Inconsistant carbonation - any ideas?

[BottlesCansCraft]

Hi,

I recently brewed an IPA that was bottle
conditioned. The first few early bottles were perfectly carbonated, but as i drank the batch over a few weeks, I noticed minimal carbonation after the first handful. Also to note, i drank these in the order i bottled them.

I used the same bottles, caps, capper etc. I had used for previous brews, which had been fine in the past.

My carbonation method was 83g dextrose for 27 330ml bottles dissolved in hot water poured into the bottling bucket.

Someone mentioned thia can happen if you pour hot sugar mixture into the beer prior to bottling, leaving some carbed and some hardly carbed, is that true? Could anything else cause this?

Thanks

 

[Tommo 2]

My tried and tested method for bottling is to add my required amount of priming sugar to boiling water , cover and cool to roughly the same temp as beer to be bottled pour into bottling bucket then very gently stir for a couple of minutes being careful not to incorporate any oxygen into the brew and bottle , never failed me doing it this way

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I’ve never batch primed, I just add sugar to each bottle with a tea spoon and funnel. Also are your bottles the same type and what sort of capper do you have?

 

[clib]

Sounds like the bottles are losing their carbonation to me. If you are reusing caps then that could cause loss of carbonation. They won't keep sealing properly with reuse. If they are new caps, then the capper isn't sealing them effectively. I have had 3 cappers in 13 years, the latest I've had for a long time and is a bench capper.

 

[moto748]

I would expect most beer to increase in carbonation with time if anything if drunk in order. not the reverse, so, like clib, I'd be suspecting capping technique.

 

[Clint]

Could be that the sugar solution wasn't mixed in properly.

 

[An Ankoù]

I’ve never batch primed, I just add sugar to each bottle with a tea spoon and funnel. Also are your bottles the same type and what sort of capper do you have?

Me too. Never fails. Never had a bottle bomb.

 

[An Ankoù]

Could be that the sugar solution wasn't mixed in properly.

Could that a certain chocolate, cake and all things sweet sort of person passed by the fermenter as you were bottling and acted as a sugar magnet, drawing all the primings to one side of the bucket.

 

[phildo79]

Are all the bottles the same? If you are using a hand capper, the collar on the bottle plays a big part on the ease of which the cap goes on and also how tight it clamps on.

Going forward, if you are going to persist with bottles, I would suggest using swing tops.

The thing about adding warm priming sugar to the batch is a new one on me. I always did that when I bottled and never encountered this particular problem.

 

[Big_Eight]

My tried and tested method for bottling is to add my required amount of priming sugar to boiling water , cover and cool to roughly the same temp as beer to be bottled pour into bottling bucket then very gently stir for a couple of minutes being careful not to incorporate any oxygen into the brew and bottle , never failed me doing it this way

I do pretty much the same thing. I've tried adding the sugar solution and racking the beer on top to mix it in but in my experience you have to gently stir or you will get inconsistent carbonation in your bottles some with to much, some flat, and some in between.

I also agree with adding in a pre-determined amount of sugar to each bottle as well.