Poor Carbonation--Best Way to Fix?

[Enoch52]

The last two batches I've made have both had poor carbonation (the last having a couple of bottle bombs and the rest being mostly flat). After review I suspect that the culprit is poorly-mixed priming solution.

I don't want to pour out 10 gallons of beer. I was considering attempting to re-carbonate them, but I wanted to see what the community thought was the best way of doing so.

The two ideas that come to mind are:

• adding 1/2-1 tsp corn sugar to each bottle and re-capping
• Adding 1/2-1 carbonation drop to each bottle and re-capping

Thoughts?

 

[Bauerbrewery1989]

Personally I feel it would take a long time to prime and recap all of the bottles, and but it would be much easier to use the carb drops then measuring out the corn sugar for each bottle. It would be really hard without introducing a lot of O2 in the process, but would there be a way to pour them back in the bottling bucket, reprime, and recap? Hopefully someone with more experience in this matter will give a better response!

 

[Enoch52]

Yeah, I thought about that too--and I was concerned about oxygenation as well. I figured that just uncapping/recapping wouldn't be too bad, but I don't have any experience with something like this.

 

[Setesh]

I think you are correct that poorly mixed priming sugar is the culprit. Dumping them all into a bucket and repriming will introduce a LOT of O2. Mind answering a few questions?

How long have they been sitting and at what temperature?
how much priming sugar was added?
What is the estimated ABV of the beer?
Did you cold crash before bottling?
What yeast strain did you ferment with?
You say 10 gallons so I assume you are talking 2 five gallon batches. Correct?

I want to make sure I better understand the situation before I give you any advice on how to handle it.

 

[Enoch52]

Sure, I can answer that. There are two batches (a recent batch of hefeweisen and a somewhat older batch of experimental IPA's):

• The temperature for both has been the ambient temperature of the house, generally around 70F. Hefes were bottled on 5/11; the IPAs were bottled probably in early March.
• Both batches used 5oz of corn sugar. I made a solution of one cup boiled and cooled water and corn sugar, added it to the bottling bucket, and racked the beer on top of it. I've used the technique before with success, but I suspect this time the motion of the racking wasn't enough to mix them thoroughly.
• Estimated ABV of the hefe is 4.2%; IPA is 5.3%.
• I did not cold-crash either batch (no equipment).
• Hefe used Munich dry yeast (rehydrated); IPA used 1056 with a 1L starter.
• I have a 5-gallon batch of hefe, and 5 1-gallon batches of IPA--I was experimenting with hops. All are in 12oz bottles now.

 

[Setesh]

Thanks for answering those questions. I would recommend you pop the tops and add priming sugar and recap with a couple of caveats.

The safest thing to do is drink them however they are. If you aren't willing to do that then:

1. Wear gloves and eye protection as a freak accident with a bottle bomb could ruin your day in a big way.

2. Pay attention to how much carb each bottle seems to have. You said you have had bombs so some of those bottles are probably primed perfectly, and some are under primed. Use a bottle opener that lets you prize the cap off slowly enough to get a good 'hiss' from the escaping O2. If it's a bottle that sounds sufficiently carbed, recap it and move on. If it seems undercarbed add your sugar, cap, and move on.

This method will give you much less oxygen exposure than pouring them out and then refilling. I've done this several times when I wanted a bit more fiz in a hefe or saison. It's pretty quick and painless as all you have to sanitize is caps. The biggest thing to worry about is setting off a bomb while you are doing this. Be damn careful, and store them in tubs in case you have more bombs.

 

[Enoch52]

Thanks, I'll do that. Some good suggestions in there. I suspect some of them are decently carbed--I had several of the IPA's come out beautifully, and the sugar had to go somewhere (although a lot of it might have been left in the trub at the bottom of the bottling bucket if it wasn't well-mixed.

From what I read in Palmer's book, he suggested 1tsp/bottle if you're using corn sugar to carb. I'm thinking half that (adjusted for each bottle), since they're already partially carbed. Make sense?

 

[Setesh]

Thanks, I'll do that. Some good suggestions in there. I suspect some of them are decently carbed--I had several of the IPA's come out beautifully, and the sugar had to go somewhere (although a lot of it might have been left in the trub at the bottom of the bottling bucket if it wasn't well-mixed.

From what I read in Palmer's book, he suggested 1tsp/bottle if you're using corn sugar to carb. I'm thinking half that (adjusted for each bottle), since they're already partially carbed. Make sense?

That sounds logical to me.

I also have another suggestion for you. There really shouldn't be trub in the bottom of your bottling bucket. If you are careful you should be able to have completely clear beer in the bucket. When I rack I fill my hose with starsan, attach it to the cane, insert that into the top half of the fermentor and start the siphon. I let it run into a bowl until beer comes out instead of starsan then move it to the keg (same as bucket). I will follow the beer down with the end of the cane. When there is only a few inches of beer left over the cake I will very slowly tilt the fermentor until I get the deepest possible pool of beer. When I start to see the cake being disturbed by the suction from the cane I pull it up and call it good. I might have 1/2 - 1 beer worth still above the cake but I have completely clear beer in my keg (bucket). I would then be able to carefully stir in priming sugar without any worry of bringing more trub into suspension. I know it's hard to leave beer behind, but it's less than you lost to bottle bombs already, and it creates less sediment in every bottle of beer you do get.

Just a suggestion, but I think you will find it pays off to leave a little behind for the 'greater good'.

 

[Enoch52]

Yeah, I don't really have much sediment in the bottling bucket--I do manage to leave most of it behind in the fermenter. But I suspect that a lot of the sugar was left behind in the little bit I can't get out of the bottling bucket.

 

[Enoch52]

Any thoughts on how to keep the bottles from foaming over when I add the sugar?

 

[Setesh]

You have to be quick. I had my wife help me. I have done it with normal bottles and a stand capper and PET screw top bottles. She would dump it and I would screw the cap down/crimp the cap on as fast as possible. If you are using a stand capper with a magnet you should be able to stick a cap on the magnet, get the bottle lined up with the cap, dump the sugar in and then IMMEDIATELY cap it. If you are using a hand capper this will be more difficult. I suggest you do it in a place where the mess won't matter too much. Like in a walk in shower or some place like that.

 

[Enoch52]

Fair enough, thanks. My utility room doubles as my brewery, so that won't be much of a problem.

 

[Enoch52]

Well, I ultimately decided to treat it like a science experiment and conduct five trials: five each of 1/2 tsp, 1/4 tsp, and 1/8 tsp corn sugar (since there was already some carbonation). I'll let it carb up, then chill them in the fridge and test them.

Question: how long should I give them to carb up before I test them?

 

[Setesh]

Well, I ultimately decided to treat it like a science experiment and conduct five trials: five each of 1/2 tsp, 1/4 tsp, and 1/8 tsp corn sugar (since there was already some carbonation). I'll let it carb up, then chill them in the fridge and test them.

Question: how long should I give them to carb up before I test them?

Three weeks is the general rule.