Lack of gas in my bottles

[crobinson78]

I have recently brewed my first attempt at a home brew. it was the "coopers mexican cerveza". it took seven days t ferment, i let it sit for more day before bottling it straight from the fermenter. I used 1 taplespoo of castor sugar in each 500mm bottle. i tried a sample before bottling and seemed to lack gas. it was quite flat
Can anyone advise on how long i should leave it in the bottles before sufficent gas is created before drinking
thanks

 

[abeyptfc]

yeah mate once bottled usually leave at room or house temp for a week minimum then move to somewhere cooler for aslong as you can wait.have you bottled in plastic bottles at all? if so you can obviously test the the carbonation as you go along. what was ur starting and end gravity readings? :

 

[crobinson78]

Cheers for the advise

I have it in the garage at present, propbably too cool at this time of year. I will move it back indoors. I have used steel bottle tops so unfortunatley cant open. i will check a sample in seven days and post and update.

thanks for the reply C

 

[Toastie]

silly question but in plastic bottles will the get harder as they get fizzyer ?

yes they must surely ?

 

[abeyptfc]

you got it :

 

[Moley]

silly question but in plastic bottles will they get harder as they get fizzier ?

Yes, you can get a good idea of how carbonation is building up from how hard the bottle feels. Although I mostly use glass pint bottles, I always include 2 or 3 plastic pressure testers.

Pick the bottle up by the cap and flick the bottle with your finger. As pressure builds up the musical note you flick rises.

I used 1 taplespoo of castor sugar in each 500mm bottle.

Why? :wha:

What did the instructions say?

What possessed you to prime at that level? :shock:

If a taplespoo is anything like a tablespoon, those bottles are going to get very fizzy indeed.

Do not approach unless wearing hard hat and safety goggles, or evacuate the area and call in the bomb squad.

 

[Heyzy]

Lol great last post, what is the reason for using caster sugar? Instead of brewing or plain granulated?

 

[Moley]

Sorry, I may have gone a bit too far there, I hadn't noticed you'd only just joined us and I usually try to be nice to newbies

But, if you've primed at 1 tbsp to the 500ml or pint bottle, you've created a problem there.

I only brew ales and don't like them too fizzy, so I prime at half a teaspoonful to the pint. Lager drinkers seem to like it gassy and may go up to 1 tsp to the bottle.

If you've primed at 1 tbsp then I suggest you open those bottles and gently pour back into a fermenting bucket (without splashing) and leave for 2-3 days at room temperature before re-bottling.

I'm serious about the Personal Protective Equipment, maybe not the hard hat but certainly gloves and safety specs.

 

[Hawks]

Totally agree with Moley - if you used tablespoons then you need to sort that out, exploding bottles are far from amusing :shock:

 

[calumscott]

CR,

When you say steel bottle tops do you mean crown caps on glass bottles?

Also when you said tablespoons did you really mean tablespoons?

If the answer to both of those is yes then you have a potential bottle bomb issue on your hands or if the answer to only the second is yes then you might have a pressure limiting factor on the yeast activity and you might just get very fizzy sweet beer but in either case the sooner you get the beer back into a sterile FV and fermented out again the better. The fact that they're in the cold of the garage could just be your saving grace, for goodness sake don't warm them up!!!

For a good fizzy lager up to 1 *teaspoon* is the right amount!

Like Moley says - if they are glass bottles, be super careful with them even now and definitely use the eye-protection.

If you get it successfully back into FV and ferment back down to 1.006 or thereabouts then rebottle with a much lesser priming load you'll just have a later than planned and slightly stronger lager to show for it all!

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[jonnymorris]

If a taplespoo is anything like a tablespoon, those bottles are going to get very fizzy indeed.

:grin:

Seriously though, and just to jump on the bandwagon, that's a lot of sugar.

Hope it works out well.

 

[HoppyBrewerUK]

OMG! now that is a lot of sugar! :wha:

 

[oldstout]

See my 7 week flat Cerveza thread

And I agree with all the above - you have yourself an armoury of beer bombs if you've gone with a tablespoon :nono: :nono:

Good luck :shock:

:

 

[crobinson78]

Hy All,

This will make you laugh.I was just about to post about too much gas> lol. I took ten bottles away to a lads weekend (just past). everyone enjoyed the larger once the head had subsided after 1hour. Major blunder on my behalf. I brewd a j bulls cider at the same time as the lager and used the same amount of castor sugar in both. They are not as bad as a safet hazard but wwant to ask " WILL THEY GET WORSE".
Also what is the proper measure of sugar for lager in a 500ml bottle??

thanks for all the replies. CR

 

[oldstout]

Pleased to see you are still alive and uninjured....

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[oldstout]

And......

FFS :shock:

The drink is L A G E R. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Yes it may have expanded in your bottles - but I doubt they actually increased from their original size :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:



Moderators - can we not set up some kind of fine system for this continuous misdemeanor??? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[pittsy]

Hy All,

This will make you laugh.I was just about to post about too much gas> lol. I took ten bottles away to a lads weekend (just past). everyone enjoyed the larger once the head had subsided after 1hour. Major blunder on my behalf. I brewd a j bulls cider at the same time as the lager and used the same amount of castor sugar in both. They are not as bad as a safet hazard but wwant to ask " WILL THEY GET WORSE".
Also what is the proper measure of sugar for lager in a 500ml bottle??

thanks for all the replies. CR

1/2 a tea spoon will do :thumb: