Carbonation question

[BigCypress]

Hey, guys (and gals). I've been brewing a few years and came across a (potential) problem recently that I've not experienced before.

Anyway, because I switched jobs, sold my house and moved I hadn't brewed in about six months. I got back into action with a one-gallon batch of NB's Caribou Slobber. It was a partial mash kit, and everything went pretty normal. It sat in my mini-fridge at 64 degrees (Windsor dry yeast, 60 degrees ambient temp) for about three weeks. The kit came with carbonation drops, which I'd never used before but figured it would be easier since it was such a small amount of beer. I used one drop per bottle.

I bottled them up a week ago but curiosity got the best of me yesterday. I chilled one in the fridge and cracked it open. There was almost no head to it, but it was definitely carbed. What little head there was disappeared within seconds. It was fizzy and popping. It looked like a glass of soda.

Now, I understand that it needs to sit in bottles longer. I almost never crack into any bottles early (usually let them sit about a month in bottles), so I don't have any frame of reference as to how beer behaves over such a short time frame. I plan on letting the rest sit undisturbed for two or three more weeks. I guess time will tell what the end result looks like, but was just wondering if any of our resident luminaries could provide some insight.

I probably would have left them alone, but I had just finished bottling up a different three gallon batch and had to shuffle some things around.

Thanks, and brew on!

 

[jonnyp1980]

3 wks at around 70 degrees in bottle then refrigerate a bottle for a week or more to test.

 

[twistr25]

Check out Revvy's post in this thread with the video, it explains the carb process pretty well.

 

[jonnyp1980]

Check out Revvy's post in this thread with the video, it explains the carb process pretty well.

That video never gets old.

 

[Revvy]

If you had waited you never would have noticed anything wrong.

If it's been under three weeks, then it more than likely is gushing because the co2 isn't in solution fully and is coming out before the beer is really carbed, hence the fact that you say it's flat after.

We get this all the time from impatient folks who open their bottles WAAAAAYYYYYYY early. If you opened them at three weeks, or more, you never would have noticed.

If you watch Poindexter's video on time lapsed carbonation, you will see that in many instances, before a beer is carbed it may gush, that's not from infection, or mixing of sugars, but because the co2 hasn't evened out- it hasn't been pulled fully into the beer. Think of it as there's a lot of co2 being generated and most of it is in the headspace, not in the beer, so there's still "over pressure" in the bottle, so it gushes when it is opened.

But when the beer is truly carbed it all evens out, across the bottles.

 

[Revvy]

Already had it covered I see, good job guys!