Stop carbonatation?

[NinjaPoodles]

After I added my priming sugar (dextrose), bottled and everything, it's now been 6 days. Since my beer is soft 3.5-4% alcohol content, I got told carbonatation would be shorter, and in fact, after 5 days, put 2-3 beers in the fridge and tasted today and it's magnificent! It's just the right amount of bubbles and bubble size for the type of beer I'm making.
So my question is, how do I stop it from continuing to carbonate? Dumping in hot water? Or maybe freeze it? Or should i not even touch it? (I know i did put a littl too much priming sugar too since i was scared of no carbonatation, and now im scared of explosions, first brew, so, heh)

Any ideas?
Thanks !!

 

[Evan_L]

I could be way off but since no one else has replied yet I'll give it a go. I don't see how the ABV could affect carbonation time, maturing maybe but carbing.... not really. How much sugar did you add to how much beer at bottling? Find an online calculator and figure out how many volumes of CO2 you should get from what you added. If that number is greater than 3.4/4.0 I might consider pasteurizing them to halt fermentation. Or you could just put it all in the fridge to stop carbing. Unless you added a ridiculous amount of sugar, I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like it has been some time in the bottle already so it's most likely already fermented out all of the priming sugar anyway.

 

[NinjaPoodles]

Well I was supposed to add 3/4 cup powder dextrose for 5 gals batch, but since fermentation wasn't bubbling beastly (now I understand it's cuz of 3-4% content) I got scared and poured roughtly an extra 1/4 cup, so a full cup in total.. Thing is since the Co2 is produced by the standing yeast in the beer eating this dextrose, and that now it's at a perfect carbonate state, if there's still some dextrose after these 6 days (prolly is since i poured that extra 1/4 cup), then in next days carbonatation will keep going until no more dextrose is avaiblable for the yeast to eat, meaning that this 'perfect carbonatation' state will simmer in the next days into a overcarbonatation more or less. Correct me if im wrong, please :O

Do you think I should prevent it? Like killing the yeast, or maybe will the carb be even better, thats my questionning, argh!! Lol

 

[NinjaPoodles]

I could be way off but since no one else has replied yet I'll give it a go. I don't see how the ABV could affect carbonation time, maturing maybe but carbing.... not really. How much sugar did you add to how much beer at bottling? Find an online calculator and figure out how many volumes of CO2 you should get from what you added. If that number is greater than 3.4/4.0 I might consider pasteurizing them to halt fermentation. Or you could just put it all in the fridge to stop carbing. Unless you added a ridiculous amount of sugar, I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like it has been some time in the bottle already so it's most likely already fermented out all of the priming sugar anyway.

I didn't know they had calculators of that sort, I'll check it out right now !

 

[NinjaPoodles]

I could be way off but since no one else has replied yet I'll give it a go. I don't see how the ABV could affect carbonation time, maturing maybe but carbing.... not really. How much sugar did you add to how much beer at bottling? Find an online calculator and figure out how many volumes of CO2 you should get from what you added. If that number is greater than 3.4/4.0 I might consider pasteurizing them to halt fermentation. Or you could just put it all in the fridge to stop carbing. Unless you added a ridiculous amount of sugar, I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like it has been some time in the bottle already so it's most likely already fermented out all of the priming sugar anyway.

For 1 cup of dextrose in 5 gallons, I got 3.5 of volume beer, let's say I'd like 2.5-3 got any guesses of when I should either boil'em or freeze'em?

Thanks for then calculator idea, never would have though of it!

 

[flars]

Bottles of beer tend to burst when they are frozen. They have to be thawed to drink and yeast doesn't mind a little freezing. Bottles can also burst during heating.
Put all your bottles in the frig. This will cause the yeast to drop out and become dormant.
Get a kitchen scale from Walmart for weighing the amount of priming sugar to use. Not expensive. Measuring by volume is not very accurate. The scale can also be used for weighing hops.
There will always be sufficient yeast in suspension for carbonation. Vigor of the fermentation is not part of the equation..

 

[NinjaPoodles]

Bottles of beer tend to burst when they are frozen. They have to be thawed to drink and yeast doesn't mind a little freezing. Bottles can also burst during heating.
Put all your bottles in the frig. This will cause the yeast to drop out and become dormant.
Get a kitchen scale from Walmart for weighing the amount of priming sugar to use. Not expensive. Measuring by volume is not very accurate. The scale can also be used for weighing hops.
There will always be sufficient yeast in suspension for carbonation. Vigor of the fermentation is not part of the equation..

Ok great, so when carbonation feels right, I can simply put my beer in the fridge and they'll stop carbonating and go to bed while in the fridge, leaving the current amount of Co2 in the beer, right? Just wanna make sure I got it right haha

Thanks for the anwser

 

[number40fan]

Correct. Chilling will stop the carb process.

 

[NinjaPoodles]

Correct. Chilling will stop the carb process.

Alright great, thanks!

 

[grittanomyces]

A cup of priming sugar in 5 gallons is going to get you around 4 volumes of CO2 so yes, you are at great risk of bottle bombs at that level. Unless you are using thicker than average bottles, normal bottles are not meant to withstand more than 3 - 3.5.

Get them in the fridge ASAP and don't let them get back to room temp before drinking.

For future reference, always use a priming sugar calculator or what the instructions call for, and NEVER exceed it for any reason (or if you do, no higher than 3 volumes unless you have thick bottles). I will take an undercarbonated beer any day over a ticking timebomb.

 

[grittanomyces]

Also keep in mind that the sugars that haven't been fermented will add a moderate amount sweetness in the beer, so if you decide to do this recipe again, know that it will not be quite as sweet.