Inconsistent bottles

[Soufeastboy]

I'm a casual small batch brewer who's been brewing for about 10 years, 2 - 3 3 gallon batches a year. I've pretty much got the process down, with predictable outcomes of very drinkable brews, except for one thing....
There is way too much inconsistency between bottles....some have a little more carbonation, some a little less, some have a little sediment and others have none.
I've tried to rectify this problem with an increase in stirring (every 4th or 5th bottle) during the bottle process but that has resulted in the fluctuation in sediment and hasn't really solved the carbonation problem.
Suggestions?

 

[Beer666]

Sounds like you are adding sugar to your fermentor and stirring? I don't batch prime. I add sugar with a spoon and funnel and each bottle has identical carbonation. Sediment should be uniform in each bottle as well.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

There are a couple of techniques for adding priming sugar to each bottle (carbonation tablets, measure/add sugar directly, make a concentrated syrup & add using a syringe).

 

[Young Brewing]

Have you tried carbonation capsules such as this? I have no experience with these since I keg most of my beers but this should provide a much more even bottling experience!

 

[madscientist451]

I usually keg my beers, but when I do bottle, I just use Domino dots sugar cubes or carbonation drops from the homebrew store and bottle directly from the primary fermenter.

 

[dmtaylor]

I've bottled over 160 batches without this problem.

Boil your priming sugar in a little water. Let it cool a bit. Put the priming liquid into a sanitized vessel. WHILE the beer is being racked on top of the priming liquid, stir vigorously for the first minute or two. Then complete racking as normal.

Like I said... never had an issue. The secret is in fully incorporating the priming sugar into a little bit of the beer, then it will mix into the beer more easily.

 

[Soufeastboy]

I've bottled over 160 batches without this problem.

Boil your priming sugar in a little water. Let it cool a bit. Put the priming liquid into a sanitized vessel. WHILE the beer is being racked on top of the priming liquid, stir vigorously for the first minute or two. Then complete racking as normal.

Like I said... never had an issue. The secret is in fully incorporating the priming sugar into a little bit of the beer, then it will mix into the beer more easily.

This is exactly the method that I use. I desolve the priming sugar in a 2 cup measuring cup with the beer., stir until completely desolved, then stir into the 3 gal. bottling dispenser. As I bottle, I stir again to ensure that the sugar mixture is fully incorporated. But I still get inconsistent results.

 

[hotbeer]

I use a priming solution to mix with the beer before it goes into the bottles.

The priming solution with sugar in it has a much higher SG than the beer. So when the two are together, you can look at it under bright lighting and see wavy patterns that let you know it hasn't mixed completely.

While transferring the beer into the priming pot I aim the hose along the edge of the pot so the contents circulates to mix. Keeping the hose submerged minimizes air mixing.

After the transfer is complete I'll look at the solution under bright lighting again and gently swirl the pot till most all the wavy patterns are gone.

Once that is done, then I fill the bottles. I currently prefer mixing the priming sugar with the beer prior to bottling as this lets me to tailor the amount of sugar to the batch of beer and also lets me choose from a wide variety of sugars to prime with.

I've also had very consistent results for each batch. They are either all carb'd perfectly or in one case they were all overcarb'd. But they were consistent!

 

[dmtaylor]

I've tried to rectify this problem with an increase in stirring (every 4th or 5th bottle) during the bottle process but that has resulted in the fluctuation in sediment and hasn't really solved the carbonation problem.

You've got sediment in your bottling container? Try harder to keep ~80% of the sediment out. If this is a real issue for you, racking to a secondary vessel in advance might help you with this. Personally I don't secondary very often, but I will if there is a lot of light sediment in primary. Extra sediment in individual bottles can definitely cause gusher problems, because it creates additional "nucleation sites" for CO2 to come out of solution. Perhaps that is part of the cause of your issue.

 

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

add a level mustard spoon of brewing sugar per 500 ml bottle, scale up or down for different bottle sizes. I doubt you will detect any variation in the bottles at drinking time.

 

[Lubrication]

I use a similar method to 'Hotbeer' and don't get problems. Keep the amount of headspace in the bottles consistent and this will help you get even carbonation. I find I always get more sediment in the last few bottles so I mark the caps of these and use them first.

