thasnazzle
Well-Known Member
I'm having consistent overcarbonation issues in bottles, and I'm wondering what the culprit might be. My process is as follows:
- Calculate sugar needed to carbonate to desired volume (I've been using NB's calculator, though I have tried others and had similar results: http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/).
- Put sugar in just enough water to cover it, boil, cool (not to room temp, but substantially), then dump into bottling bucket
- Rack beer on top of sugar, then stir gently a couple of times to assure it's fully mixed.
- bottle.
I live in Texas and am living on a student budget so I keep my apartment fairly warm; generally around 80*. I correct for this on the priming sugar calculator. I've also tried correcting the temp to around 85 or 90 just in case it's particularly hot in the closet I'm storing beer in (yes, I know these are not ideal conditions, but they are fine for my purposes and I don't have the budget to do any better right now). I'm not getting uneven carbonation; all my beers seem to be pretty overcarbonated. And I do allow time for the CO2 to dissolve; I don't drink a homebrew unless it's been in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
Given all that, I feel like I'm handling every control point. But I'm obviously missing something. Any idea what?
- Calculate sugar needed to carbonate to desired volume (I've been using NB's calculator, though I have tried others and had similar results: http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/).
- Put sugar in just enough water to cover it, boil, cool (not to room temp, but substantially), then dump into bottling bucket
- Rack beer on top of sugar, then stir gently a couple of times to assure it's fully mixed.
- bottle.
I live in Texas and am living on a student budget so I keep my apartment fairly warm; generally around 80*. I correct for this on the priming sugar calculator. I've also tried correcting the temp to around 85 or 90 just in case it's particularly hot in the closet I'm storing beer in (yes, I know these are not ideal conditions, but they are fine for my purposes and I don't have the budget to do any better right now). I'm not getting uneven carbonation; all my beers seem to be pretty overcarbonated. And I do allow time for the CO2 to dissolve; I don't drink a homebrew unless it's been in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
Given all that, I feel like I'm handling every control point. But I'm obviously missing something. Any idea what?