's own.

Justdrumin, the reason you have inconsistant carbonation is simple. You opened them too soon.

It's only been two weeks.

Whenever someone says they have inconsistant carbonation it's really that you don't have a carbonation problem, you just have a patience one.

Not always. I had an English bitter that I made from an extract kit. Bottle conditioned it. Wasn't in a hurry to drink it. Waited three weeks. Bottled conditioned in my summer cellar which was around 75 for most of the time.

Some bottles were way too carbonated for an English bitter while other bottles had practically no carbonation whatsoever. So I let them sit another month. Time did not fix this problem.

When I bottled it, I did the usual - heated up some water with the corn sugar mixture, then let it cool, then put it in the bottling bucket, then racked the beer into the bucket. Every other time it worked, but that time it did not. Since then, every time I bottle carbonate I make sure to take a big spoon and stir it up to make absolutely sure that the priming sugars are mixed in.

 

[paulster2626]

Not always. I had an English bitter that I made from an extract kit. Bottle conditioned it. Wasn't in a hurry to drink it. Waited three weeks. Bottled conditioned in my summer cellar which was around 75 for most of the time.

Some bottles were way too carbonated for an English bitter while other bottles had practically no carbonation whatsoever. So I let them sit another month. Time did not fix this problem.

When I bottled it, I did the usual - heated up some water with the corn sugar mixture, then let it cool, then put it in the bottling bucket, then racked the beer into the bucket. Every other time it worked, but that time it did not. Since then, every time I bottle carbonate I make sure to take a big spoon and stir it up to make absolutely sure that the priming sugars are mixed in.

I too, have noticed this. Brewed a Rochefort 8 clone, and let this condition in 68-70F for like 3 months. Some bottles are carbed perfectly, but many are way too low. Annoying, to say the least - this is something I like to impress people with, as it's bloody delicious.

 

[unionrdr]

I've had this happen as well. But since my real carb problems started last June or so,I finally put 2 & 2 together & realized that my capper's bell was goin south. Waiting for my Super Agata capper & other things to come in. That should be the end of my carb problems with these two current batches.

 

[inkubuzz]

I have a super foam problem too, but only with one brew, the others I have made have no problems at all.

I dont get it, I used the same amount of dextrose that I always use. I put 120 gr for 20 lts (4.2 Oz for 5 gallon) in two cups of water and boil, then evenly spread the liqiud in each bottle.

When I open the bottle, no foam goes out of the bottle like crazy (had than on my firs brews a while back but corrected it), but when I pour the beer in the glass, its starts going up like three four times the amount o beer I pour, i mean, really fun foam, kinda "hard" foam that when it comes over the edge of the glass, does not fall, it steady and looks like a hill or something.

It was a big beer, (SG1086), its an ale, and left it fermentig at 22°C (71,6°F) for 7 days, and the moved to secondary for conditioning at about 10°C (50°F) for 3 weeks before bottling. Where could the problem be? Its not infected because, although you have to wait until some of the foam gets down (head retention not an issue, it takes a loooot of time), the beer tastes absolutely great. Really one of my top 3... or 2 maybe, but in a contest I would probably not get to win because of that damn foam.

 

[Justdrumin]

Just an update. It bein my first batch I was eager to get a taste, but I have waited a bit and most seemed to be carbed quite nicely : ) I think it still needs a week or so to completely finish. A couple I had yesterday were a lil under carbed with no head retention. I read here at lower temps, low sixties like mine, it can take 4-5 weeks. Next Sunday will be 5, but it tastes great!! First batch was a success! Official addiction is underway with a batch of Edworts Apfelwein and a batch of 5 Day Sweet Country Cider just started I'm def hooked on hard cider as well.