Irish Red Flop!!!

[mgull]

hey guys, got a problem. i made a midwest irsh red ale. i've opened 4 of them so far and all seem to have sort of a watery taste and varying degrees of flat. i usually open a beer about 1.5-2 weeks in bottle to check carbing and found that one to be almost completely flat. they have now been in the bottle for 4.5 weeks(grolsch bottles with 2 uses on the seals). i only did two things different than the last 4 brews, left in primary 4 days longer, and normally i use vodka to remove the bubbles left from star stan in the bottles. this time i did not not, and i fear that too much sanitizer was left in the bottle. just wondering of anyone cares to chime in on this one.

 

[unionrdr]

After sanitizing them,did you hang them on a bottle tree,or stand them upside down on a dish rack? If you just left them standing,you could get a puddle in the bottom of the bottle. I don't know how fast star san breaks down,but that may not be all of the problem. It may be unevenly primed,or even under-primed? Could be it was bottled too green,or needs to sit more. Beer can be quite fickle...

 

[JLem]

how much priming sugar did you use? (and what was it - corn sugar, DME, sucrose?)
what temp have they been stored at?

A little sanitizer shouldn't be an issue.

 

[mgull]

i put the bottles upside down for about 30-45 min. as far as priming, i used the amount provided in the kit (3/4cup i think). as far as being green, not sure on that one, i left it in the primary for two weeks, 4 days. normally i only go two weeks. next one i open i'm going to pull a bottle from the back of my stack and see if they are any different.

 

[JLem]

i put the bottles upside down for about 30-45 min. as far as priming, i used the amount provided in the kit (3/4cup i think). as far as being green, not sure on that one, i left it in the primary for two weeks, 4 days. normally i only go two weeks. next one i open i'm going to pull a bottle from the back of my stack and see if they are any different.

well, assuming you've kept the beers at a good temp (near 70°F), you might have poor seals on the bottles. It can take a while for beers to fully carb, but I would imagine after 4.5 weeks in the bottle you would have some good carbonation.

What's the ABV on this beer?

 

[mgull]

the closet is as low as 65 at night and about 72-3 during the day. i guess the seals my be the issue, though they have no cracks in them. i have 4 bottles not grolsch, interested to see what they do.

 

[malkore]

3 weeks, 70F...BARE MINIMUM for gauging carbonation.

 

[jonmohno]

Mine have carbed well at 65 all winter. Did you rack your beer on top of your priming sugar?. I always do this then stir with the end gently. If you get overcarbed with some it would be uneven priming sugar distribution.

 

[mgull]

i did rack on top of sugar, no stir.

 

[unionrdr]

i did rack on top of sugar, no stir.

Without heating the sugar in water,& no stiring to boot,I'd say this is your problem. Uneven priming.

 

[JLem]

Without heating the sugar in water,& no stiring to boot,I'd say this is your problem. Uneven priming.

If this is what the OP means - just dumped the priming sugar into the bucket without first dissolving it into solution - then I agree, this is the source of the problem.

 

[mgull]

no, i placed sugar into boiling water per instructions. then poured wort on top of boiled, then cooled sugar water.

 

[kingmatt]

nm

 

[JLem]

no, i placed sugar into boiling water per instructions. then poured wort on top of boiled, then cooled sugar water.

well, all I have left is my original idea of leaky seals. You mentioned you had a few that were non-swing-tops...will be curious if those are any better.

 

[D_Nyholm]

If this is what the OP means - just dumped the priming sugar into the bucket without first dissolving it into solution - then I agree, this is the source of the problem.

I did this exact thing on my first brew and everything carbed up nicely. None were anywhere near flat and none were overcarbed (IMO). I obviously re-read the instructions after we bottled and had a little d'oh! moment.

 

[moosilauke18]

I did this exact thing on my first brew and everything carbed up nicely. None were anywhere near flat and none were overcarbed (IMO). I obviously re-read the instructions after we bottled and had a little d'oh! moment.

I kinda did that. I had that moment, however my problem is that I never stirred it or anything, I just had a whirlpool motion in the bottle bucket. And because of that not all the sugar dissolved. I think I had less than 5 gallons, maybe closer to 4. Do you think that would be a big problem? They are bottle conditioning now.

 

[koerd85]

Sounds like u could have a back of yeast that just quit on you, or the beer could be too cold for the carbonation to come out, or there's not enough primer, but it really sounds like a yeast problem.Yeast can just quit on you and go dormant and then kick up again. U gotta make them happy, pet the bottles, tell them you love em, look at them lovingly
And then will grow. Lol

 

[mgull]

i think i agree with you koerd85. i seemed to have similar results from the couple of screw tops i had in the batch. i have heated floors in my apt which loops through the closet i use for carbing. the heat hasn't run consistently for a while now(though its still snowing here). temps were getting below 65 in there. i gave all the remaining bottles a shake and raised the temp back into the 70 range. hopefully this will work out, thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

 

[JLem]

i think i agree with you koerd85. i seemed to have similar results from the couple of screw tops i had in the batch. i have heated floors in my apt which loops through the closet i use for carbing. the heat hasn't run consistently for a while now(though its still snowing here). temps were getting below 65 in there. i gave all the remaining bottles a shake and raised the temp back into the 70 range. hopefully this will work out, thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

Well, screw-tops are not meant to be re-used with a standard pop-top capper. It is likely these bottles did not seal properly.

 

[mgull]

i'm not using any type of capper. the screw tops i use are plastic 25oz that have been used for 4 brews.

 

[unionrdr]

Do you mean the cooper's PET bottles? I have a set of those,they work fine. But you have to get the caps screwed down really tight!