Bottle to Bottle Variability

[belmontbrew]

I've made three batches of beer, and noticed a lot (more than I'd like) of variability from bottle to bottle within a single batch. Things like degree of carbonation, head retention and amount, and "stickiness" of sediment. The flavour is always very consistent, but it seems like the attributes that form in the bottle can vary pretty wildly.

This is on bottles that are filled on the same day (it takes me about an hour from when I add priming sugar to when it's all done), stored together and opened at the same time.

Any advice on evening things out?

 

[Mad_Milo]

The key is to get your priming sugar solution mixed evenly into the beer. Add the sugar solution to the bottling bucket, and rack onto that. Occasionally, mix GENTLY as it fills.

Also, double checking your bottles for crud as you sanitize them eliminates some potential problems with foaming, exploding, etc.

 

[TipsyDragon]

my advice it is to wait longer before opening.

how long do you wait between bottling and opening?

 

[belmontbrew]

Mad Milo: I had been doing that for the first few batches. This weekend, I tried adding the sugar syrup in stages to get better mixing... I'll see how that goes.

TipsyDragon: Most of my consumption happens about 4-6 weeks after bottling (that's when I start serving it to friends). I crack the first bottle at two weeks, though. I think I've noticed variations even after 4 weeks.

 

[Revvy]

The key is to get your priming sugar solution mixed evenly into the beer. Add the sugar solution to the bottling bucket, and rack onto that. Occasionally, mix GENTLY as it fills.

Also, double checking your bottles for crud as you sanitize them eliminates some potential problems with foaming, exploding, etc.

You know that's really NOT an issue.....the liquid of the priming solution, really DOES mix fine on it's own.

You are mixing a small amount of liguid to a larger volume of liquid, and it's going to distribute itself equally just fine. It's not like we are adding dry sugar to our bottling bucket and mixing that with the beer....the two liquids mix together and the sugar water dillutes just fine.

Inconsistant carbonation, simple 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.

Give you bottles a little roll on a table to re-suspend the yeast, and stick them back in the over 70 closet ofr at least another week, or two..and they ALL will be carbed up just fine.

For more info on carbing and conditioning go here;

Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

 

[TipsyDragon]

Most of my consumption happens about 4-6 weeks after bottling (that's when I start serving it to friends). I crack the first bottle at two weeks, though. I think I've noticed variations even after 4 weeks.

some beers take longer to carb probably than others. i would think after 6 weeks all the bottles would be equally carbed. but some beers do take longer than that to carb. what kinds of beers are we talking about? what gravitys did they have?