Uneven carbonation

[zmcgrew]

I've been making small batches (2.5 gallons instead of 5) in the Mr. Beer kegs, but am having trouble evenly carbonating the bottles.

I followed the 1/2 of everything logic when priming, so forgive me if this is completely wrong:

I used 1 cup of boiled water (Instead of 2), and 6 table spoons of corn sugar (1/2 of 3/4 cup), cooled the mix, and then put it in the bottling bucket (another Mr. Beer keg). I then put the beer in that keg, gave it a quick stir trying not to aerate it too much, and then bottled.

I drank two bottles at 10 days, and both were wonderful. Both had a lot of carbonation, so much so that one started foaming up when I popped the top.

A friend drank another bottle the next day and it was flat. I gave one away to someone else and they said it wasn't flat, but it wasn't very carbonated either.

It seems that the carbonation is very uneven, and I'm kinda stumped. I read somewhere that you should stir the bottling bucket after every 6 bottles, but then I read somewhere else you should never stir the bottling bucket.

Any ideas?

 

[rcbrew]

First thing that came to my mind, what type of bottles are you using? Different types, different brewer bottles that you are reusing? Are those that are undercarbonated the same type of bottle? I have a hard time with certain types of bottles, they do not seal completely. Just a thought.

 

[Truble]

I would examine the bottle situation too, as well as the caps. There are a number of bottle types that do not cap well, like Bass and Warsteiner. I noticed that when I used Bass, I would max out the swing on my capper and still not get a good seal. They never carbed fully either.

 

[zmcgrew]

I think you guys may have hit the nail on the head!

I'm using mixed types of reused bottles! I have some Widmer bottles (Which seem to be the recurring theme of uncarbonated), and Wicked bottles (Which seem fine). I had planned on replacing the Widmers with the Wicked ones anyway (I love the Wicked logo!). :rockin:

The caps are unbranded ones I got from my LHBS. They're the cheapos, not the fancy oxygen absorbing or anything nice.

 

[Truble]

I use the cheapos too. Any issue that I have had has been due to the bottle, not the cap.