Speed up bottle conditioning

[dude1]

I'm really surprised how most of my Pale Ales / IPAs present the following flaws after 2.5 weeks

• Lack of head
• Lack of carbonation
• Hazy
• Taste of yeast
• Watery

and all that is perfectly fixed after, for example, 6 weeks

As I sell some of my production and it's not convenient to wait so much, I'm wondering if is there anything I could change in the brewing process to speed up conditioning.

I'm using US-05 most of the time

Thanks

 

[IslandLizard]

2.5 weeks after bottling?

 

[dude1]

2.5 weeks after bottling?

Yes

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

My beers are normally carbed (maybe not fully conditioned) in a week.

I put the cases in the warmest room in the house (about 70F) and for the first 3-4 days I will individually pull each bottle out and roll it on it's side for a few seconds. I find that for all except high ABV beers this seems to work fine. Carbed within a week and rounded out after another week. Then into cold storage (closer to 55-60F) until fridged and drank.

 

[Spikybits]

How do you prime? I use a priming/Co2 volume calculator - there are a few running around. This will probably solve your problem. I had terrible results with Fizzdrops/sugar tabs. I usually weigh 30 to 35g of table sugar per gallon depending for most of my brews. Perfect every time, but I also condition for 2-3 weeks minimum.

 

[IslandLizard]

What he said.^

Also:

• How long is the beer in the fermenter?
• Do you cold crash? For how long?
• Is the beer clear or cloudy when you bottle?
• Do the bottles get stored at room temps to carb up?

 

[JimRausch]

Without knowing your process, I'd have to say the best way to speed up your carbonation and conditioning process is to increase the temp. 70-75*
And you let something slip- you sell some of your product?? How do you get around the tax guys?

 

[dude1]

How do you prime? I use a priming/Co2 volume calculator - there are a few running around. This will probably solve your problem. I had terrible results with Fizzdrops/sugar tabs. I usually weigh 30 to 35g of table sugar per gallon depending for most of my brews. Perfect every time

I prim with table sugar and count between 4 and 5g/L, that is between 80 and 100g per 5Gal (20L) batch, typically 4.5g/L, which means 90g per batch

 

[dude1]

What he said.^

Also:

• How long is the beer in the fermenter?
• Do you cold crash? For how long?
• Is the beer clear or cloudy when you bottle?
• Do the bottles get stored at room temps to carb up?

2 weeks in the fermenter without racking after primary
No cold crash
The beer is generally cloudy when I bottle
Yes, room temp to carb up

 

[dude1]

Without knowing your process, I'd have to say the best way to speed up your carbonation and conditioning process is to increase the temp. 70-75*
And you let something slip- you sell some of your product?? How do you get around the tax guys?

Conditoning at 68-70F (20-22°C)

I'm in Switzerland, you just pay your taxes based on your production

 

[JimRausch]

If everything is where you want it after 6 weeks, then your priming amount is good.

 

[Spikybits]

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

You are under priming - 2.3(pale ale) vol on 20L at 22C = you should be using 118.8g of table sugar.

 

[dude1]

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

You are under priming - 2.3(pale ale) vol on 20L at 22C = you should be using 118.8g of table sugar.

OK, I'll look into that.
I've become more careful with priming sugar, because, if you follow priming sugar calculators recommendations, you end up with too much head after a couple of months.
That's a good call if everything is sold and drunk quickly

 

[Spikybits]

Its also to note that I make sure i hit my FG before priming and bottling. if you get 2 or so points AND your priming sugar in the bottle, you may start to have gushers or even worse.

 

[JimRausch]

I'm in Switzerland, you just pay your taxes based on your production

Ahhh. Can we move in?

 

[JimRausch]

2 weeks in the fermenter without racking after primary
No cold crash
The beer is generally cloudy when I bottle

You may be also bottling a bit too soon.
For me, I would leave it in primary an extra week to clear, then bottle, and try to warm them up a bit more. This time of year I use a heating pad in my insulated box that I use to hold my bottles for carbonation. I also bottle one in a plastic soda bottle to check on carbonation. I get decent carbonation in 5-7 days, but they're always better in another week. And still better in 2 weeks.

