Carbonation

[Spiderman2286]

Iv bottled all my beer now and used carbonation drops and it's in a cooler place under the stairs. It's been there for a week now. Another week or so to go. But to look at it seems flat and life less. Should u see activity in the bottle. Was worried that the caps were not on tight enough but iv turn the bottles over no leaks. Am I being paranoid. Should i keep them in a warmer place?

 

[RichardM]

You need to keep it in a warm place, 20c for week after bottling.

 

[kelper]

You won't see activity - it's normal. What temperature is it?

 

[Spiderman2286]

It's around 15 degrees I'd say I dont really know. It said on the box once bottled. Keep in a cooler place at between 14-18

 

[Spiderman2286]

Shall I move it back to the airing cupboard where its warmer or is that gonna be too hot

 

[terrym]

The ideal temperature for carbonation is about the same temperature as for the primary. 19/20*C would, in my view, be ideal, but no problem if it goes few *C higher, say up to 25*C.
And whatever the instructions say leave it there for at least another week possibly ten days, especially since at 15*C for the first week the yeast may have been dozing.
Thereafter condition your beer for another two weeks in a cool place if you have one before you try the first one although it might need longer to come good.

 

[kelper]

What is the name of the kit?

 

[Spiderman2286]

Its youngs brew buddy. The lager one

 

[kelper]

Did you put the bottles somewhere warm for two days first?

https://www.youngsgroup.co.uk/images/instructions/Brew Buddy Lager Label.pdf

 

[Spiderman2286]

They were in my conservatory which is really warm

 

[kelper]

OK. What did it cost?

 

[terrym]

Did you put the bottles somewhere warm for two days first?

https://www.youngsgroup.co.uk/images/instructions/Brew Buddy Lager Label.pdf

I don't know who writes these instructions but I sometimes wonder whether they actually do any brewing.
I have been brewing beer over a period of 50 years and never had a beer fully carb in two days as the instructions suggest. Six yes, two no. Sometimes it needs ten days. I know because I mostly use PET bottles nowadays. So the sound advice to anyone who is new to this game is to leave your beer carbing for two weeks in a warm place to ensure that when you open the first bottle weeks down the line, having moved it to condition in a cool place, its not slightly sweet and a bit flat.

 

[Spiderman2286]

I don't know who writes these instructions but I sometimes wonder whether they actually do any brewing.
I have been brewing beer over a period of 50 years and never had a beer fully carb in two days as the instructions suggest. Six yes, two no. Sometimes it needs ten days. I know because I mostly use PET bottles nowadays. So the sound advice to anyone who is new to this game is to leave your beer carbing for two weeks in a warm place to ensure that when you open the first bottle weeks down the line, having moved it to condition in a cool place, its not slightly sweet and a bit flat.

So once iv left it in a warm place for 2 weeks it needs another week in a cooler place to condition?

 

[kelper]

Warm for conditioning then cool for clearing.

What did the kit cost you?

 

[terrym]

So once iv left it in a warm place for 2 weeks it needs another week in a cooler place to condition?

The normal advice to new brewers on this forum is to follow the 2+2+2 'rule' in the first instance. Which is 2 weeks to ferment, 2 weeks in the warm to carb up, and 2 weeks in a cooler place, if available, to condition. With regard to conditioning, your beer should have cleared by then and perhaps be drinkable but some beers take a lot longer before they hit their best, and there is no one size fits all for that. My own rule of thumb for the type of beers I brew is to allow about 6-8 weeks from bottling before I get stuck in although even then they can still be improving. And when you get some experience under your belt you can better judge how long to leave your beers in the various stages, maybe shorter, maybe longer

 

[starseeker]

Thats where using PET bottles comes in very handy, there is no guessing whether your beer has carbonated or not .

 

[BrewMeHappy]

I was going to ask. If you're using plastic PET bottles you can tell when they are carbing up as they will go hard. It's anyone's guess with glass bottles.

Give them another week or so and then leave for another couple of weeks to condition before giving one a try. I'm.sure they will be fine.

I tend to leave my bottles to condition in the cupboard where I brew as the airing cupboard opens into it and it's pretty much a constant 20 deg all the time. They can be there for months and I just grab a few and pop them into the fridge at drinking time.