 

[Beermeister32]

These are pretty simple to use:

 

[BrewZer]

These are pretty simple to use:
View attachment 735212

At ~$7.00 per bag, you're paying $22.40 a pound for sugar.

 

[Beermeister32]

Yep, they have to turn a profit.

 

[BrewZer]

 

[Beermeister32]

Not really. Try running a business...

 

[GoodTruble]

I boil priming sugar in a small amount of water and then dose each bottle using a sanitized plastic syringe. That way they are all consistent. You can make it a set concentration so you know how much to put in different size bottles.

 

[Soufeastboy]

I boil priming sugar in a small amount of water and then dose each bottle using a sanitized plastic syringe. That way they are all consistent. You can make it a set concentration so you know how much to put in different size bottles.

How much sugar liquid do you add to each 12oz. btl. Of IPA do you add and what are the proportions for the liquid.

 

[GoodTruble]

How much sugar liquid do you add to each 12oz. btl. Of IPA do you add and what are the proportions for the liquid.

You can use a priming calculator [ Beer Priming Calculator | Brewer's Friend ] to determine how much priming sugar you need. I usually calculate for an extra gallon so I have extra priming liquid in case of a spill or something. Then convert gallons to ounces and you can see how much sugar per ounce you need (such as multiple by 12 to know how much sugar for a 12 ounce bottle).

In truth, I also usually add 25% to the calculator priming amount because I would rather be slightly over-carbed than under.

And in MORE truth I also have a cheat-rule-of-thumb that is 1.25 cups of sugar into 1.25 cups of water for a 5 gallon batch. Then 15 ml of priming solution into quart/liter bottles, 10 ml into 20 ounce bottles, and 5 ml into 12 ounce bottles. -that is just a quick and dirty andless precise approach, but I always use a lot of different size bottles and don't like redoing the math every time.

 

[SourLover]

I'm probably a little late to the game, but since I individually prime every bottle I do now, maybe I can help.

You can use a priming calculator [ Beer Priming Calculator | Brewer's Friend ] to determine how much priming sugar you need. I usually calculate for an extra gallon so I have extra priming liquid in case of a spill or something. Then convert gallons to ounces and you can see how much sugar per ounce you need (such as multiple by 12 to know how much sugar for a 12 ounce bottle).

After having an inconsistent batch priming episode I started using the Brewers Friend calculator listed in the prior post to come up with the amount of corn sugar I needed. I usually measure corn sugar for (6) bottles at a time, and I measure it in advance a week or two before bottling. I do a good portion of 500ml and 750 ml bottles so it isn't that big of a deal. I take the measured amount of corn sugar and dissolve it with anywhere between 20ml and 40ml of distilled water. I dissolve it by heating it and stirring it. I usually end up with around 40ml - 60ml in the beaker, and whatever is in there I evenly distribute between the (6) bottles. It takes a fair amount of time, but the results are spot on.

How much sugar liquid do you add to each 12oz. btl. Of IPA do you add and what are the proportions for the liquid.

Attached are a couple of files using the calculator showing how much to add to a 12 ounce bottle. I made assumptions on a 68 degree temperature, and a Vols of CO2 amount that I might use. I do everything with the metric chart portion because 90% of my bottles are in milliliters, and it is a lot easier for me to precisely measure corn sugar in grams. There's a little bit of converting the first few times, but after a few batches it is very easy, and I can now figure out my bottling plan in about 5 minutes.

 

[DannyBoy270]

I'm a casual small batch brewer who's been brewing for about 10 years, 2 - 3 3 gallon batches a year. I've pretty much got the process down, with predictable outcomes of very drinkable brews, except for one thing....
There is way too much inconsistency between bottles....some have a little more carbonation, some a little less, some have a little sediment and others have none.
I've tried to rectify this problem with an increase in stirring (every 4th or 5th bottle) during the bottle process but that has resulted in the fluctuation in sediment and hasn't really solved the carbonation problem.
Suggestions?

Any chance you're doing anything to inhibit carbonation either before or after bottling? Fining with anything special? Or maybe not allowing the bottles to condition at warmer temps before sticking in the fridge?