Getting carbonation better?

[Suicid]

Howduy,

I bottled my Coopers Real Ale 2 weeks ago primed with dextrose 5 gramms/liter. Today I opened first bottle to taste and found that carbonation actually is quite low in there.
It made a little "fizz-sh" while opening and indeed there are some bubles inside sticking to the beer glass, but the head is very very low (I'd say almost no head at all) which is quickly disapears. Beer is also quite flat in general, great bitterness thought.

To quick process review: it has been 1 week in primary, 1 week in secondary, 1 week at about 22C being bottled and 1 week stored at 18C.

Question 1:
How it is better to raise carbonation level and increaze the head volume and retention?
Rather then simple add more prim sugar per liter, are there other ways to go for it while fermentation?

Question 2:
What to do with this batch? Should I wait more before start go over or it is hopless from now and I doomed with the 60 bottles of flat and headless ale?

 

[dnslater]

Likely you haven't waited long enough and haven't stored them at a high enough temp. The rule around here is 3 weeks at 73F which is around 23c. If you have somewhere warmer, store them there for another week or so.

Also remember to refrigerate them for a day or more to help the beer absorb CO2 after priming.

 

[RM-MN]

The disappearing head may also be caused by soap residue in your glassware of in the bottles themselves. It only takes a tiny amount of soap to totally destroy the head on your beer. If you normally wash your glass in a dishwasher that has an anti-spotting agent (like RinseAid) that will be the cause. You might have to hand wash you glassware.

I once washed my bottles in the sink and rinsed once before sanitizing them with StarSan and that single rinse wasn't enough. I had an entire batch of beer that carbonated but poured no head.

 

[brewbama]

I think you should let them sit at least another week. True, soap with destroy the head but I don't think one week is long enough.


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[rodwha]

I quite washing my glasses with soap and just soak them in a jar of sanitizer and sponge them, and I still have issues on occasion with head retention. So I use a little bit of wheat in my recipes along with using ~5% carapils/carafoam to help ensure it'll be good each time. I didn't have issues too often, but often enough for me to be disappointed enough to do something.

 

[Suicid]

Thank you all guys for the suggestions.

Sorry forgot to mention I did refrigerate my bottles for about 1 day before opening.
Indeed I have glassware washed in dishwasher with anti-spot, that is the case.
Well, I'll move bottles back to the house for next couple of weeks, then sacrifice another bottle to check if it getsbetter.

So just to confirm: the root cause of nohead and low carb is not because of lack of priming sugar, right?

 

[rodwha]

Correct. It takes a certain amount of time depending on the temperature to get to proper carbonation levels.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

I harvest all of my bottles from craft beers that I or others have bought. We empty a bottle and then rinse it out under running water right away to prevent the beer inside from drying out. On bottling day I connect a bottle blaster to the sink and give each bottle a quick blast before scrubbing the inside with a bottle brush soaked in StarSan then blast them with a couple of jets of StarSan before hanging them on the bottle tree to drain.

That process has given me reliably gusher free pours everytime filled with well carbonated beer. I know you're a bit new to the game and didn't provide your original and final gravity hydrometer readings but I'd look first to the yeast, whether the temperatures were low enough to put them to sleep or they weren't healthy enough to ferment the priming sugar to produce the cO2 needed.

Unless I'm doing the conversion wrong 5 grams per liter sounds quite low, to get 2.5 volumes of cO2 I'm coming up with 6.5 grams per liter.

 

[Suicid]

I know you're a bit new to the game and didn't provide your original and final gravity hydrometer readings but I'd look first to the yeast, whether the temperatures were low enough to put them to sleep or they weren't healthy enough to ferment the priming sugar to produce the cO2 needed.

Thanks for your reply, ScrewyBrewer!

The OG was 1,048 and FG was 1,010.
Regarding the yeasts I used those stock yeasts that comes with the Coopers kit. Just checked the "packing date" (in case of coopers) and it was June 18th 2014 - should not be too old.
Moreover, the fermentation was fairly good and lasted 3 full days after about 12h pitching pause.

 

[unionrdr]

It looks like not enough time in primary or bottles. A secondary isn't needed unless you're oaking or adding fruit or something. Leave it in primary till a stable FG is reached, then give it another 3-7 days to clean up any by-products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty. Then prime & bottle. Generally 1oz sugar per gallon of beer. The average ale will take 3 weeks @ 70F to carbonate & settle out clear in the bottles. Then 1 week fridge time to get good carbonation head. This also gives any hill haze a chance to form & settle out like a fog. Also, what you describe as 3 days fermentation was only initial fermentation, the rapid first part of fermentation. It'll then slowly, uneventfully creep down to a stable FG. Cooper's ale yeast is a high flocculation one, so it'll settle out very clear in a short time. It works way better re-hydrated.

 

[Suicid]

It looks like not enough time in primary or bottles. A secondary isn't needed unless you're oaking or adding fruit or something. Leave it in primary till a stable FG is reached, then give it another 3-7 days to clean up any by-products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty. Then prime & bottle. Generally 1oz sugar per gallon of beer. The average ale will take 3 weeks @ 70F to carbonate & settle out clear in the bottles. Then 1 week fridge time to get good carbonation head. This also gives any hill haze a chance to form & settle out like a fog. Also, what you describe as 3 days fermentation was only initial fermentation, the rapid first part of fermentation. It'll then slowly, uneventfully creep down to a stable FG. Cooper's ale yeast is a high flocculation one, so it'll settle out very clear in a short time. It works way better re-hydrated.

Thats good idea about skip the secondary - much less to wash and sanitize

Indeed ale turned out a very clean now in the bottles. You can see a sediment at the bottom, but overall to me beer is as clear as it could be "filtered".





And yes, I rehydrated them before use.

 

[Munchkin]

The pictures are showing the beer at room temperature? (I dont see any condensation) How about after being chilled? Im still struggling with chill haze however im slowly getting it dialed in.

 

[unionrdr]

Yet another reason I chill bottled beers for 5-7 days minimum. It gives any chill haze a chance to form & settle out with the trub & yeast. Chill haze is formed by dissolved proteins in the beer clumping together & settling out like a fog.

 

[Suicid]

The pictures are showing the beer at room temperature? (I dont see any condensation) How about after being chilled?

Yes, sure, it is almost room temp, 2-3 degrees colder from basement (about 65F).

And it is not gets hazed much after chilling down to 40F.