Bottle Carbonation Problem

Irisndfan2 · Sep 20, 2011

So my Hefe is 3 weeks in the bottle. I had one at 10 days in with very nice head and the carbonation was decent, obviously not quite there.

Well I have since had a couple here and there. of the 6 bottles i have opened, half were carbed, and half were completely flat. this after 3 weeks mind you.

I have brewed many batches and have only ever had this happen to one bottle(out of 10 + batches).

My buddy capped them for me, and I don't see how they could be placed on wrong. They seem air tight, but obviously for some they are not?? could I be using crappy caps? It is quite frustrating to wait all day looking forward to that beer and to come home and pop open a flat one.

I used 4 oz of priming sugar by weight, so that shouldn't be a problem/

Diver165 · Sep 20, 2011

Could be loose or poorly sealed caps. But it could also be some residual cleaner that didn't get rinsed thoroughly killing the yeast needed to carb the beer.

Irisndfan2 · Sep 20, 2011

Diver165 said:
Could be loose or poorly sealed caps. But it could also be some residual cleaner that didn't get rinsed thoroughly killing the yeast needed to carb the beer.

residual cleaner? as in what I use to santize with?? I use starsan???

amingo · Sep 20, 2011

Is it possible that your priming sugar didn't mix well in the bottling bucket? That happened to me once and every few beers I opened were flat.

Irisndfan2 · Sep 20, 2011

some other info, They have been left at room temp (70F) for the entire three weeks. There was one day where our AC kicked out for a couple hours, but theres no way it even hit 80 F

jonmohno · Sep 20, 2011

Try stirring after you rack carefully after racking.I usually boil my priming sugar at the beginning of botteling and let it cool to whatever,i dont check the temp,whether it mixes better warm i dont know, but adding it warm and quietly stirring with the end of the hose after racking and i have pretty consistant carbonation.
I would like to know if its better warm or completly cooled though. I think some people just boil it and just dump it and rack on top of it also.
I also often drink a beer from room temp conditioning- just put in an ice bath or the freezer to chill it and dont have problems.

Just1pepsi · Sep 20, 2011

i use 5oz/5gal, boil it up, pour it into my bucket, then rack on top of it and mix it gently. Maybe your friend didnt fill the bottles as much as he/she could have?

Veedo · Sep 20, 2011

I had this happen with my northern brewer bavarian hefe. Not sure what happened, i did everything like i always do.

brewd00d · Sep 20, 2011

Not stirring good enough was what happened to me. The first 20 bottles were highly carbonated since all the sugar settled to the bottom as i was bottling. The rest of the bottles under carbed since there was enough sugar to entirely carbonate the beer