Carbonation

[madsen]

Hi!

We have brewed a couple of beers from kits got mixed results with the carbonation. One contained extreme amount of fizz, some contain just right, but most are flat. We tried leaving the flats for a week in a warm place, and it helps a bit, but still not enough carbon. Last brew we tried to use "Cooper Carbonation Drops" for half and Dextrose for the other half. The ones with the drops are very good while the ones with the sugar added (we have tried dextrose, white sugar, and cane sugar all with similar results) were too flat. We follow the recipe, and add the Dextrose (85g to 22L beer) to cooled boiled water and the add the dissolved sugar to the fermentation tank. Then we wait a couple of hours and bottle the beer.

Any idea why we can't get enough bubbles when using sugar instead of the drops? (which I guess are also just dextrose)
Should we add more sugar to the tank than the recipe says?
Can we just open the bottles now and add a little sugar?

All brews have tasted fine, btw. Last one was a Brown Ale kit where we added some coco and coffee. It tastes very nice!

Best Regards,
Madsen

 

[bigsteve2007]

Hey mate what make of sugar you use?

 

[Halite]

Should we add more sugar to the tank than the recipe says?

An idea may be to try using a bottling bucket, simply mix up your dextrose as you have described and then put it in your bottling bucket, siphon your brew on top of this and bottle straight away.

I mainly keg now but bottle 6 or 8 bottles per batch and I use the coopers drops for these as they are very handy.

Can we just open the bottles now and add a little sugar?

Yes you can, open the bottle, add the sugar, re-cap and turn upside down to rouse the yeast, then store at room temp for one to two weeks and they should be done.

 

[madsen]

Hey mate what make of sugar you use?

The White sugar is "Danisco", the cane sugar was from a friend which imports it (it is organic), and the dextrose was just some we found at the local suer market.

 

[madsen]

An idea may be to try using a bottling bucket, simply mix up your dextrose as you have described and then put it in your bottling bucket, siphon your brew on top of this and bottle straight away.

Thanks, we will try this next time.

Yes you can, open the bottle, add the sugar, re-cap and turn upside down to rouse the yeast, then store at room temp for one to two weeks and they should be done.

Thanks, we will try this right now :

 

[djskinner]

The bottling bucket is a good idea - especially if you are bottling the whole batch. I tend to use a bit more sugar - more like 100 to 120g for golden ales but that depends on the style of beer. I use 'brewing sugar' which I assume is dextrose.

However, the brew I am currently drinking has gone a bit strange. The first 12 bottles were definitely over-carbonated and the 12 I am currently on are under. I used a bottling bucket. Are there other factors that may explain this?