Carbonation while fermenting?

[leojez]

Hello,

Is it possible that beer can start carbonating while in the fermentor?

I poured some into my trial jar 8 days into fermentation (bubbling almost stopped) and got a huge head - had to wait and refill. The photo is taken after the head went down and after adding some more. I've never seen this!

It is a Youngs American Pale Ale kit, but I didn't use the yeast that came with the kit (I'd used it on another failing beer) and used Mangrove Jack's US West Coast M44 instead.

Seems really strange!

Thanks!

 

[Leon103]

So was it fizzy or just a head.

 

[leojez]

Didn't seem too fizzy but with such a head it seems like carbonation going on, no?

 

[Leon103]

Other things can contribute to an head but I believe carbonation can start in the fv. I tasted mine earlier and it had a bit of co2 in there

 

[ravey]

carbonation is fermentation, perhaps there's something different about this particular brew that causes more co2 to be suspended in the brew.

 

[Dutto]

I would have put it the other way round. i.e. Fermentation IS Carbonation; but during fermentation the CO2 escapes out of an airlock instead of being trapped in a bottle.

There is nothing right or wrong with a "head" on a sample taken during fermentation; except that the more you interfere with the brew during the fermentation period the more chance you have of introducing an infection.

I try to not touch or interfere with any fermentation before a minimum of two weeks has elapsed after pitching the yeast. IF at that time I had a sample similar to the one in the photograph and IF it smelled okay I would just close up the FV and wait another week. :thumb:

 

[ravey]

I could just say six and half a dozen but

"Fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugar to acids, gases, or alcohol. It occurs in yeast and bacteria, and also in oxygen-starved muscle cells, as in the case of lactic acid fermentation"

Carbonation is actually the dissolution of co2 into a liquid under pressure. One technique makes use of fermentation.


So technically speaking neither is correct; fermentation can result in carbonation if the vessel is sealed (and trace amounts of suspended co2 when not sealed, which was my point), but carbonation may be the result of fermentation or the injection of co2.

 

[Dutto]

I could just say six and half a dozen but

"Fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugar to acids, gases, or alcohol. It occurs in yeast and bacteria, and also in oxygen-starved muscle cells, as in the case of lactic acid fermentation"

Carbonation is actually the dissolution of co2 into a liquid under pressure. One technique makes use of fermentation.


Sent from my HT7 using Tapatalk

Er... we are discussing "brewing" aren't we?

In brewing, the process known as "forced carbonation" (a term that I deliberately didn't use) can carbonate a liquid without fermentation so "carbonation" isn't always "fermentation" ... :nono: :nono:

... but fermentation in a beer will always result in an element of carbonation so the statement "Fermentation is Carbonation." still stands. Sorry.

 

[ravey]

It clearly does not stand, it can result in but is NOT carbonation. Carbonation does NOT turn sugar into alcohol or co2.

 

[terrym]

'Carbonation' is simply the dissolution of CO2 in aqueous liquids. CO2 forms a weak chemical bond with water to form carbonic acid. The saturation levels of CO2 in the liquid are affected by temperature and pressure.
Carbonation is a by-product of fermentation. When the CO2 level in the wort reaches its saturation level during fermentation, it then just bubbles out of solution (as we all know).
Injecting CO2 into water/beer will also result in carbonation, but uptake is again governed by the saturation limit.
If CO2 is injected into the gas space above an aqueous liquid in an enclosed space like PB, so that the system pressure increases, more CO2 will be absorbed, but uptake rate will be limited by the speed by which CO2 that can cross over the liquid/gas interface and then dissolve and then migrate to the rest of the liquid and so encourage more CO2 to dissolve (up to the saturation limit at the final system pressure).

 

[Dutto]

.......... Carbonation does NOT turn sugar into alcohol or co2.

Er ....

 

[Headlands]

Fermentation is:

C6H12O6 to 2 C2H5OH + 2 CO2