 

[dude1]

Ahhh. Can we move in?

We pay ~$16 tax per hectolitre (26Gal) to the customs (because most of the grain comes from abroad = Germany) and you don't have to pay it if your total is less than $40/year, which means you can typically brew and sell 250L (66 Gal) a year without paying any tax

Other than that, you have to register your "brewery" as soon as you sell something, even 5Gal a year, which explains why we have the highest number of breweries per capita in the world.

You can sell to any reseller without any further paperwork, that is restaurants, bars, festivals, but not end consumers, weddings, company dinners,...

 

[IslandLizard]

2 weeks in the fermenter without racking after primary
No cold crash
The beer is generally cloudy when I bottle
Yes, room temp to carb up

2 weeks in fermenter should be enough to finish. It can condition in the bottles afterward.
US-05 is a powdery yeast, medium-low flocculator, it remains hazy for a long time.

The 2.5 week problems seem to be all carbonation related. The lack of it rather.
The yeasty taste you detect after 2.5 weeks means there's relatively a lot of yeast left in suspension, still busy carbonating. The yeast won't floc until the fermentables are used up. I'd raise the bottle conditioning temps 4-5°C and see if carbonation speeds up. Give it 3 weeks. That may cure all your issues, moving the time table from 6 weeks to 3 weeks after bottling.
The perception of being "watery" can be a lack of mouthfeel, due to lack of carbonation. Quicker carbonation would solve that too.

Cold crashing surely helps speeding up flocculation, with or without gelatin as a fining, but is not always necessary or even wanted.
It doesn't fix the slow carbonation, may well slow it down, it may be worth a try if haziness remains a problem.
After dry hopping I'd start with 3 days of cold crashing near 0°C and see if it the beer has cleared enough, up to 7 days if needed.
Try to avoid oxygen exposure/oxidation during the process. I sometimes cold crash in kegs, having CO2 in the headspace to protect against those.

Persistent cloudiness can also be related to a water chemistry issue, but it probably wouldn't clear after 6 weeks either.

The problem with 6 weeks conditioning Pales, and more so IPAs, is they are getting past their prime.

 

[tellyho]

2 weeks in fermenter should be enough to finish. It can condition in the bottles afterward.
US-05 is a powdery yeast, medium-low flocculator, it remains hazy for a long time.

The 2.5 week problems seem to be all carbonation related. The lack of it rather.
The yeasty taste you detect after 2.5 weeks means there's relatively a lot of yeast left in suspension, still busy carbonating. The yeast won't floc until the fermentables are used up. I'd raise the bottle conditioning temps 4-5°C and see if carbonation speeds up. Give it 3 weeks. That may cure all your issues, moving the time table from 6 weeks to 3 weeks after bottling.
The perception of being "watery" can be a lack of mouthfeel, due to lack of carbonation. Quicker carbonation would solve that too.

Cold crashing surely helps speeding up flocculation, with or without gelatin as a fining, but is not always necessary or even wanted.
It doesn't fix the slow carbonation, may well slow it down, it may be worth a try if haziness remains a problem.
After dry hopping I'd start with 3 days of cold crashing near 0°C and see if it the beer has cleared enough, up to 7 days if needed.
Try to avoid oxygen exposure/oxidation during the process. I sometimes cold crash in kegs, having CO2 in the headspace to protect against those.

Persistent cloudiness can also be related to a water chemistry issue, but it probably wouldn't clear after 6 weeks either.

The problem with 6 weeks conditioning Pales, and more so IPAs, is they are getting past their prime.

Agreed. If you want a hop-forward beer, it's really hard to do in bottles. I'm a dedicated bottler, and find I can only get drinkable beer at about 4 weeks, with conditioning time at 70°.