Bottling Carbonation and Head Retention

[Calvinfan1]

I know that these are two topics that have been brought up before, but I'm going to start a new thread anyway because I'm so frustrated!

I've been brewing for a year now and have never really had any consistent success with good carbonation and head retention with the beers I bottle. Just for clarification of my process, I only do five gallon batches. I normally use 5 ounces of priming sugar mixed with two cups of water microwaved for five minutes. I've tried pouring the sugar water in the bottling bucket first then transferring my beer from the secondary into the bucket. I've tried pouring the sugar water into the bottling bucket after transferring the beer and then briefly stirring. I've stirred the trub at the bottom of my carboy with my siphon so some of it would be bottled in an effort to give my yeast a little more to feed off of in the bottle. Nothing has really helped! I typically allow my beer to condition in the bottle for three weeks before refrigeration.

I'm just desperately wanting to produce a bottled beer that is well carbonated with a good head. Any help would greatly be appreciated!!

 

[findthefish]

How are you cleaning/sanitizing your bottles?

Also, don't refrigerate them until they are carbonated, keep them at least 70F until they are carbed. Sometimes it takes longer than 3 weeks. Give the bottles a gentle swirl after a few weeks if they are still flat.

 

[Revvy]

How many weeks do you wait before cracking them open, and at what temp do you bottle condition them at.

Time and temp are the 2 most crucial factors after amount of sugar and how mixed.

Missed it you said three weeks..Are they @ 70 degrees?

Don't referigerate all of them til you pop one and it is carbonated...it may be 4 or 6 weeks before they carb up and if you are putting them in the fridge at 3 without testing one then you might be aborting the carb process just before it's about to kick in.

 

[TheJadedDog]

Are you using any adjuncts in your beer? Any crystal or cara malts? What kind of water are you using? What kind of sugar are you using to prime with?

 

[Calvinfan1]

Initially I use my dishwasher with a high heat setting. Then on bottling day I run each bottle through a bucket of bleach water, a bucket of rinse water, and a bucket of iodophor sanitized water.

All my beer conditions at room temperature in my house (appx. 74 degrees).

I haven't been using any adjuncts, but I had heard a cara malt helps. I use the priming sugar from my homebrew shop and mix it with two cups of tap water before boiling in the microwave.

 

[Yooper]

My first thought is that either your bottles or glasses are washed in the dishwasher. That can be a real head killer, especially if you use something like Jetdry or detergent with a rinse aid. Also, no reason to use bleach and rinse, and then sanitizer. Clean bottles can just be sanitized right before using. I rinse my bottles well right after using, and then don't really have to do anything else with them except sanitize (or rinse if dusty).

I would recommend using some ingredients for head retention, like carapils, or wheat, in with your steeping grains, which will help.

 

[Calvinfan1]

Do you use adjuncts all the time?

 

[Evan]

i have a few clear 8oz Coke bottles that i like to use one per batch. its easy to see the sed on the bottom after they carbed up. i sort of use it as my test bottle, once its carbed i'll put it in the frig and chill it a few days then pop it open and test.

 

[boodyrischous]

The beers we got the best head retention with, we primed with wort. Krausening prevents the addition of a new type of sugar into the beer. It has worked very well for us. This website gives a chart of the amount of wort to pull out based on the OG-
http://www.breworganic.com/tips/tips_Kraesening.htm
That's one thing I would reccomennd. The other is to have somebody gently stir the bucket as you bottle to ensure that all the priming solution is distributed evenly throughout the beer.

+1 on the carapils. It's great stuff.

 

[Calvinfan1]

I've heard of krausening, but never really researched it before. It sounds interesting and definitely safer than stirring the priming sugar throughout bottling and leaving the beer open to contamination and oxidization. But does it work well? I'm assuming that krausening replaces priming sugar altogether?