Should I Swirl My Bottles?

[maztec]

This is my first beer . . .

Should I swirl my bottled beers during the bottle carbonation process? I have had a few people tell me that it is good to do that to make the beer carbonate better.

------ Riight, so I found other threads [don't know why I missed them the first time] that answered most of my questions below. Yes, green, watery, be patient. But, still haven't found anything on to swirl or not to swirl.
----

I bottled my Belgian White four weeks ago. Most of it was in 20oz bottles, but several were in smaller bottles for tasting. So far I have tasted them and they are fine, but the carbonation isn't really sticking. Nice head when poured, then it bubbles off and goes away. I think I am not chilling it long enough? Usually 6 hours. I read that I should wait 24 hours.

Also, my Belgian White tastes a bit watery. Is this because it is green? Lack of fermentation? Or something else?

Sorry for lumping so many things together. I figured this was appropriate in the Bottling forum since i am still trying to figure out this bottling portion of the process.

Thanks!

M/

 

[Clonefarmer]

It's not necessary to swirl in order to get good carbonation. If your priming amounts were correct, than time and temp around 70F is all that is needed.

 

[maztec]

Thank you Clonefarmer. I primed with 3.2oz cane sugar dissolved in 2c water into my 5g batch for a Belgian White.

 

[Clonefarmer]

Thank you Clonefarmer. I primed with 3.2oz cane sugar dissolved in 2c water into my 5g batch for a Belgian White.

That may be why they are low carbed. I use about 5 oz corn sugar per 5 gallon batch.

Priming Calculator

 

[malkore]

yeah, 3.2oz is on the low side of carbonation for 5gal. 5oz is a decent 'catch all' amount, though it'll be too much for some styles...if you care.

 

[tenglert]

I shake my bottles 2 or 3 times a week for the first 3 weeks. My last 2 batches, I bottled together, so I had too many bottles to work with, and ended up only getting to about 15 bottles.

After 2 weeks, the shaken bottles were much better than the unshaken bottles.

It's about 5 weeks now and they all seem to be the same.

 

[Beerthoven]

3.2 oz. of priming sugar is a bit on the low side, but I find 5 oz. to be way too much. I like 3.75 - 4.0 oz. Just my $0.02.

 

[maztec]

Well! That answers that. I followed the recipe and that was obviously off by a bit. Bummer. I suppose there is no way to fix that other than opening the bottles and adding more primer.

Will time fix this? Or should I say it's good enough, fridge'm, and drink'm?

Thanks! Tastybrew just got bookmarked.

 

[BeernuT100]

Well! That answers that. I followed the recipe and that was obviously off by a bit. Bummer. I suppose there is no way to fix that other than opening the bottles and adding more primer.

Will time fix this? Or should I say it's good enough, fridge'm, and drink'm?

Thanks! Tastybrew just got bookmarked.

Unless they' have been stored in way above 70F then they are done. Time will not fix it. Fridge them and drink'm. Or send them here cuz i'm running low ~


-bn

 

[maztec]

Right-o. They taste good, just a little watery due to lack of carbonation. No problem there, it just means it tastes more like a Belgian White that got a bit too close to the Budweiser.

Thank you for the help.