Carbed coming out of secondary

[Mayday99]

I just bottled my first lager. A Czech pils, OG 1.045 FG 1.012.

I used the Wyeast Czech pils yeast.

It was in primary for 8 days (around 46-50 degrees), transferred to secondary at which point OG was 1.018.

Lagered for 5 weeks using a cooler in my garage. Temp was pretty constant 37 or so, got up into the low 40s a couple of times.

When I bottled, it smelled and tasted fine, but was definitely still carbonated.

Since this is my first lager, I am not sure if this is normal. Just trying to convince myself I won't end up with exploding bottles or anything.

Is the long cold conditioning causing the carbonation to be retained? When I have bottled my ales, they are usually pretty flat.

 

[Judd]

This has happened to me before with ales, without issue. I don't kn ow that much about Lager, though. How carbed is it? Are we talking just a little fizzy, or fully bubbly?

 

[Mayday99]

Not fully carbonated but definitely more than a little fizz. I could see bubbles rising up when I did the gravity reading.

 

[Kai]

Fluids at colder temperatures will hold more dissolved gases, which come out of solution when they warm up. Fermentation created CO2 in your beer, which stayed in solution because of cold lager temperatures. Cool, eh?

My understanding is that if you bottle without warming it up ever, it will take less priming sugar. Some calculators will tell you given the beer volume, desired carbonation, and temperature.

Disclaimer: I've never made a lager.

 

[Got Trub?]

Cold liquids will dissolve substantially more gas in them. Your beer was likely fully saturated with CO2 at the end of your lagering process. If you then warm it up to bottle CO2 will want too come out of solution. You already knew this - ever cracked a warm beer before, its much "fizzier" and foams out of the bottle.

GT

Uh...what Kai said.

 

[Mayday99]

Wow, science is cool!!

Thanks guys!:rockin:

Now I don't have to stay up listening for the sound of exploding bottles!

 

[WBC]

I made a tool to find out how much carbonation was in the bottle. It hooked under the bulge on the bottle and had a 1/4 - 28 thread. I made a steel threaded shaft that had a 1/16 hole through it and a pressure guage at the top end. On the bottom it was tapered like a leather punch. I just screwed it through the cap and the guage reads the pressure. I did this because I too was worried about exploding bottles. This is a good thread and I too want to see if anyone has figured a way to know how much CO2 is in a lager after aging. I use kegs so it is not a problem but bottles are another matter.