Guys I am in a pickle here. I have brewed a 3 x 5 gal batch of beers : Porter / Irish Red / Golden Ale I have used beersmith mobile app to calculate sugar addition. I set as follow: - 2.5 for volumes of CO2 - Temperature 40F - Beer volume 5 gal Since I have a ton of DME - I used ~ 5 oz in 1 qt (boiled for 10/15 min). Mixed well with beer while avoiding oxygen It stayed for 2 weeks in storage. Now it got cold ~35 to 40 F during these 2 weeks Now, when I open it - it's flat. We can hear the smallest "pisht" and there is limited bubble & head... What did I do wrong? Can I reopen them and use carbonation drops and recap them? https://www.morebeer.com/products/carbonation-drops-60-pieces.html I moved them back to our apartment where it is ~65 to 67F. Will it help much? Thanks
I bet that helps a lot. I would try to keep the bottles where the temp is in the high 60s. It may take a few weeks. Good luck!
Was the total volume of each batch, including the DME solution, about 5.25 gallons? And what was the temperature toward the end of fermentation?
Yes, with DME solution the total volume was 5.25gal The fermentation was in the low 60F for 7 days. D-Rest at 67F for 4 days. Transfer to 2nd fermenter (achieve ~74% attenuation, added clarifying and kept cold at 35F for 5 days to clear
Okay, so with 5.25 gallons, 67F at/near end of fermentation, with 5 ounces DME, the carbonation should settle at about 2 volumes. A little on the low side, but not "flat" as you described it. I would give these bottles some more time at room temp, two more weeks at least before adding any more sugars.
Bolding mine. @magoo0903, you'll see that @VikeMan used 67F in his calculations and not 40F as you indicated using in your first post. You need to use the highest temperature you know the beer reached during fermentation when using a priming calculator as the temperature the beer is at will affect the amount of carbon dioxide that remains in suspensions after fermentation -- the colder the beer, the more CO2 that will stick around. Because you used 40F in your calculations, the beer will never reach the 2.5 volumes you calculated for and will max out at the 2.0 @VikeMan noted.
