Beer fizzy when bottling - less sugar OK?

[funnycreature]

Well, I did some research on here but couldn't find what I needed.

I brewed a blonde ale on Mother's Day (May 12th), left it in primary for 6 days (65 F) and then another 10 days in secondary (67 F one day then 63 F; placed the fermenter at room temp the evening before bottling day). FG (1.010) hasn't changed since day 4. The taste is nice and malty but a bit too sweet for my taste (not enough bitterness I should say).

When I siphoned the beer into the bottling bucket and took a hydrometer sample I noticed that the beer was already semi-carbonated. I had already prepared 4.75 oz of priming sugar in 2 cups of water for 2.8 vol CO2 according to Beersmith. So here's my question: Was it OK to add only half the sugar solution to the bottling bucket to avoid bottle bombs?

Thanks for your input! :rockin:

 

[ksbrain]

You should use the full amount of sugar. There's always some dissolved CO2 in there at bottling time.

 

[tre9er]

Beer will absorb some Co2 while fermenting as it's a byproduct of the process. The temp at which fermentation generally averages determines just how much Co2 is absorbed. Most of the time, for ales, it's not a whole lot. You should only be getting bottle bombs if you have an infection, too much priming sugar to begin-with, or the beer isn't done fermenting. Sounds like the latter isn't the case if you've had stable gravity readings. Your beer might come out slightly undercarbed if you only used half the sugar. Give it plenty of time to carb at a nice room temp (70's is ideal) and then refrigerate for at least 48 hours before drinking. Cold temps help the Co2 go into solution.

 

[funnycreature]

You should use the full amount of sugar. There's always some dissolved CO2 in there at bottling time.

Right, but this time it was a lot! It was almost like fully carboned with a little head and all. Never had this with any of my 3 beers before.

Beer will absorb some Co2 while fermenting as it's a byproduct of the process. The temp at which fermentation generally averages determines just how much Co2 is absorbed. Most of the time, for ales, it's not a whole lot. You should only be getting bottle bombs if you have an infection, too much priming sugar to begin-with, or the beer isn't done fermenting. Sounds like the latter isn't the case if you've had stable gravity readings. Your beer might come out slightly undercarbed if you only used half the sugar. Give it plenty of time to carb at a nice room temp (70's is ideal) and then refrigerate for at least 48 hours before drinking. Cold temps help the Co2 go into solution.

This will definitely be an interesting experiment. There was so much carbonation in the beer that when I just put the caps on the already filled bottles while filling the others I could hear one or two caps open and close again! I put it in the bath tub with a towel for cover and closed the shower curtains