Consistent Carbonation

[rednekhippiemotrcyclfreak]

After bottling three batches, I've come to the conclusion (IMHO, YMMV, yada yada), that bottling, at least when adding priming sugar to the bottling bucket, is a hit or miss proposition. Some of my bottles are crisply carbonated and produce a repectable and persistent head, while some are flat to mildly carbonated with little or no head. I am working on changing over to kegs but don't want to give up on bottling altogether. What can I do to balance the bottled carbonation level over an entire 5 gallon batch?

 

[Boodlemania]

I have taken to gently stirring the beer in the bucket prior to bottling to ensure even distribution of the priming sugar.

 

[rednekhippiemotrcyclfreak]

Thanks... I thought that might be the answer but was avoiding it since everyone advises against doing anything that might introduce oxygen into the finished beer. Gentle stirring without agitating might be worth a shot.

 

[knowltonm]

I gently stir after every 8-12 bottles...just to be sure...haven't had a problem since.

 

[Mirage]

I put my priming sugar and water solution (after it has been cooled) into my bottling bucket and then lay my siphon around the edge of the bottling bucket so it curls. The beer coming from the fermenter swirls gently and mixes the beer with the priming sugar without stirring. It worked great for my first batch and we did the same with the batch that is currently priming, so I anticipate similar results.

 

[tom777]

I put my priming sugar and water solution (after it has been cooled) into my bottling bucket and then lay my siphon around the edge of the bottling bucket so it curls. The beer coming from the fermenter swirls gently and mixes the beer with the priming sugar without stirring. It worked great for my first batch and we did the same with the batch that is currently priming, so I anticipate similar results.

+1 to this.
I've done this for all but my earliest batches and have had no problems other than 2 or 3 bottles so far that were totally flat. I suspect I failed to get a good seal when capping on these.

 

[smizak]

I put my priming sugar and water solution (after it has been cooled) into my bottling bucket and then lay my siphon around the edge of the bottling bucket so it curls. The beer coming from the fermenter swirls gently and mixes the beer with the priming sugar without stirring. It worked great for my first batch and we did the same with the batch that is currently priming, so I anticipate similar results.

A word of warning: I used to use that same technique only, until I brewed a pretty high final gravity porter. I seems that the extra viscosity of this particular beer hampered the priming sugar from diffusing thoroughly. Result-some total gushers, beer shooting 6" out of the bottles when cracked, others, flat as hell. I had to crack EVERY ONE of my batch and re-cap to make sure I didn't have any ticking bottle bombs. From now on, I stir gently, but thoroughly, even when I rack the beer onto the priming sugar

 

[medic_35057]

I have used the "priming in the bottling bucket" 4 times and have yet to be successful. Right now I have 3 different beers that are worthless. I have tried shaking each bottle over several days but yet to have any real carbonation take place.
I have ALWAYS had good results by placing priming sugar in the bottles then fill with beer. I, for one, will never use the priming in the bottling bucket way again. I am planning on going to kegging real soon so piss on all those bottles.

 

[Mirage]

Are you sure that you mixed it well? Or that your caps are on correctly? You should be able to apply pressure under your caps with your thumb and have them stay on. This was the way that we were instructed to prime and it has yet to fail (again, one batch and one counting but it worked perfectly last batch).

 

[bmckee56]

I have never bottled before so my response may be more of a question. Anyway, I have three corny kegs and keg all the beers I have made to date. I do want to give bottling a shot and this topic peaked my interest.

So if I primed my beer as everyone suggests, then transferred in into a keg which had been purged with CO2, then sealed it and burped it several times to remove any stray O2 then gently swooshed the keg around for a while to mix up the sugar and beer, then put my CO2 tank connector on with a short run of tubing on the out connector, couldn't or wouldn't I be able to bottle (at low psi) straight away. You could also use you CO2 tank to purge each bottle of any O2 prior to filling. Sort of like counter pressure bottling without the carbonated beer yet!

I am thinking that everone is worried about O2 exposure to the beer, so this would alleviate that exposure wouldn't it?

I don't know........ I am a noobie, ya know!

Just a thought.

Salute!

 

[Nierika]

I have never bottled before so my response may be more of a question. Anyway, I have three corny kegs and keg all the beers I have made to date. I do want to give bottling a shot and this topic peaked my interest.

So if I primed my beer as everyone suggests, then transferred in into a keg which had been purged with CO2, then sealed it and burped it several times to remove any stray O2 then gently swooshed the keg around for a while to mix up the sugar and beer, then put my CO2 tank connector on with a short run of tubing on the out connector, couldn't or wouldn't I be able to bottle (at low psi) straight away. You could also use you CO2 tank to purge each bottle of any O2 prior to filling. Sort of like counter pressure bottling without the carbonated beer yet!

I am thinking that everone is worried about O2 exposure to the beer, so this would alleviate that exposure wouldn't it?

I don't know........ I am a noobie, ya know!

Just a thought.

Salute!

Hmmm...I'd like to hear some thoughts on this from some of the more experienced members. It seems like a really good way to make sure the priming sugar is dissolved without introducing o2 into the mix.

The other thing I'm wondering about is if there is a real advantage to bottle conditioning this way. If you already have a kegging setup, you could just fill the bottles with a counter pressure bottle filler, although I'm not sure how long the beer will stay carbonated going this route.