Bottle Carbonation issues

[ert9876]

Sorry if there is already a thread out there for this. My first batch seems to have been undercarbonated, when I opened the bottles a few of them foamed out the top of the bottle, but that only happened to a couple. Even on the bottles that appeared normal when I opened them, after the pour the head dissappeared quickly, and there is almost no carbonation. When I pour it, the head looks more like a soda head, than beer. There is no creaminess to it at all. The bottles sat anywhere from a couple weeks to a few months and I had the problem through the last one.

Now on my second batch I just opened up my first bottle, I opened it warm which may have some adverse effect, but I ran into the same issue. I'm trying to get it ready for the 4th, and the beer has only been bottled for about 8 days which I know is not long enough, so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. There was head when I poured, dies within a few seconds, and thats it. Any suggestions?

 

[smagee]

Well, as you mentioned, 8 days is insufficient for decent carbonation in most cases. If you really want to try one so young, pop it in the fridge about 24-48 hours beforehand so that the carbonation can be absorbed under cooler temperatures. This method can certainly help reduce the foamcano that you've seen already.

Beyond that, how much priming sugar did you use? Recipe and bottling method can help to diagnose where your problems may arise.

 

[GreenDragon]

I'm still a newby, but here's what I've learned from posting similar questions:

1) Carbonation can take a good 2-4 weeks
2) You have to chill the bottle after the 2-4 weeks is up
3) Corn sugar unevenly distributing may or may not be a myth, the "experts" were split 50/50 on my post. I personally think it can happen, and did to me.

After a week I gently flip my bottles upside down and then back to right side up. That seems to really help, but I only use Coopers carb drops now so that could be a carb drop thing.

 

[duffbeer71]

I'm still a newby, but here's what I've learned from posting similar questions:

1) Carbonation can take a good 2-4 weeks
2) You have to chill the bottle after the 2-4 weeks is up
3) Corn sugar unevenly distributing may or may not be a myth, the "experts" were split 50/50 on my post. I personally think it can happen, and did to me.

After a week I gently flip my bottles upside down and then back to right side up. That seems to really help, but I only use Coopers carb drops now so that could be a carb drop thing.

I recently discovered that letting your beers chill for 24-48 hours helps alot. Wish I had a bigger fridge.

And I also take the time to flip my bottles during the carbonation process, but I'm using priming sugar.

 

[duffbeer71]

We brewed an ESB a couple of months ago and it also seemed to have more of a soda sort of foam rather than the creaminess one looks for. It also had a bit of a plastic taste to it. Upon doing some research, we concluded that we might have some wild yeast that got into our brew causing the off flavor and I wonder if that is what is affecting the head of the beer. Still drinkable, but damn it.

 

[Revvy]

You don't have a serious 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."

 

[sha0056]

read Revvy's link - it helped me be patient with my oaked imperial IPA / strong ale. did a double batch of the same base beer and added oak cubes to half in the secondary. the non-oaked batch was carbonating well within 2-3 weeks, but had nothing in the oaked variety at that time. now, 3 months later, I have good carbonation and a delicious beer!

Thanks Revvy!

 

[ert9876]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Revvy, good post, I'll sit back for a few weeks and see what happens. If I still run into problems then, I'll be getting back to you for some advice.

 

[DTM84]

I'd be worried about not getting head twice too....... What are your sanitizing methods? One thing to think about is that if you get any soap into your beer it'll kill the head.

 

[ert9876]

At this point it's only once that I haven't had much of a head, possible a second depending on how the next few weeks go. I'm not concerned about my cleaning procedures/soap (probably a common response, along with being a common screw up). After looking at some of the pictures in the posts, I think I may be under-filling the bottles.

If I run into the same issue on this batch, I'm going to fill the next one a bit more and see how that works. Now if that batch has problems, I'll need to do some serious reviewing of my sanitation process.

 

[Zixxer10R]

I recently discovered that letting your beers chill for 24-48 hours helps alot. Wish I had a bigger fridge.

And I also take the time to flip my bottles during the carbonation process, but I'm using priming sugar.

+50gazillion to this! If you want your beer to still have carbonation after you pop the top then you must, what i like to call, fridge condition as well. If you don't then, well, you can read what nearly everyone is saying about why you have no head or carbonation.

