How long does it generally take for a beer to carbonate in the bottle?

[mattdee1]

Even if it is completely obvious to veterans of a hobby that doing XYZ is all but guaranteed to lead to such-and-such outcome, I believe there can be value in a newbie seeing it for himself. Especially if the cost of that lesson is 1-2 measly bottles of beer out of the 40 sitting in the box.

I think the "forum culture" is the same for most all hobbies in the modern age: certain tenets get parroted over and over again by thousands of people in online communities, many of whom do so strictly on the basis of what they've heard or read, not because they've seen any evidence for themselves.

 

[1977Brewer]

I usually kill 12 out of any given batch before I'm happy. Those 12 are all still beer, and better than anything I can afford 2 cases of.

 

[lowtones84]

Completely agree with above post. I brew fairly low gravity (1.045ish) bitters all the time and often it's the absolute best after 10 days primary and 10 days in the bottle. But as mattdee1 says, let your experience guide you. Don't be afraid to try a bottle at around a week! Totally depends on yeast, OG, FG, complexity of the beer, etc. etc. etc.....

 

[Joesl8]

Man, it's like the karma gods slapped me down for thinking it only takes 3 days to carb up a beer. I brewed my first 10 gal batch, another blue moon clone and it has zero carb after a week!? It's very sour and there's a film of yeast at the bottom of the bottle that clumps when you swirl it. Don't really know if I should wait or try to fix it or???

 

[bigdaddybrew]

I fill one plastic P.E.T. soda pop bottle with primed beer and screw on the top. When the bottle gets hard you know the beer is carbonated.

 

[malt81]

Same here - I use one 0,5L plastic water bottle. And you save some beer

 

[Joesl8]

I fill one plastic P.E.T. soda pop bottle with primed beer and screw on the top. When the bottle gets hard you know the beer is carbonated.

Thanks for the idea. I'll definitely try this next time...but for now, I just sit and pray my beer carbonates...

 

[TransitiveNightfall]

First off I would let it sit for another week or so. That should help some of the off flavors settle. Try this experiment https://youtu.be/FlBlnTfZ2iw.

Second they will taste better if you pour them into a glass. Don't swirl and pour the last little bit either.

 

[Komodo]

I fill one plastic P.E.T. soda pop bottle with primed beer and screw on the top. When the bottle gets hard you know the beer is carbonated.

That's genius.

 

[malt81]

Same here - I use one 0,5L plastic water bottle. And you save some beer

I have made my 2nd batch and have to admit - plastic bottle was almost like a rock after 6 days, like beers in the shop. I worried about exploding bottles...So I chilled glass bottless for a week @ 7C (45F), opened and definitely under carbonated. But it was still pretty good and only a few bottles now remained Put the remained bottles back to the warm place, shaked and lets see how long it takes to carbonate these up.

I read somewhere else here, that somebody had the same experience.....not sure, what is the phenomenon...?

 

[Joesl8]

I'm not sure if the plastic bottle test is that good? I re-yeasts and put sugar in all the bottles for a 10 gal batch that never carbonated and used a small plastic water bottle as a tester. It seemed to expand, was firm after a week but still had no carb? I'm now on my 2nd week after re-carbing and a bottle had a hint of carbonation...it's still extremely sour tho??

 

[castillo556]

Hard plastic bottle isn't a guarantee that the beer is adequately carbed.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

I'm not sure if the plastic bottle test is that good? I re-yeasts and put sugar in all the bottles for a 10 gal batch that never carbonated and used a small plastic water bottle as a tester. It seemed to expand, was firm after a week but still had no carb? I'm now on my 2nd week after re-carbing and a bottle had a hint of carbonation...it's still extremely sour tho??

After a week most beers will not be fully carbonated.
Sour flavor could be a indication of an infection.

The plastic bottle is only an indicator. It doesn't take much CO2 to expand the bottle but when fully carbed the bottle is rock hard. If the bottle remains soft you don't have to open any bottles to know the beer is flat. If you put the plastic bottle in the fridge and it gets really soft...it is too soon. It's just a guide and is better than opening and wasting flat beers.

 

[Joesl8]

A few of the beers are almost fully carbonated so I guess the experiment was a success. According to a friend at work, got me into home brewing, it is a great example of a sour beer? Not my up of tea but he wants all of them because his girlfriend loved it... The yeast was infected because my wife's little brother pulled the blow off tube out and didn't tell us, I found out about it two days later.