Under Carbonation Problem

[hbhudy]

I have been priming my 5 gallon batches with roughly 3/4 cup of priming sugar, but my bottles seem to continually be somewhat undercarb'd. I routinely have problems with head retention (Outside of my wifes complaint..) and my batches do not seem to be able to hold enough bubbles to for everyone's liking.

Any idea's? I have thought of continuing to up the priming sugar, but I am concerned of the potential for bottle BOMBS.

Thanks for any idea's you can give me on the issue.

 

[Pappers_]

You are using the right amount of sugar for a five gallon batch. Here are some thoughts or questions to help narrow down what your problem may be:

• are you boiling the sugar in about two cups of water?
• are you putting the cooled sugar water into your bottling bucket and then racking the beer into the bucket? Putting the racking tube on the bottom of the bucket, so the beer flowing out is mixing with the sugar water?
• are you letting the bottles condition at 70 degrees or more?
• are you letting the bottle condition for 3 weeks or more?
• are your beers exceptionally big or alcoholic?

There are quite a few things it could be, but lets check these off first!

Edit: I re-read your note and now see that you may not actually be talking about carbonation but how well your beer holds its head. In other words, there are plenty of bubbles of coming up from the bottom of the beer, but the head is there initially but is gone. That is a whole other set of possible solutions.

First, add some wheat malt, rolled wheat, rolled oats, or carapils to your grain bill. I add some wheat malt to almost every recipe I make for this reason.

A second thought is to make sure your glasses are very clean and well-rinsed. I don't put my beer glasses in the dishwasher - i wash them by hand.

 

[hbhudy]

I am suffering from the head retentions... And lack of bubbles.

3/4 cup priming sugar in 16oz water.
beginning racking to bottling and adding boiled liquid sugar to content (never stir, but think that I should)
Aging at 70*+.
3-weeks until I try beer 1 every time (friends are killing me for being so mechanical about this issue {never ever before 21 days})

 

[shortyjacobs]

I am suffering from the head retentions... And lack of bubbles.

3/4 cup priming sugar in 16oz water.
beginning racking to bottling and adding boiled liquid sugar to content (never stir, but think that I should)
Aging at 70*+.
3-weeks until I try beer 1 every time (friends are killing me for being so mechanical about this issue {never ever before 21 days})

1. Don't stir your beer.

2. What does "lack of bubbles" mean? Does it mean the beer isn't fizzy enough, or does it mean the same thing as bad head retention?

 

[Pappers_]

I am suffering from the head retentions... And lack of bubbles.

3/4 cup priming sugar in 16oz water.
beginning racking to bottling and adding boiled liquid sugar to content (never stir, but think that I should)
Aging at 70*+.
3-weeks until I try beer 1 every time (friends are killing me for being so mechanical about this issue {never ever before 21 days})

For the head retention, I would start with the two items I mentioned above. First, add some wheat, oats or carapils to your grain bill. Second, wash and rinse your glassware carefully - no soap (or any other) residue.

It sounds like your process is fine for carbonation and bottle conditioning.

 

[hbhudy]

I do seem to lack "Fizz" after I poor into a glass.
For bottling I always do a final santization with a no rinse sanitizer and transfer to the bottles while they are still a little wet. Do you think I should let the bottles completely dry before bottling? Could this be causing the problem?

 

[hbhudy]

Also i am a extract with crystal malt brewer right now.. Moving to ag this summer.

 

[Pappers_]

Also i am a extract with crystal malt brewer right now.. Moving to ag this summer.

You could try adding some Carapils to your steeping grains - its a type of crystal malt, but it doesn't add color or flavor to your brew, so it won't screw up your recipe. It adds mouthfeel and aids in head retention.

Also, I've not tried this yet, thought I would last autumn in a stout, but just never got around to buying any - but there is a product made by Muntons called Kreamy X. You use it instead of priming sugar - some people have used it with good results https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/kreamyx-137292/

It might be worthwhile for you, if you are dissatisfied with your carbonation/head.

Cheers!

 

[Pappers_]

I do seem to lack "Fizz" after I poor into a glass.
For bottling I always do a final santization with a no rinse sanitizer and transfer to the bottles while they are still a little wet. Do you think I should let the bottles completely dry before bottling? Could this be causing the problem?

No, in fact for no-rinse its better to not let them completely air dry. The only thing I can think of would be if you are using too strong a mixture of sanitizer, but if you are following the instructions, it should be fine.

 

[Yooper]

One last idea- instead of measuring your sugar with "cups", use a small kitchen scale. Maybe your sugar has a bigger grain, so you're using less than 5 ounces by weight. If you use a small kitchen scale, you could add 5 ounces of sugar and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[JJL]

It sounds like you are doing everything right in the bottling except you should definitely rack the beer onto the priming sugar as opposed to stirring.

Outside of that Pappers is right on about the glassware and soap residue. Are you pouring the beer down the side of the glass or down the middle? Pouring straight down the middle might help if you're not already.

You might consider getting a water analysis from your water comapny, or just consider adding gypsum to you boil.

Dry hopping can help with head retention if you are a fan of hops.

 

[shortyjacobs]

It sounds like you are doing everything right in the bottling except you should definitely rack the beer onto the priming sugar as opposed to stirring.

Outside of that Pappers is right on about the glassware and soap residue. Are you pouring the beer down the side of the glass or down the middle? Pouring straight down the middle might help if you're not already.

You might consider getting a water analysis from your water comapny, or just consider adding gypsum to you boil.

Dry hopping can help with head retention if you are a fan of hops.

You're mostly right, but I'd take issue with two things. One, pouring down the middle instead of down the side will make MORE head, but won't help the beer KEEP it's head. It will also REDUCE the carbonation, (fizzyness) of the beer, since more CO2 goes into foam.

Two, dry hopping actually hurts head retention. Dry hopping releases oils from the hops into the beer, and the oil kills the head.