Hi there,
Has anyone come up with a way to test carbonation, so as to keep batches consistent?
Has anyone come up with a way to test carbonation, so as to keep batches consistent?
Carbonation Testing
- Thread starter Brew-medic
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mrduna01
Well-Known Member
I suppose if you put the same amount of priming sugar in every batch it will have the same amount of carbonation no? This assumes fermentation was complete and all that jazz I suppose.
No...all you need to do is wait a minimum of 3 weeks (for most beers) when at or above 70 degrees then check on them....
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.
Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.
Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.
Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."
If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.
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.
Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.
Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.
Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."
If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.
Brewerforlife
Well-Known Member
Even as a small brewpub, it's kind of a costly set of equipment. For me and alot of other
small micro-brewers, it's kind of unnecessary if most or all of are beer is served in-house
and not packaged, where you need consistency before it go's to the shelf. In-house beer
is much easier to control, the cost's of the testing equip. is just too much at a small pro
level, especially at the homebrew level in my humble opinion. I do have some larger pro brewer buddies that do use the Zham&Nagel testers. Here's a link to check them out http://http://www.zahmnagel.com/Products/tabid/57/Default.aspx Hope this help's. Cheers!!!
small micro-brewers, it's kind of unnecessary if most or all of are beer is served in-house
and not packaged, where you need consistency before it go's to the shelf. In-house beer
is much easier to control, the cost's of the testing equip. is just too much at a small pro
level, especially at the homebrew level in my humble opinion. I do have some larger pro brewer buddies that do use the Zham&Nagel testers. Here's a link to check them out http://http://www.zahmnagel.com/Products/tabid/57/Default.aspx Hope this help's. Cheers!!!
It seems to me that the way to get consistent carbonation is to keep all your practices consistent and measure volume of beer to be carbonated and weight of sugar to be added. The amount of sugar depends on the temperature of the beer, but presumably that would be consistent as well.
Am I missing something here?
