Really uneven carbination

[billl]

I've got a bit of a problem. I brewed an IPA and left it in the primary for 3 weeks including a week of dry hopping. I used a bucket with a spigot as the primary. I used 4oz corn sugar (boiled in 2 cups water and cooled) as the primer and added it to the bottling bucket before transferring the beer onto it.

I'm sure that is where the problem started. It was the first time using a fermenter with a spigot, so out of an abundance of caution, I let it drain very slowly and used a sanitized nylon mesh bag on the end of the hose to catch any bits that might get stirred up. Apparently, that provided much less mixing action than just racking onto the sugar solution. 5 days in - bottle bomb. I decided to uncap that 6 pack filled and got 4 gushers and 1 undercarbed.

Now, it's a month later and the rest still haven't carbed. You just get a tiny noise when opening and no visible carbonation. I assume that the sugar didn't mix well and ended up mostly in the exploding 6 pack and the rest got almost nothing. So, I'm thinking the only option is upcapping, adding more priming sugar, and recapping. Any recommendation? Use the little drops or make some more sugar water? It's been 2 months since the yeast was pitched (about 6.5% ABV and tons of hops), so I'm wondering if I should add a bit of fresh yeast too?

 

[ArcaneXor]

It's always a good idea to *gently* (without splashing or creating or vortex) stir the beer in the bottling bucket to make sure the priming solution gets distributed evenly.

If the bottles are partially carbonated, there is little you can do. Adding carbtabs or sugar at this point will just cause them to gush instantly. If they are completely flat, then you can re-prime. Whether to add fresh yeast is a matter of preference.

 

[Revvy]

It's really just because they're just on the cusp of being ready.

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.


The three weeks we talk about is usually just the minimum. Many beers take longer. If you had given them another week, more than likely you never would have noticed.

Just give them more time.

 

[billl]

Wait a week and I wouldn't notice? I'm pretty sure I would have noticed the bottles exploding. I'm sure I would have had more than 1 bottle bomb if I didn't open the rest of that 6 pack.

For the remaining bottles, it took the "wait a week" approach. They are sitting at 72 degrees in a cabinet away from exterior walls. At 3 weeks, I waited another week. At 4 weeks, I waited another week. They are now over 5 weeks past bottling and the remaining bottles have no visible carbonation. If they were "close", I'd give them another week, but they aren't.

 

[Kealia]

Adding sugar will give you gushers immediately. I had this problem a while back when I carbed a dubbel to about 1.3 volumes and it was basically flat and not to my liking.

What worked for me (I tested a few methods) was to boil some sugar in water (you'll have to figure out how much) and then used an eye dropped to add it to the bottles. Simply mixing sugar in water and then adding doesn't work - the water needs to be hot/boiled and then allowed to cool. Don't ask me why, I'm not a science guy

If it makes you feel better/safer you can always pour out an ounce or so from the bottles to offset what you are adding in.

Good luck.

 

[Dennisj]

Bill - I had the *exact* same issue you did this past month. I too tried adding a fine mesh bag to the end of the hose going into my bottling bucket and like you ended up with very inconsistent carbonation (bottle bombs and very light carb). I immediately knew I was screwed when after bottling I sampled some of the remaining beer at the bottom of the bucket and found it to be extremely sweet. Bugga!

I think the key for the future is to stir the bottling bucket to ensure we have good mixing. It looks like the bag at the end really impacts the mixing of the sugar solution. I'll say, however, that the very lightly carbonated IPA actually tasted pretty good. It made the beer more drinkable actually, with the low carbonation offsetting the bitterness of the highly hopped beer.