Carbonation issues

[DJBrewer]

I've brewed about 15 batches of beer so far, so I'm still new to the process. I'm havng some trouble with carbonation. When I brew a dark beer, Double Chocolate or Brown ale, the carbonation is good, sometimes even a little too much, but when I brew a wheat beer, I often don't get quite enough carbonation.

I'm brewing a partial grain recipe, with a double fermentor and per the recipe instructions, adding 3/4 cup of priming sugar. I always check the SG at the initial start of fermentation and prior to bottling and make adjustments for temperature. I bottle into 22 oz bottles and let them sit for a minimum of two weeks at 68-70 degrees (I also bottle a sixpack of 12 oz. bottles and open one at 2 weeks to check for carbonation and adjust the from there to go longer or not). When I bottle the wheats, I even turn them upside down at the end of a week to makes sure everything gets mixed up good. The wheat beer is extremely tasty and it is carbonated, but not quite enough. Initially I get a decent head when I pour it, but that subsides very quickly.

Here's the recipe I'm following: http://www.defalcos.com/component/content/article/171.html

I'm thinking of adding more sugar to make it an even cup instead of3/4 cup, or or even bottling at a slightly higher FG, des that make sense? I'm open to any suggestions and thanks in advance for the advice.

DJ

 

[zeekage]

Don't bottle at a slightly higher FG. You could end up with bottle bombs if the FG goes lower than you assume it will. The best advice would be to not use the standard 3/4 cups of sugar all the time, but instead use a calculator that will give you the right amount of sugar based on final batch size, final temp, and desired volumes of co2 (carbonation level). Stouts are usually carbonated at a lower volume than wheat beers which is why the standard 3/4 cup is ok for one and not for the other.

Also, if you have a kitchen scale of some sort it's much better to weight it than measure it by volume. volume can be off depending on how compacted or not the sugar is.

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html is a good one.

 

[DJBrewer]

Zeek - Thanks so much, this is exactly what I need! I have a Brown ale in the second fermentor right now, so I'm going to put this to use pretty quick.

DJ

Don't bottle at a slightly higher FG. You could end up with bottle bombs if the FG goes lower than you assume it will. The best advice would be to not use the standard 3/4 cups of sugar all the time, but instead use a calculator that will give you the right amount of sugar based on final batch size, final temp, and desired volumes of co2 (carbonation level). Stouts are usually carbonated at a lower volume than wheat beers which is why the standard 3/4 cup is ok for one and not for the other.

Also, if you have a kitchen scale of some sort it's much better to weight it than measure it by volume. volume can be off depending on how compacted or not the sugar is.

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html is a good one.

 

[zeekage]

No problem. Glad I could help.