 

[brumon]

Don't mean to thread jack, but I have a similar problem as the OP. Pretty consistently my batches will have a good level of carbonation after 2-3 weeks, but if I age them for several months, they "volcano out" when I pop the cap. Sometimes I'll loose about 1/2 of the beer to this. I DO NOT fridge the bottles after the 2-3 weeks of conditioning, but I do chill them for about 24 hours before I drink them. In other words after 2-3 weeks of bottle conditioning, I do not move all of my beers to a fridge, and will continue to bottle condition them at cellar temperature, sometimes for 6 months. I am very careful about sterilization and adding the correct level of corn sugar and procedures for doing so (e.g. dissolving the corn sugar and mixing well in my bottling bucket).

Do I need to buy a fridge to chill my bottles after 2-3 weeks? Will continuing to bottle age for months cause over carbonation? If so, how do people bottle condition for an extended period of time?

 

[PVH]

Don't mean to thread jack, but I have a similar problem as the OP. Pretty consistently my batches will have a good level of carbonation after 2-3 weeks, but if I age them for several months, they "volcano out" when I pop the cap. Sometimes I'll loose about 1/2 of the beer to this. I DO NOT fridge the bottles after the 2-3 weeks of conditioning, but I do chill them for about 24 hours before I drink them. In other words after 2-3 weeks of bottle conditioning, I do not move all of my beers to a fridge, and will continue to bottle condition them at cellar temperature, sometimes for 6 months. I am very careful about sterilization and adding the correct level of corn sugar and procedures for doing so (e.g. dissolving the corn sugar and mixing well in my bottling bucket).

Do I need to buy a fridge to chill my bottles after 2-3 weeks? Will continuing to bottle age for months cause over carbonation? If so, how do people bottle condition for an extended period of time?

It is common to store naturally carbed bottles for a long time. If you are getting gushers after extended aging, you either bottled too soon, added too much priming sugar, or your sanitation procedures are inadequate.

 

[brumon]

It is common to store naturally carbed bottles for a long time. If you are getting gushers after extended aging, you either bottled too soon, added too much priming sugar, or your sanitation procedures are inadequate.

what's the rule of thumb for "being ready to bottle" I've heard same SG reading for 3 days in a row and ur good to go

 

[PVH]

what's the rule of thumb for "being ready to bottle" I've heard same SG reading for 3 days in a row and ur good to go

You can go by that, but it's not as clear cut as it sounds. For example, if your fermentation temp is too low, the beer may not attenuate as fully as expected. If you bottle condition at higher temps, you could end up finishing in the bottle, even if your gravity was stable for 3 days.

A lot of people who have dialed in their process and use long primaries only take one gravity reading prior to bottling and, if it is as expected, go ahead and bottle. For a medium gravity beer, if you leave the beer in the primary for 3 weeks or so and raise temps above target fermentation temp after the bulk of fermentation is done, there is not much to worry about. Not telling you to do this - avoid bottle bombs by all means (and if something goes wrong and you come here for help without having taken a gravity reading, God help you). Just saying you might want to tweak your process.

Also, "being ready to bottle" is not just a question of a prescribed time or gravity. Taste the beer. Beers that do not require aging should taste pretty much like you expect them to taste, minus carbonation. If it tastes funky, leave it alone for awhile.

 

[lextasy23]

I'd be worried about not getting head twice too....... What are your sanitizing methods? One thing to think about is that if you get any soap into your beer it'll kill the head.

SWMBO can likely help with this.

I've been brewing for only about 6 months, and if there's one thing I've learned about making beer (besides the fact that everything has to be 100% sanitary) is PATIENCE. I was blessed with plenty of it from birth, as an Irishman.

Just give it time man. While you're waiting, start a new brew. Then when that goes to secondary, brew again. Then when the secondary gets bottled, move the current primary to secondary, and brew again. Then your beer is ready. Move the latest secondary to bottles, primary to secondary, brew again....... You get the idea.

 

[AdamHasser]

I'm having Carbonation issues with my Vanilla Peat Smoked Porter. I used the extract kit from Northern and added vanilla slurry at bottling.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/peat-smoked-porter-extract-kit.html

OG 1062, 1 packet of Safale US-05 Ale Yeast, Temp 65-70 in dark pantry, 2/3 cup of Priming Sugar

Timeline:
11/22/13 Brewed (3 weeks Primary)
12/13/13 Moved to Secondary (6 weeks Secondary)
01/24/14 Added vanilla slurry and bottled (6 weeks in bottle)
03/07/14 Fridge (1 week in the fridge)
03/14/14 Tasting

I've tried a few bottles but that's the latest timeline. When I pop open a bottle I get a tiny hiss of CO2 but that's it. Could I have not properly rinsed out my buckets enough after using Easy Clean that it killed off the yeast?

Thoughts? Solutions? Suggestions?