Need help with carbonation

[David Surette]

My first batch turned out much better than I expected, and I appreciate all the encouragement from the members of this forum. And I hope that you can help me with my latest problem.

My second batch is the same recipe as the first, a Centenial IPA. The only change is that I added a dry hop of 1 ounce of Citra hops. I like a hoppy beer. After fermenting and dry hopping, which was about a total of two weeks, I siphoned it through a one micron filter and ran about 2 ½ gallons into my 3 gallon keg. I bottled the rest into 10 22oz bottles. That was about two weeks ago. The beer in the keg is very good except for the head. It could use a little more carbonation. I have the regulator set at about 8 – 10 PSI. But that is not my major problem. The beer that I bottled has just about no carbonation. I added 5 of the BSG carbonation tablets to each bottle before filling, capped them, put them in a dark box and kept at room temperature for the last two weeks. I cooled one all day today and opened it tonight. There was hardly any pssst when I popped the cap and almost no carbonation. The beer has a good taste but it is flat. Where did I go wrong?

 

[Bostrows128]

How fine was your filter? You could have accidentally strained the yeast out.

 

[thehaze]

Is this what you used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AKUMZAW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 ?

Then you didn't use enough tablets to get the desired carbonation. It states 3-5 tablets for 12 oz, whereas you used 5 for 22 oz. So no wonder the beer is flat.

When I bottle, I use cane/beet sugar, which I dissolve in boiling water and add to the bottling bucket. Then carefully siphon the beer on top of it, without splashing and it will mix evenly. Every batch I made had carbonation at 5-7 days in the bottle.

 

[Calder]

A 1 micron filter will remove the yeast = no carbonation.

I think a filter that fine will remove some of the hop compounds from the dry hops too.

 

[David Surette]

I guess I got my answer. Between filtering out the yeast and too few dextrose tablets, the beer never stood a chance. The directions are worn off the bag of tablets and the person at the brew supply store said to use three tablets for a 12 oz bottle. I'm not a big fan of filtered beer but my first batch looked almost like chocolate milk and I wanted to clear it up a little. This filtered batch doesn't look much better.
I'm thankful for the advice and really enjoy this forum and I will be glad when the learning curve flattens out a little. I'm going to keep on with this recipe until I am happy with the results before attempting other recipes.
Again, thanks for the help.

 

[thehaze]

To get " prettier " beer you could use finnings in the boil coupled with cold crashing and a bit of gelatine. A high flocculating yeast will also help, along with enough time for fermentation and conditioning. ( for styles that benefit from conditioning - hoppy ales need no conditioning! )

 

[Jtk78]

.....I'm not a big fan of filtered beer but my first batch looked almost like chocolate milk and I wanted to clear it up a little. This filtered batch doesn't look much better.
I'm thankful for the advice and really enjoy this forum and I will be glad when the learning curve flattens out a little. I'm going to keep on with this recipe until I am happy with the results before attempting other recipes.
Again, thanks for the help.

I commend your plan to stay with the same recipe until it comes out better. Very few new brewers would have that discipline (being 100% honest, myself included), and many would have quit after the first batch. Don't give up.

If you haven't done so, start a new thread asking for help with regards the appearance of the beer. Post the recipe, give specifics about your process including when your adding ingredients, how your cooling, transferring, packaging, etc. These forums have been the #1 source of information, advice, and help in my brewing. The second being my brew club, which brings up my next point. See if there's any in your area, especially one that brews at meetings. That would allow you to see a brew day by very experienced people, and I'll bet they'll be just as willing to help as the people on these boards.

Lastly, don't give up! Did I say that already??

 

[65C]

I've heard dex is a lot slower to carb than sugar

I do 100g of raw sugar in boiling water for 21L - stir in to bottling bin 10 mins before bottling

I bottled some after 16 weeks in primary recently - I was worried about slow carb - but it was big head after a week

I always put 200g of torrified wheat in to mash - not sure what diff that makes but my beer heads are always good - sometimes too much tbh

 

[David Surette]

I'm really chomping at the bit to start another batch using all the information given here, but in about three weeks we will be leaving for a three week trip to Texas. But I will get started as soon as we return. In the meantime I will be enjoying trying out some local Texas brews. One of the joys of travelling. Last year it was Colorado and I couldn't believe the abundance of brew pubs out there.
BTW, I live in Ooltewah, TN which is just outside of Chattanooga and there is a local brew club that I will be joining.

 

[TwistedGray]

Start the brew and it'll be done fermenting when you get back and ready for bottling (or nearly so)

 

[David Surette]

But if I do that I won't be able to sit and watch it bubble.
Seriously, I will have to consider that. Is it possible for a beer to ferment for too long?

 

[Bostrows128]

But if I do that I won't be able to sit and watch it bubble.
Seriously, I will have to consider that. Is it possible for a beer to ferment for too long?

No, because the yeast will eventually go dormant and drop out, even at that transferring the beer into secondary isn't needed either all it does is improve the look.

 

[TwistedGray]

But if I do that I won't be able to sit and watch it bubble.
Seriously, I will have to consider that. Is it possible for a beer to ferment for too long?

For your 3 week trip you are totally fine, and there are people on here that accidentally forget stuff go back and finish it and it still turns out fine. That's actually the perfect plan for you. Brew now, leave, come home, bottle-conditioned or keg, and you're good!

 

[Horseflesh]

If you have some bum bottles, you have nothing to lose trying to rescue them. Pop the caps, add the extra sugar you need, add some us-05 dry yeast, then re-cap. Worst that happens is you get a gusher infection.

Or... Kill that keg and refill it from the flat bottles. You'll be adding a lot of oxygen in the transfer though, so drink it fast before it gets stale.

 

[65C]

But if I do that I won't be able to sit and watch it bubble.
Seriously, I will have to consider that. Is it possible for a beer to ferment for too long?

if you like massive hoppy ales - I think time can work against you if you want to keep it very flowery (think, don't know as don't brew them much)

for the beers I brew - mostly darks at a high % and quite a lot of hops but you don't taste them much - they just get better and better over time

I normally bottle after 4wks - but it can be 12 if I'm being lazy

I'm drinking a big porter right now which was 4+ months in the primary, it's been bottled a couple of weeks and it's bloody great - I really need to put a box away