Undercarbonated Kolsch

[permo]

Well, I just tasted one of my Kolsch Ales after a 4 week lagering period. They are really undercarbonated! Not cool. I am thinking about pulling them out of lagering, moving them to a 70 degree room and shaking each bottle and letting them sit for a week or two to make bubbles. Do you think this will work..right now it is not good!

Man, I am full of questions today!

 

[Revvy]

I'm confused...you're lagering in the bottle?

Most people lager in bulk in secondary.

Whether it's an ale or a lager the same rules for carbonation apply. You can't get much carbonation until the beer spends a minimum 3 weeks @ 70 degrees.

So it's no wonder you have little or no carbonation at this stage.

Put them in the warmest place possible and leave them alone for at least 3 weeks.

I write extensively about bottle carbonation here Revvy's Blog, Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

 

[permo]

Not really lagering, just storing at a cold temp to clear them up.

Man, I always thought lagering should be done in the bottle. Actually it should be done in secondary..interesting. After lagering is done in the secondary you then prime, bottle and bring up to temp for a few weeks to facilitate carbonation? Man, i am sticking to normal ales from here on out I think!@

 

[Revvy]

Not really lagering, just storing at a cold temp to clear them up.

Man, I always thought lagering should be done in the bottle. Actually it should be done in secondary..interesting. After lagering is done in the secondary you then prime, bottle and bring up to temp for a few weeks to facilitate carbonation? Man, i am sticking to normal ales from here on out I think!@

Yep...whatever/however you choose to lager or (cold condition your bottles, which is what you did essentially- same thing as lagering, only not in bulk) is irrelevant to getting carbonation. You can make ales, you can lager, you can cold crash your ale, you can secondary, not secondary, long primary, but come bottling day all that really doesn't matter too much to the rules regarding carbonation. The beer sitting their waiting for priming sugar is all the same.

They may affect bottle conditioning but you still need warm temps to get carbonation happening.

 

[permo]

Thank you! I just read your original postings on your blog of carbonation. I LOVE IT! The racking cane on the spicket will be very slick and I need to make one those adapters so I don't have to tip my buck either. A nice little project for tonight.

 

[opteek]

I've only brewed five batches, all extract (just bottled my Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale!!). All of them except my maibock, which I lagered, were pretty much carbed in 1-1.5 weeks at room temp. The lager took closer to 3 weeks to carb fully, but I also accidentally underprimed the batch, which might be a factor.