Random carbonation

[Greg B]

Hello all

I've just cracked open some of my most recent brew. 40 pints of Coopers kit with DME which I primed with 170g of table sugar. Some bottles are opening like champers and have a great fizz. Others are flat. What's going on?

I primed in a bin and mixed well before bottling and have bottled into 500ml flip top bottles.

Either I didnt mix well enough (I actually worried I'd over mixed), or my bottles are not air tight.

Can anyone more experienced shed any light?

Cheers!

 

[strange-steve]

Did you dissolve the priming sugar in boiling water before you put it in the beer? Either way 170g in 23L will give pretty high carbonation, especially if it's not properly mixed.

 

[Greg B]

Did you dissolve the priming sugar in boiling water before you put it in the beer? Either way 170g in 23L will give pretty high carbonation, especially if it's not properly mixed.

Hi Steve

Yep, boiled it with a small amount of water. It had all dissolved before I put it in the bin and added the brew.

Cheers

 

[Clint]

It's funny when that happens as you think you've done everything right but still can't explain it...
I have a wheat beer at the moment which was a textbook brew....violent fermentation etc.
I ballsed up the carb addition only putting in 130g of boiled dissolved dextrose which was carefully mixed. The beer is great but flat as a flounder...it should have had at least an "ale" carb...

 

[chris-s]

How long has it been in the bottle?

 

[Greg B]

How long has it been in the bottle?

2 weeks.

Opened 6 bottles. 4 fizzy, 2 flat.

 

[chris-s]

Hi Greg,

Perhaps a little early to jump to a conclusion. If it was winter, I'd say give it a while.

You seem to have taken care to mix well. I reckon with 170g of sugar, which is quite a lot, the flat ones are either going to be very sweet or you have a bottle sealing problem.

What do the taste buds say?

Flip-tops are really good. Unless the seals are obviously bad, I can't see a sealing problem but for the odd one.

Hope that helps.

Chris

 

[BeerCat]

Get a funnel and measuring spoon. Reliable and saves racking.

 

[Greg B]

Hi Greg,

Perhaps a little early to jump to a conclusion. If it was winter, I'd say give it a while.

You seem to have taken care to mix well. I reckon with 170g of sugar, which is quite a lot, the flat ones are either going to be very sweet or you have a bottle sealing problem.

What do the taste buds say?

Flip-tops are really good. Unless the seals are obviously bad, I can't see a sealing problem but for the odd one.

Hope that helps.

Chris

So neither the flat or fizzy ones taste particularly sweet. The bottles are only on their second use so I'd be surprised if the seals have perished.

I'll see how I go on the rest of the bottles but maybe it's time to try a teaspoon and a funnel for next time.

 

[chris-s]

Hi,
I agree, flip-tops are unlikely to be the cause.
It seems odd that batch priming with a solution is the problem. That's what I do now as I found that unless you start with dry bottles, a funnel can start to build up a little. Sugar lumps are brilliantly precise but limiting.
In between I used to just chuck in some sugar when transferring to a bottling bin and gave it a bit of a stir. There was a bit of variability but not the extremes you describe.

I suppose, if I think about it, if there is no sweetness, there was either no sugar or the co2 escaped.

Good luck.

 

[noshadow]

I'm suffering similar with a Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit but I've been using PET bottles as opposed to flip tops. Brewed it short to 21 litres, used 1.2kg LME and bulk primed with 150g dextrose. Followed the 2+2+2 rule, so should have finished the 2 weeks for conditioning on Monday. Conditioning temperature was about 15C and in the fridge for at least 24 hours before opening. When I bulk primed I dissolved the sugar in about 350ml of boiling water, allowed to cool and added it to the bottling bucket as the first couple of litres of the wort from the FV were being siphoned in and then stirred it once the full wort had been transferred. Bottle caps are tightened as much as I can and I use a cloth to make sure I get as much grip as possible.

I've tried four bottles so far. The first two had poor head retention, carbonation didn't seem great and had what seemed to me like a strong malty taste to them. Third bottle had good head retention, good carbonation and tasted fine. Fourth bottle was like the first two in terms of head retention, carbonation a little better but not as good as the third, and the strong taste wasn't so bad in this one.

I have no idea where I've gone wrong, it's very frustrating.