The last two beers that I brewed have had issues with carbonation, I have been using carb tabs (for many years with no problems). Both of the last two batches (an ESB and a pale ale) have been slow to carbonate, with very inconsistent results. Some bottles are fine while some have only a very light carbonation even though they received the same number of tabs and we're kept in the same place at the same temperature (77 degrees). After the problem with the first batch I got new tabs because I had the old ones for a long time. Didn't help, three months after bottling I am finding the same problem. Any reasons why this is happening? Should I just stop using carb tabs?
Seems very unusual based on what you have laid out. I don't have a good answer. Have you been sampling more homebrew than normal when bottling recently?
If you stop using carb tabs you can get more control. It's worth it I'd say if you are getting inconsistent results.
I have never used carb tabs but I have always had consistent carbonation by simply boiling some sugar in water and adding that to the bottling bucket prior to siphoning the beer into the bottling bucket. And then a few gentle stirs to ensure proper mixing of the sugar solution with the beer. Cheers!
Thanks for the replies. There was definitely some homebrew sampling going on during bottling but not enough to make that much of a mistake. The caps were from different batches so I don't think it was the caps themselves but I am starting to think that the capper I have been using may not be doing the job anymore and may be the culprit as there were issues with at least some of the bottles being capped (although all appear to be properly crimped). In response to Cadets3 I have the equipment to keg, I just haven't done it yet as I like to give bottles away, but I have been thinking that I could just force carbonate to eliminate this problem but then I will need the equipment to fill some bottles out of the keg.
