Carbination and Temp for me a newbie Please...

[KilhavenBrew]

I brewed several beers and had perfect carbonation here in Colorado. My house has been at 65 degrees pretty much the entire time with the heater on and it being winter.

Then, as temp increased in my house to 75 cause the sun started staying out longer, I got 2 full batches of way over carbed beers. The only variables were the style of beer and the Temperature. But the Final Gravity was not really a variable. Even Yeast was the same in one of the batches.

As a note, I used the same formula in adding Priming sugar (corn sugar) with every batch. Yet great results at 65 degrees and lousy results at 75.

And the NEWBIE question is... How much change in corn sugar amounts do I apply when I increase the temp from 65 to 75 upon carbonation? Basically, should I decrease down 20%? Because it seems to me that this Temperature thing is what caused my problems. I will heat to 65 in winter, and air condition to 75 in summer.

 

[Revvy]

You don't adjust the amount of sugar for the temp you plan on storing them. That's irervelant.

I think you're looking at the wrong reason for your supposed "over carbed" beer. You fail to tell us how long they are in the bottles before you open them or if you chill them or not before opening them. These factors are more important.

You WANT your beer stored above 70 degrees when you are carbing them.

More than likely they are gushing because You are simply openning the beer too early,

Watch poindexter's video from my bottling blog.




Like he shows several times, even @ 1 week, all the hissing, all the foaming can and does happen, but until it's dissolved back into the beer, your don't really have carbonation, with tiny bubbles coming out of solution happening actually inside the glass, not JUST what's happening on the surface.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

But until then the beer can even appear to be overcarbed, when really nothing is wrong.

A lot of new brewers who tend to kill their two cases off in a few days, don't experience true carbonation and the pleasures thereof, until they actually get a pipeline going, and have their first 5 or 6 week old full carbed and conditioned wonderfully little puppy! Then the come back with an "aha" moment.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Makes sure the beers are minimum of 3 weeks at 70 degrees before you even think of opening them, then make sure a couple of them are THOROUGHLY chilled for at least 48 hours to draw the co2 into solution. Then more than likely everything will be hunky dory....

Lemme know if this is more pertinant to your situation. We get folks like you on here daily thinking their beer is over carbed when in reality it just isn't TRULY carbed yet.

 

[KilhavenBrew]

Yes, that is what happened. And I already ruined the whole batch. I opened every bottle at day 10 and let the foam ooz out all over teh kitchen. Then I recapped them thinking they would be better. Now I open one to see and it is flat. I ruined my beer. But Flat is alright I guess. I will just drink flat beer for a couple of cases.

Oh well. I will learn next batch. None until day 21. DANG!

Also, what is the recommended amount of Corn Sugar to ensure I am hitting that correct? I have been doing .9 cups of corn sugar for 5 full gallons to actually bottle. (not bottling to measure based on whats in the carboy cause I only use 90% of that so I get rid of the sentiment when I transfer on bottling day.)

 

[KevinM]

Find a carbonation chart like http://***********/resources/carbonation I can't recall the other one that keeps being recommended. But the recommended amount of dextrose depends on the target carbonation level, (minus what carbonation is left over from the initial fermentation).

You'll probably want to leave it as is first, then test it out on day 21 to see if there's carbonation. If not, you could potentially reprime each bottle using carbtabs or dextrose.

I'd think that all the sugar was consumed by day 10 and that we're waiting for the carbonation to equalize (among other conditioning things, like yeast cleanup and mellowing of the ethanol) but by introducing sugar too early, it could wind up reaching dangerous pressures, hence waiting.

Patience is hard. This is why people have pipelines going so that they have a set of beer that's ready, and several that are in various stages of aging, and some primary.

 

[bourgeoisbee]

There are other issues here, but you should get a scale and measure corn sugar by weight. You'll need a scale sooner or later once you move past kits, and measuring by volume isn't as accurate as weight/mass. FYI, you can carb below 70F, it just takes longer.

 

[Revvy]

Y
Also, what is the recommended amount of Corn Sugar to ensure I am hitting that correct? I have been doing .9 cups of corn sugar for 5 full gallons to actually bottle. (not bottling to measure based on whats in the carboy cause I only use 90% of that so I get rid of the sentiment when I transfer on bottling day.)

Like other's have said, get a 20 dollar digital scale and measure by weight, not volume, and unless you are carbing to style, the 4.5 to 5 ounces of corn sugar that comes with most recipes or is recomend, is not too much sugar. Like I said your issue isn't that there's too much sugar, it's that you gave them too little time.

 

[KilhavenBrew]

I really read a lot about brewing but never knew that eruption would happen because of time not given for dissolving the CO2 into the beer.

This is one lesson learned. I have several other cases of beer I brewed ready to drink with good carbonation, so I can be patient. I just did not know you had to let it dissolve in.

So thank you all for your lesson. I will go buy a scale.