Carbonation issues

Are you using a priming sugar calculator? Are you weighing or measuring the sugar?

 

Are all the bottles in a given batch undercarbonated? And how long are you waiting before making that determination?

ETA: It would help if you could describe your whole bottling day process.

 

Have you been consistently over-carbonating? My initial thought is that you are over-estimating the amount of finished beer you are bottling.

Or is the issue some bottles are more carbonated than others?

 

I used to get uneven carbonation in my bottle conditioned bottles when I mixed in bottling sugar, so, I boil about half a pint of water while adding the sugar, then stir that into the beer in the bottling bucket.
hope it helps

 

If it's individual bottles that are undercarbonated, it's either inadequate mixing of the sugar solution in the beer, or some random improperly sealed caps. Assuming you waited until carbonation was complete before you assessed it.

 

It sounds like you are no longer having uneven carbonation now that you are stirring a bit more. So are all of the bottle under carbonated or over carbonated now?

 

Your bottling procedure is good, so there has to be something else that is the issue. Two things come to mind:

1.) Are you certain of your volume of liquid of your beer? If you have more liquid volume than what you use in the calculator, then you'll under-estimate your amount of sugar.

2.) Could there be a language barrier in understanding the process of using the priming calculator? Perhaps measuring in grams instead of English/American ounces?

 

I don't know that your process is an issue but my process is to add the sugar/water solution to the bottom of the bucket and then siphon the beer on top of this. After the bottling bucket is full of beer I gently stir using my racking cane to ensure that there is proper mixing of the sugar into the beer. I always obtain even and consistent carbonation in my bottled beers.

Maybe give this a try next time and see if this improves things?

Cheers!

 

You still havent said what the issue is or did I miss it? Over/under carbed? Inconsistent from bottle to bottle?

My advice
-weigh the sugar, dont measure it
-add the sugar water solution to the bucket before starting your siphon(but still mix after, I use the siphon to mix)
-be sure of your temp and volume
-be sure final gravity is reached

 

Hey, that's cheating! This has been designated as an incremental guess the issue thread, where the OP will stop in once in a while and drop another hint, but not answer any questions completely. This is distinct from an abandoned guess the issue thread, where the OP never comes back at all. Our task is to solve the problem without knowing what it is.

 

There's nothing like a good game of 20 questions for a Friday.

 

Sounds to me like he is not measuring the final volume correctly.

I know I only have my carboys incremented to Gallon. Plus there is all the trub at the bottom. My bottling bucket is graduated to quart, so I do my last measurement there. Also, he could be measuring priming sugar by fl oz. not by weight like he should be. It was confusing for me the first time I bottle carbonated.

 

FWIW, there's a difference between carbonation and head retention. A better visual indicator of carbonation would be... what do you see in the beer when you swirl the glass? (Swirl it after a normal pour, not a hard pour.)

Also, there's no such thing as a standard two week carbonating period. It's also possible that carbonation isn't finished yet. The rate would be influenced by things like ABV level, yeast strain, yeast health, and temperature.

 

Use this calculator.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/resources/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

Some things that might help:

1. Know the temp at which you FERMENTED your beer...residual carbonation can influence the final carbonation levels.
2. Know how long you FERMENTED your beer...lagers because of colder temps and extended fermentation times can be problematic (probably not)

 

I had an issue with one of my batches carbonation once. It was a Pliney Clone DIPA.

As it turns out, I was capping the bottles to hard, and somehow they were losing C02.

Carbonation can be tricky sometimes, even though it seems like such a simple process. But in the end it is really essential to the overall taste and finish of your beer.