Last few batches not carbonating right

[Joshua Hughes]

my last few batches have been inconsistent in carbonation. In batches I use carb sugar (bitter, stout) I understand somewhat, I used less and it didn’t mix. But if I’m using carb drops i shouldnt have this issue. He are my variables. I cannot 100% relate an uncarbed bottle to a specific issue since I don’t number them. I am also getting a little oxidation. One batch was bad, oxidation and just some bad flavor that I couldn’t drink it. I’m tight so it was Real bad No carb either. I’m not doing anything different than i did when batches were carbonating good.

1. Some bottles “stick” to the capper and I have to pull off. Slight prying Of cap?
2. I use Northern brewer, more beer, Guiness, and red stripe Bottles. Some are bombers
3. not ”tipping” bottles every few days. I used to do this but don’t anymore.

is my capper ?

 

[Joshua Hughes]

Same batch tonight

 

[Joshua Hughes]

Bump

 

[day_trippr]

- With respect to the caps sticking in the capper, try wiping a thin film of vegetable oil inside the bell.
- Besides possible capping problems, how sure are you that you dosed all the bottles with priming sugar? Have you considered mixing your primer in whatever vessel you fill your bottles from?
- Next batch, include one 12 oz soda bottle and cap it tight after priming and filling, and put it with the rest of the bottles to condition. When the plastic bottle becomes almost too hard to squeeze, the glass should be ready for cooling as well...
- It's very difficult to avoid O2 pickup unless you pre-purge the bottles with CO2. I'm not a subscriber to the belief that bottle conditioning does much to mitigate O2 pickup during filling. I wonder if using a counter-pressure bottle filler with a purge valve would help...

Cheers!

 

[Joshua Hughes]

- With respect to the caps sticking in the capper, try wiping a thin film of vegetable oil inside the bell.
- Besides possible capping problems, how sure are you that you dosed all the bottles with priming sugar? Have you considered mixing your primer in whatever vessel you fill your bottles from?
- Next batch, include one 12 oz soda bottle and cap it tight after priming and filling, and put it with the rest of the bottles to condition. When the plastic bottle becomes almost too hard to squeeze, the glass should be ready for cooling as well...
- It's very difficult to avoid O2 pickup unless you pre-purge the bottles with CO2. I'm not a subscriber to the belief that bottle conditioning does much to mitigate O2 pickup during filling. I wonder if using a counter-pressure bottle filler with a purge valve would help...

Cheers!

-I’ll try that on my capper
-I use tabs or spoons of sugar in each bottle. The few batches where I’ve tried to prime to style I’ve mixed in a bottling bucket. How well depends on how quick it mixes.
-I’ll try that with a plastic bottle.
-I bottle from a primary if I can help it.

thanks for the reply!

 

[Immocles]

I've had inconsistent luck with carb tabs, myself. I rarely mix priming sugar anymore, and add 1/2tsp of table sugar to each bottle. Since I picked up that tip, I have had zero carbonation issues. I still give the bottles a little tip or swirl every now and again.

I'm bad at picturing bottles from various breweries, but I only use bottles that have a large space between the opening lip of the bottle, and the second lip under that one. Stubbier bottles tend to have a very small amount of space between the two and they do not seem to cap as well for me. I cant seem to find any pictures to describe exactly what I'm trying to get across. NB/Morebeer does have that large gap, though.

I would second using a bit of veg oil on the capper, too.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

thanks! Since a few DMs with Twisted Gray I also am now just dosing each bottle with sugar

Oddly some of the stubby red stripe bottles from earlier batches have carbed up. the Guinness and red stripe are the ones that always stick.