low carbed Hobgoblin

[rokipynes]

Brewed Orfy's Hobgoblin and it is very tasty but I ended up with low carbonation. It is carbed but barely. The bottles were cleaned and well rinsed and the temp in the room has been high enough for other beers so this is not an issue. I have waited several weeks since opening the first bottle without any improvement.

Here is the question. Can I do anything now to boost the carbonation. I wondered about uncapping and adding a small carefully measured amount of priming sugar to each bottle. It would be tedious but this is delicious beer and I would love to bring it up to its full potential.

Thanks for any suggestions and anyones similar experience.

Doug

 

[WBC]

How many gallons of beer and how much corn priming sugar was used?

 

[rokipynes]

WBC,

It was five gallons with 4 oz of corn sugar.

 

[WBC]

You say the room's temp is not an issue and the corn sugar quantity is correct then there should not be a problem. I would say that one of these is off a bit or there would not be a problem. What is the room temperature? You are in a colder part of the country

 

[rokipynes]

I am definitely in a cold part of the counrty. We just broke 32F ambient for the first time in over 3 weeks. The room where I bottle condition is right next to the furnace so that we have to damp down the register to keep it from over heating and is as warm as any in the house. Without putting a thermometer in here I would be confidant it never goes below 66 and is usually 68 to 70 depending on time of day.

I normally put 6 ounces of corn sugar in my beers but though I would experiment on this one for an "old English Ale " type with a bit less carbonation. I got too little and now want to boost it. Looking for anyone's experience in doing so.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Well, as noted, you have the right amount of corn sugar and the right temp... Only thing I can think of is that it wasn't mixed in adequately? The ones you've tried are undercarbed, but that means some of the others are overcarbed...

Be careful before you go adding any more priming sugar to them! I say move them to an even warmer room if possible (72-75F) for a week or two and see what happens. How long have you had them carbing? I've had beer naturally carb fully in days, but others take a month.

If nothing, I say start drinking them and enjoy the low carbonation as it is per the style... and find the overcarbed ones before they blow.

 

[rokipynes]

Roaring Brewer
Thanks for your input. With the price of heating fuel what it is, they are as warm as they are going to be until Spring comes. We have been enjoying them as the falvor is great but we just wish for a bit more carb. I will take your advice and leave well enough alone. I have found that a Pilsner glass helps give me much more remaining carbonation as opposed to a flat bottom glass such as my Sam Adams glasses. I have 3 more batches in the works of different flavors so we will have to serve those to the people who can't appreciate the flavors of the Hobgoblin.

Doug

 

[WBC]

One of the most important things a brewer can do is to control temperatures (no guessing allowed). Until you have a reliable way to do that you will always have problems. I suggest that you build a fermentation box and use a controller for cold as well as hot. There are a few posts here on this forum about this.

Ref: http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF

Make a bigger one so you can have several fermenters and kegs in there.