BradTheGeek
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2013
- Messages
- 169
- Reaction score
- 11
Hello everyone again. I have my 3rd batch in bottles. It has been bottled for almost a month now, and the carbonation is light and uneven.
The beer is a scotch ale, not too heavy (OG 1.080, FG 1.030). It was aged with some whiskey barrel chips for a few days, then bottled. When I bottled I boiled up some DME, I don't remember the exact amount, but I used several calcualtors and they were all close so I averaged them. I think I had about .25 to .5 gallon more beer then I calculated for though.
Now, almost a month in the bottles (at 67-72 degrees), it is barely carbonated. I have had one or two bottles about 2 weeks in pour with a small head, but most have almost no head even with an aggressive pour. There is some carbonation, because it bubbles slowly after pouring and you can see it in the glass, just very little.
This is my second batch with poor carbonation. The last was an IIPA conditioned with dextrose, and it came out similarly. It was a pretty big beer (10.5 to 10.7 abv) though and I assumed the yeast just gave up in all that alcohol.
Now I am wondering if there is something I am doing wrong. Another question I have is could it be a capping/capper issue? perhaps they are not sealing enough to hold higher pressures?
I don't think that's the case though because I used the same capper with a cider I made that carbonated well (it didn't hold a head but it had pleanty of co2)
The beer is a scotch ale, not too heavy (OG 1.080, FG 1.030). It was aged with some whiskey barrel chips for a few days, then bottled. When I bottled I boiled up some DME, I don't remember the exact amount, but I used several calcualtors and they were all close so I averaged them. I think I had about .25 to .5 gallon more beer then I calculated for though.
Now, almost a month in the bottles (at 67-72 degrees), it is barely carbonated. I have had one or two bottles about 2 weeks in pour with a small head, but most have almost no head even with an aggressive pour. There is some carbonation, because it bubbles slowly after pouring and you can see it in the glass, just very little.
This is my second batch with poor carbonation. The last was an IIPA conditioned with dextrose, and it came out similarly. It was a pretty big beer (10.5 to 10.7 abv) though and I assumed the yeast just gave up in all that alcohol.
Now I am wondering if there is something I am doing wrong. Another question I have is could it be a capping/capper issue? perhaps they are not sealing enough to hold higher pressures?
I don't think that's the case though because I used the same capper with a cider I made that carbonated well (it didn't hold a head but it had pleanty of co2)