Poor bottle carbonation.

[Doghouse-gav]

So I normally use the carbination drops when I bottle. Mainly cos I'm lazy!! But decided to prime a full batch in a second fv. Used 80 grames of sugar and followed the instructions to the letter so im more than happy with my process. I bottled last sat and yest ( fri ) I decided to test one to see how it was going. It tasted great but was not very fizzy. Hardly a head and not many bubbles. It's a brown ale which I've made before.
Bottles being kept at 21 c.
Question is will carbination improve over tine as after a week my beers are normally well carbonated with the drops.
Cheers

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[Gunfighter04]

Usually takes 2-3 weeks to achieve full carbonation. Be patient.

 

[Dogphish]

how many gallons of beer?

unless im mistaken, 5 gallons of beer usually gets 5 ounces of priming sugar, which is more like 150 grams of sugar (not 80).

 

[Captain Damage]

What Gunfighter04 said. 6 days is not long enough to fully carb. Also, 80 grams is going to put you on teh low end of the carbonation spectrum.

 

[Doghouse-gav]

I was told and indeed checked on the Internet and so used 80 grames for a 5 gallon batch. That could be the problem if I was told wrong. But I did check.

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[Captain Damage]

What style of beer is it? Different styles of beer will call for different levels of carbonation. Your beer will not be flat, so don't worry. I see you're in England. You may very well find it to be perfect compared to what you're used to - most English styles are carbed a good deal lower than most American styles.

 

[danlad]

I was told and indeed checked on the Internet and so used 80 grames for a 5 gallon batch. That could be the problem if I was told wrong. But I did check.

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Now then.

I'm not sure how much sugar is in a carb drop, so it might just be a matter of you accidentally carbing with less sugar than you have before. No real worry, just leave it a couple of weeks longer to get the full carbing 80g will give you and try one then. It might be more real ale levels than fizzy lager, but it is all about personal preference after all and you can up it a bit next time. I've carbed that amount before and it is fine.

One thing to be aware of is 5 US gals is significantly less than 5 UK gals, comes out nearer 4 UK gals. That will skew you to the lower carb end of the scale just by having more volume of beer to prime. The calculator you used might be in US gals and so be misleading.

 

[Doghouse-gav]

I shall wait a few weeks then and try again. Thanks guys.

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[Doghouse-gav]

I'm going to try another bottle this weekend. If it is still not carbonated as much as I had hoped would it be case of I've got what I've got or could I pop the caps off add more sugar and recap?

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