Can a lager carbonate in under a week?

[KLITE]

Hi all

Ive bottled a high 40s og lager about 4 days ago. As i went to check on the bottles gave a couple a little shake and the bubbles formed by the bottleneck in consequence looked like those of a fully carbed beer.
Is impatience playing tricks on my mind? I dont really wanna crack one til its bang on.

 

[Gavin C]

Means nothing. Tells you nothing.

Do the same test with a capped bottle of water and you'll get some bubbles.

Repeat with commercial beer . Same non useful test. Bubbles at the top

Water/beer has a surface tension which will induce bubble formation in an agitated vessel.

Your beer may be

• Undercabed
• Overcarbed
• Ideally carbed

This test is pointless

ETA: Given the timeframe it should be undercarbed

 

[KLITE]

Means nothing. Tells you nothing.

Fair enough! tbh thats kinda how i been checking if beers are carbed. I feel like an idiot now. I do feel like there aint nearly enough bubbles when not carbed, i mean bubbles coming from the depth of the beer, not the surface ones. And on a carbed beer i do see those...

tnx for input

 

[zefbrew]

usually two weeks is the absolute minimum for carbing if the room temperature is right. why rush perfection

 

[BigFloyd]

 

[MyQuL]

If you really want to tell, next time, use a PET bottle for one or two of your bottles. You can then tell how carbonation is coming along by squeezing it. If it's rock hard it's carbonated

 

[BigFloyd]

If you really want to tell, next time, use a PET bottle for one or two of your bottles. You can then tell how carbonation is coming along by squeezing it. If it's rock hard it's carbonated

That's a tangible indicator, but can be deceiving. It means you have good pressure from the CO2 production. Now you have to give it some time for the CO2 to fully dissolve in the beer which is why a few days in the fridge before pouring is a good idea.

 

[Jim311]

Unlikely since the layering process provably dropped a bunch of yeast out and made the remaining yeast pretty sluggish.

 

[Merleti]

At this point look at it. If it makes you bubbly inside that you made beer you are carbonated so you are ready to make another. Brew another beer. For the first batch open one a week and take notes. Time will tell.