Only about 1/4 bottles carbonated

[Cartire]

Made a decent IPA. However, only about 1/4 the bottles actually carbonated well. The rest, had little to no carbonation. They were stored for about 4 weeks before opening. Im using the the EZ cap bottles. Is it possible those dont hold enough pressure? Or the sugar solution not mixed enough?

The bottles that were carbonated well, were great. Perfect head on pour.

The others were completely flat.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[tacks]

My best guess is sugar not mixed in well. Either that or a faulty capper that didn't get a full crimp on the last 3/4 of the bottles because of a mechanical breakdown or malfunction. You can salvage the others by buying carbonation drops and recapping a few, that will tell you if the issue is your crimp on the caps.

 

[cshamilton]

The EZ cap gaskets only last for 4-5 beers before they should be replaced. So, it's possible that you just had a poor seal on some of them. Uneven sugar mixing (which is hard to do) seems very unlikely in this case. The yeast probably consumed the sugar and the CO2 just escaped. You could try replacing some of the gaskets and add carb drops to a few bottles to test them.

 

[phug]

You can also try flipping the gaskets.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Beernik]

With proper storage, EZ Cap gaskets can last years. Mine have. You want to store them open. If you store them empty and closed, the gaskets rot. I didn't start replacing the seals on my bottles for seven years.

That said, if they aren't brand new bottles, it's worthwhile to check the gaskets for cracks. Also check the still full bottles to make sure the gasket is making good contact with the bottle when it's closed. I had a couple bottles that didn't seal properly when closed even though the seal was in good condition.

When you added your priming sugar, did you put the sugar in the bottling bucket first and then rack the beer or did you rack the beer first and then add the sugar?

 

[Cartire]

With proper storage, EZ Cap gaskets can last years. Mine have. You want to store them open. If you store them empty and closed, the gaskets rot. I didn't start replacing the seals on my bottles for seven years.

That said, if they aren't brand new bottles, it's worthwhile to check the gaskets for cracks. Also check the still full bottles to make sure the gasket is making good contact with the bottle when it's closed. I had a couple bottles that didn't seal properly when closed even though the seal was in good condition.

When you added your priming sugar, did you put the sugar in the bottling bucket first and then rack the beer or did you rack the beer first and then add the sugar?

Theyre brand new bottles, so I would hope the seals would be ok.

The priming sugar was in the bottling bucket first, then the beer was racked. I will note though, and the more I think of it, the more this could be a factor. My siphoning equipment began leaking badly about half way through. At which point (I think I was tired and frustrated with some other stuff) I ended up pouring the rest of it into the bucket. I tried to maintain a slow steady stream. But I know it was more disruptive then it should have been.

Could this be the issue?

 

[Ski12568]

I think that would have mixed it well, only problem with pouring it would be oxidation.

 

[Devin]

On my very first batch, I had very uneven carbonation in my bottles ranging from bottles that exploded all the way to bottles that were completely flat. A previous poster said that uneven mixing is hard to do - but I disagree. That is exactly what happened to me. For my first batch, I put the sugar/water mix in the bucket first and racked the beer onto that. I didn't do any further mixing. After the uneven carbonation event, I started slowly mixing the priming sugar in as the beer was racking (very gently to avoid oxidation). I had no problems with carbonation after that when bottling.

 

[SuliBrew]

uneven mixing is my specialty. I'm sure I'll get a lot of flack for this, but I typically will carefully intensify the whirlpool with a spoon after I'm done siphoning then let it sit for a little while I get the bottles ready. since then no uneven carbonation. One other thing was to let the beer get to room temp when bottling. those 3 combined led to less uneven carbonation in my case.

 

[Beernik]

I agree that pouring should have gotten you better mixing, not worse. That's weird.

I'd still double check for cracks on the seals for the flat beers. Pop the gasket off and bend it a couple different ways. Replacing gaskets is fairly cheap. A bag of gaskets costs about the same as a bag of bottle caps.

And next time, try giving the beer a couple stirs after racking, just in case.

The only time I've had flat beers was either bad seals (swing tops and bottle caps), extended lagering, brewing +10% beers, or when I racked first and added priming sugar second.

My bad seals on swingtops were mostly the edge of the gasket did not fully extend past the crown of the bottle. I do occasionally find a cracked gasket. But most of my swingtops date to 2006. I replaced a bunch of gaskets in 2012 and 2013 for preventative maintenance.

 

[bu_gee]

It makes sense that you could easily get a bad mix. The priming sugar mix is very dense so it wants to sink and when you have it at the bottom it doesn't want to mix. Some agitation is required, but the transfer is usually enough unless you do it too gently.

 

[Beernik]

Also, use a carbonation calculator.

You input volume of beer, desired volumes of CO2, the highest post-fermentation temperaures, and the type of sugar you are using. It calculates the weight of sugar you need to prime with.

I've gotten better and more consistent results that way.

 

[ong]

Yeah, check out the seals on the bottles that were flat. Some of the EZ caps have hard plastic seals, which don't seem to work as well as the soft rubber.

 

[CBXBob]

I always start with the priming sugar water in the bucket first, make sure the tubing is curled on the bottom of the bucket so I'll have a slight whirlpool. Then sanitize my stainless spoon and gently stir for a second. So far, so good.

 

[SplendidVengence]

I had the same problem, i marked the bottles that didn't carb and with a pair of pliers, pulled with a curling motion inward to shorten the vertical wires to tighten the seal, haven't had a problem since. Cheap and easy fix.