Bottle Conditioning

[Tomas Ramirez]

Hey have some carbonating issues. last two batches wouldn't carb in the bottles.
i'm not sure what i did different for all of the others batches of beer but for some reason last two wouldn't work
i use pre package priming sugar and for the second batch i used "fizz drop" on half of the bottles and the priming sugar in the other half.
room temp stays between 68-70 degree Fahrenheit.

all tips and shared experinces will be appreciated
thanks

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

last two batches

If you can provide recipes and notes for the last two batches, that may be helpful.

 

[Tomas Ramirez]

Of course,
first was the Dead Ringer extract kit from northern brewer
og 1.070
fg 1.023
2 "fizz drops" per bottle for half the batch second half just one
yeast was us-05

second was The Plinian Progeny triple ipa extract kit from northern brewer
og 1.090
fg ???
used priming sugar (pre measured amount from kit)

so far Ive only done kits from northern brewer going to bottle my first biab kit from them later this week
how this is enough all i really have still a beginner in the hobby

 

[mac_1103]

Seems like the Dead Ringer should have worked. For high gravity / high ABV beers like the Plinian Progeny I would use a bottling yeast like CBC-1 (although I've heard that pretty much any wine yeast will work).

 

[Velnerj]

What are you using for caps? Standard crown caps or swing top? Other?

What's your capping process like? How long did you wait before you tried the beer?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@Tomas Ramirez : what was the temperature of the room where you bottle conditioned? and, as @Velnerj asked, how long was it from bottling day until you tried a bottle?

---

Its been a while since I've brewed / bottle conditioned with US-05, but as I remember, the process was generally two weeks fermentation and three weeks for bottle conditioning when fermenting / conditioning in the 63F-ish range. Warmer (67F) is faster, but for those who only have time to brew on weekends, the two weeks fermenting & three weeks bottle conditioning is good for planning.

@mac_1103 mentioned adding bottle conditioning yeast (e.g. CBC-1) or wine yeast for higher ABV beers. I've used both CBC-1 and EC-1118 with good results.

 

[Tomas Ramirez]

i have then sit for a minimum 14 days and as for the temp stays between 67-70 degree
for the caps its the one you crimp down. and soon as i fill the bottle i cover it with a sanitized cap and then i crimp them a case at a time.

i try the conditioning yeast next time. thanks guys!

 

[hotbeer]

Crimp on the caps is vertical? If you can easily tell they are angled out a little, then the crimp probably shouldn't be trusted to hold pressure.

 

[Tomas Ramirez]

is there a possibility for over crimping? perhaps i applied too much pressure when capping

 

[hotbeer]

Probably didn't apply too much pressure while crimping. I've often wondered though if pulling on the handle multiple times or running the bottles back through the crimper a second time destroys the seal. Either by damaging the seal material or weakening the bend in the crimp.

I have a bench capper and generally only do one strong pull and feel for the two separate bumps I get with mine that lets me know it's complete.

 

[balrog]

same bottles you ahve always used?
(Twist off cap bottles are notorious for not holding pressure when bench or wing capped)

 

[Tomas Ramirez]

same bottles you ahve always used?
(Twist off cap bottles are notorious for not holding pressure when bench or wing capped)

yes i reuse bottles and no twist off caps

 

[MikeCo]

How long has the beer been conditioning? It may just take more time, especially for higher gravity beer. I think refermentation time varies depending on the yeast strain also. I made a 7% dubbel once that took 6 weeks to fully carbonate. Since then I use bottling yeast to speed up the process.

 

[Tomas Ramirez]

How long has the beer been conditioning? It may just take more time, especially for higher gravity beer. I think refermentation time varies depending on the yeast strain also. I made a 7% dubbel once that took 6 weeks to fully carbonate. Since then I use bottling yeast to speed up the process.

dang thank you for this one all of the recipes that ive used always said 2 weeks for bottle conditioning regardless of what type of yeast id use. i really need to look into bottling yeast. thanks for the help