Are my low levels of carbonation due to cold conditioning?

[Pete H]

Hi

Due to the very low temperatures at the moment I have been cold conditioning my brews in a 2nd FV after fermentation has finished for 1-2 weeks at about 10 degrees. I usually use finings and have had good results of carbonation and clarity doing this. After having a very fizzy pilsner a few month ago I started to reduce the amount of sugar when I batch prime. My fizzy pilsner was batch primed at 160g. So my 3 brews after were at 120g then 140g then 150g. The latter has been in the bottles now for 5 weeks and although it keeps a decent head I have hardly any fizz.

Can anyone tell me if this is due to me leaving them in the cold too long and all the yeast has dropped out and if next time I need to add extra yeast when bottling, or do I go back to the way I was doing previous by keeping at a constant temp after fermentation and just adding finings?

Any advice would be welcome.

:

 

[graysalchemy]

Cold conditioning will absorb more co2 but it is the temperature which you serve it at which determins how much of the fizz comes out of the beer. I would bring your beers inside for a hour before serving this should affect the fizz. :thumb:

 

[cwrw]

Maybe stating the obvious, but have you made sure that the bottle priming temperature was held for a minimum of 10 days, with a good tip being to use one plastic bottle as a tester bottle as one of your bottles, so you can measure pressure. It is unlikely that all the yeast has fallen from suspension, as I condition/lager for 6-8 weeks and then prime in bottles. :thumb:

 

[Stu]

There's been quite some talk about this over the last few weeks (Have a look for the Coopers Mexican Cerveza thread amongst others).

Mine is absolutely flat as a fart. I realised that I was conditioning it at 14c and the Coopers yeast recommends 21c.
So I've thrown mine in the back of the airing cupboard :pray:

I've ordered one of those cheap sodastreams (i'll be surprised if it actually turns up) because I just don't think mine is going to get fizzy.

 

[Pete H]

Hi

Once bottled I keep these in the airing cupboard for 2 weeks then up in the loft for at least 3 weeks.

I will give that a go tonight and leave a bottle at room temp for a bit and see what difference this makes.

Getting a sodastream also crossed my mind incase of this very thing, ive never actually used one so how do people find the results?

Thanks

 

[Brewbob]

Hmm, I've been wondering about this. I kegged a Wherry on the 12th and left it in the warm for 4 days, then put it in the garage which is freezing as you can imagine. Now I've tried it, there is carbonation, just about enough, I find shop bought bottles too fizzy, not much head though and not much pressure, also it is taking an age to clear. Is this all down to the cold, does the cold affect clearing, I know you can get a cold haze, but this is still quite yeasty, but not bad. Anyway I've just kegged another Wherry today, I'll leave this one in the warm for 7 days then put in the garage and see what happens..

 

[graysalchemy]

does the cold affect clearing, I know you can get a cold haze,

Cold aids clearing as it helps to drop out the yeast. Cold Haze is due to proteins left in the wort coming out of solution at a given temp and is not associated with yeast. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[morethanworts]

Maybe stating the obvious, but have you made sure that the bottle priming temperature was held for a minimum of 10 days, with a good tip being to use one plastic bottle as a tester bottle as one of your bottles, so you can measure pressure. It is unlikely that all the yeast has fallen from suspension, as I condition/lager for 6-8 weeks and then prime in bottles. :thumb:

Great tip regarding the tester bottle!

Pete, is this a lager with a bottom-fermenting yeast you are talking about? If it is, I would expect that still to be working at 10C and maybe a bit below. If not, then just as said, keep them in the warm for 10 days or so before moving to cooler storage.

Other than that, I've always been advised to make sure I catch just a little of the yeast from the bottom of the secondary vessels before priming.

 

[Andyhull]

Other than that, I've always been advised to make sure I catch just a little of the yeast from the bottom of the secondary vessels before priming.

This isn't neccesary as the brew at this age will still have a little hazyness to it and there will be more than enough yeast in suspension to carb the brew.

 

[Titus A Duxass]

Sorry for hijacking .
I've been following this thread with interest.
I have my latest brew ( Muntons English Ale) cold conditioning in my cellar (6deg C).
When I transferred from FV to pressure barrel I forgot to add the priming sugar.

Can I let it condition for a bit and then bottle it with priming sugar?

Cheers TAD

 

[Pete H]

I have just been using the yeast supplied with the kits. Wilko cerveza, muntons gold ale and better brew pilsner.

I too have had trouble with chill haze and for my next batch im gona get some poly clar which is supposed to eradicate the haze!

 

[fbsf]

Can I let it condition for a bit and then bottle it with priming sugar?
Cheers TAD

Yup. Just make sure you keep the bottles in the warm for a couple of weeks for the yeast to convert the sugar to CO2, before putting them back out in the cold to absorb the CO2 into the brew.

 

[Titus A Duxass]

Cheers.

 

[pittsy]

I had some lager that was as flat as a witches t*t , we also had this crappy weather at the time even though i bottle conditioned in warmth as normal etc , anyway some time latter when i had forgotten all about them it had gotten warm (yes it did) and so too had my bottles and after a few weeks i had opened 1 and they are very fizzy , so i think upto 3 weeks in warmth in this weather ( don't understand it , even though temp controlled i have flat ish hefe beer at the moment which carbs up in 1 week in summer )

 

[Pete H]

Well ive brought a bottle of my better brew pils down from the loft which i will open later on when im having some scran and report back.

If this hasnt improved then i may put these back in the warm for a further week then try again.

cwrw

Good call on the plastic tester bottles, i think i will add 3 or 4 in each batch i now bottle, this should hopefully eradicate a few of my problems

:

 

[Pete H]

After leaving a bottle at room temp for a few hours last night I had improved carbonation and perfect head retention and it was crystal clear! So overall im a lot happier but a good 3 weeks in the warm is the way im going on my next brews.

Ah the wonders of brewing :wha:

 

[Markus]

Sorry for hijacking .
I've been following this thread with interest.
I have my latest brew ( Muntons English Ale) cold conditioning in my cellar (6deg C).
When I transferred from FV to pressure barrel I forgot to add the priming sugar.

Can I let it condition for a bit and then bottle it with priming sugar?

Cheers TAD

How long was it in FV? If it hadn't completely finished fermenting when you siphoned then you could just throw the barrel into the warm for a week to build up some C02.