Ale too fizzy

[Hsb]

Woodfordes wherry question, hi guys brewed a couple of wherry skits now and been well satisfied with the results, one thing I’d like to improve on though is doing away with the fizz, at moment I’m adding half a teaspoon of sugar to the bottle when bottling, I know this is going to sound silly but I like my real ale when it looks almost flat, so I’m wondering if to leave the bottling sugar out altogether? Any thoughts on this? Thanks

 

[obscure]

I tend to do about two grams of sugar per 500ml which is about right for me. The problem with just using a spoon is you can get a lot of variation, I would recommend weighing your half spoon and seeing how much you are actually putting in it may be more than you think.

It can also be worth getting a set of measuring tea spoons:

https://www.shein.co.uk/6pcs-Stainl...MIwLjf7Oqd7QIVzRoGAB1HJQdwEAQYAyABEgLOz_D_BwE
A half tea spoon is about 3g, but it is hard to be presise with a regular teaspoon.

Please note I am not recommending the above retailer I simply searched for measuring spoon set they are pretty widely available, I think mine originally came from Lakeland, but have had them for years as useful when baking.

 

[GeorgieV]

I recently started using a syringe for priming. It gives me more precise dosage. Basically, if I have 20 bottles, I measure the whole amount of sugar for the batch, e.g 50 g (as calculate with a priming calculator for the particular style) and add the sugar to a measuring beaker. Then pour boiling water on top until the total volume reaches 200 ml. and stir the sugar to dissolve completely. Once the sugar is dissolved, I use a syringe to dose 10 ml in each bottle.

3g sugar per bottle may be a bit too much for a low carbonated beer.

The sugar, however, is only one side of the story. You need to make sure your fermentation is complete. A friend of mine followed his kit instructions and bottled on day 7 without taking a reading of the FG. He ended up with a massive over carbonation as the fermentation wasn't complete.

 

[terrym]

I use this to calculate priming sugar quantities.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/You will see the carbing levels for British Ales is 1.5 to 2.0 vols CO2, which equates to 2.6 to 4.6g per litre, which is quite a wide variation. I suggest you aim for 1.6 vols if you like flat beer and take it from there, which is 3g per litre table sugar
I suggest you batch prime to take all the randomness from your spoon measures, for which you will need a bottling bucket into which you add the full weight of priming sugar in syrup form, then transfer your beer on top of that from the FV then bottle from the bucket.
But if you can't do batch priming you will need a measuring spoon since a 'teaspoon' can be quite variable in how much they hold. I use a measuring spoon which I keep for brewing(rather than something out of the cutlery drawer) which I have roughly calibrated for table sugar i.e weigh 20 measures of sugar divide that by 20 to give nominal weight of each spoon.

 

[trummy]

I made a 'spoon' out of a piece of aluminium U profile - blocked the U at half a teaspoon measure one end and a full tea spoon the other, using epoxy putty. The profile fits inside a bottle top and I level the sugar to the top of the profile then tip it in. It is much more accurate than using a proper spoon

 

[Sandimas]

It's a tough one because beers often continue to ferment a bit in the bottle, especially in summer if stored with no temp control. I suggest leaving the brew as long as possible in the FV, I used to bottle just after day14 of fermentation but now I usually bottle between day21 and day28.

Like you I prefer my beer flatish. I've concluded that half a teaspoon is the absolute max, and have considered going down to a quarter. I've just bought one of those 10L minikegs with CO2 cartridges, so I'm hoping I can serve under minimal pressure and have very little carbonation.

 

[West wind]

If I don't want too much fizz I find one carbonation drop in a 500ml bottle just right.

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

All my real ales go into pressure barrels - the lower carbonation levels are true to style and a good head can still be obtained when dispensing. The only bottling I do now are the wife’s lager and American IPAs when a higher carb level is appropriate.

 

[Sandimas]

Good call on the pressure barrels, they do produce a good pint., and that was my preferred dispensing method.

I've got 3 here but have had to give up with them, for some reason the beer just goes off in them. I've given them deep cleans etc. but if I half-bottle half-keg a batch the batch in the keg develops a TCP taste after 4/5 weeks. All the kegs are the same, and the bottles from the same batch are fine. This never used to happen, but now it has I can't get rid of it. After 2 years trying to track it down I just gave up.