After reading many posts on here asking how long we should leave our brews in the bottle for carbonating, I have found that the typical answer given is 3 weeks. I just opened up a few IPA's that I've had in the bottle for six days at 58-64 degrees and they are all very carbonated. I used the typical 3/4c in 2c water solution in 5 gallons of 5.8% brew. The reason most people answer 3 weeks is due to the fact that they are also looking to age/condition their brew. Since I was making an IPA, I had already conditioned it for a week while it was dry hopping, and then dry hopped once again at a cooler temperature prior to bottling. So basically, 3 weeks is the short answer to properly giving your brew some time to age, but if you're solely wondering how long it takes to carbonate a beer in the bottle, it can easily take less than a week. As I stated, these were fully carbonated within six days, at lower than usual temperatures of 58-64 degrees (which in theory would require a longer duration to carbonate). I hope this helps clarify things a bit.
The proper duration for carbonating in the bottle.
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TyTanium
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I find it takes longer for the CO2 to be properly dissolved though. Sure, I have bubbles after a week, but they're usually fizzy and don't stick around too long when I pour, and the beer tends to be a little harsh "carbonic bite" tasting. Another week or two makes for smoother carbonation that tends to stay in solution when I pour. Also better with a full day or two in the fridge, as opposed to chilled for a few hours.
If you like how yours tastes after a week, awesome, not trying to bash you. Just sharing my experience.
If you like how yours tastes after a week, awesome, not trying to bash you. Just sharing my experience.
yeah, fizzy at a week doesn't mean the beer is truly Carbed. As poindexter shows in his video many beers at one week, new brewers THINK are carbed, even "over carbed" because of how it behaves, but in reality the co2 isn't fully developed and in solution yet.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlBlnTfZ2iw]time lapse carbonation - YouTube[/ame]
Yes some beers can be carbed at a week, but if you look at the hundreds of threads on here a week with folks saying their beer is NOT carbed at 1, 2, and sometimes even 3 weeks, you'll find that it's an exception for most of us, not the rule.
The truth is gravity and storage temp have a lot do with how long a beer takes to carbed. And when we're talking about the 3 weeks at 70, we are talking usually the time it takes to carb for folks...sometimes conditioning takes even longer still.
OP stated he used sugar which brings up a question for me of do different bases carb at different rates. Sugar v MaltoDextrin v Malt etc. I have had some that seemed to be carbed up at 1 week with sugar which is what got me even thinking along these lines. Has anyone else noticed a difference with different primers?
These quicker ones were also not High grav's... maybe 1.045 max
These quicker ones were also not High grav's... maybe 1.045 max
I've never compared by priming the same batch with different things, and I think there's just too many variables to compare two different beers, but I have heard folks say, and I think in the case of DME Papazain wrote, that carb tabs and DME tends to take longer that corn sugar and/or table.
I'm aware that different temperatures and different fermentables will result in different times required to carbonate. I was merely adding my insight to new homebrewers. And yes, I know the difference between carbonated and just fizz. It was very well carbonated after 6 days. In fact, the bubbles did not stop rising through the beer the entire time I was drinking. And since it had aged for about 6 weeks prior to bottling, it was a very smooth IPA. I am completely satisfied with the results.
