Bottling delima

[Shamrock28]

So I added 2/3 cup of table sugar to two cups of water at a boil for 10minutes. Then I added about half of the liquid straight from the pot to the bottling bucket with about half of the beer siphoned to it. Then added the remainder of the liquid to the bottling bucket with the other half of the beer. Left it for 3 weeks at 70 degrees and isnt that carbonated.

My question is see any flaws in my process? Am I suppose to the cool the liquid down to a specific temp before i add it to the bottling bucket?

 

[JuanMoore]

Not sure, but here are my initial thoughts. First, 3 weeks at 70 is typically considered a MINIMUM for proper carbonation, and some beers take longer. Also, measuring by volume isn't very accurate. If you can, measure the priming sugar by weight next time.

It may not do much with such a small volume, but adding boiling hot liquid may shock the yeast a little. IMO it's best to let the priming solution cool until the pot is no longer too hot to touch before adding it.

 

[Cliff897]

It may not do much with such a small volume, but adding boiling hot liquid may shock the yeast a little. IMO it's best to let the priming solution cool until the pot is no longer too hot to touch before adding it.

What he said. TWICE.

It is not the most common thing but ~ ~ ~ there is a dark side to warming your beer. the yeast can go through a weird sort of conversion that causes them to go into a coma when the beer cools: A coma from which you can not revive them.
If you warmed it too much it might not be the worst thing to do a starter and add more yeast at bottling.

 

[danielinva]

I seriously doubt your under-carbonation was caused by adding a cup of boiling sugar water to the bottling bucket. Even if you added it all at once, 2 cups of boiling water could only cause about a 3 or 4 degree temperature change for 5 gallons of beer. I have never allowed my priming solution to cool and have never had a beer that was slow to carbonate.

What I'm wondering is whether or not your priming sugar mixed properly throughout your batch. The first cup you added should have been fairly nicely mixed as you siphoned beer on top of it. The second cup most likely stayed at or near the top of the bucket after you added it. If you did not gently stir your beer after you added the second cup, you may have a mixture of overcarbonated and undercarbonated bottles.

Next time just add everything to the bottling bucket before you siphon in your beer. If you want to allow the priming solution to cool first there is nothing wrong with that, but all other things being equal it shouldn't make any difference.

 

[camiller]

How high is the gravity of the beer? The yeast in high gravity beers are pretty stressed out and will likely take longer to carb the beer.

When you siphon does the hose lay in the bottom of the bucket pointing one direction so that the liquid swirls around? This helps distribute the priming sugar throughout the beer. Another alternative is to GENTLY stir the beer to insure mixing.

That's all I got.

Edit: I should have read all of danialinvas post, guess I repeated him partly.

 

[Frank99]

2 things:
1-Conventional wisdom is to use corn surgar, not table sugar, as the priming sugar as this can lead to off flavors (I believe green apple is one of them...).
2-Are you trying to carbonate the beer in the bottling bucket or have you transferred to bottles or keg ?

 

[meddin]

2-Are you trying to carbonate the beer in the bottling bucket or have you transferred to bottles or keg ?

I kinda wondered that myself The OP was a little unclear.

 

[riromero]

I put the hot sugar solution into the bucket first and then rack the beer on top. It mixes the two solutions and, by the time the yeast hanging around near the bottom of the beer get siphoned in, everything has cooled down. Also, I quit using dextrose and switched to table sugar with no ill effects. Regarding your problem... are the bottle caps on tight? Are you keeping the bottles warm (~70F) both day and night? I had beer that stayed flat for month but magically carbonated once spring arrived. I think I was putting the yeast to sleep every night when the heater went off.