Where did my carbonation go?

[Foureyes2020]

man guys, I’ve had a hard time producing a quality batch. Hope you can help.

1St Attempt: 3 ga NB Dead Ringer Recipe
Result: Poor. Ended up far to watered down beer.
Lesson: don’t boil the wort with the pot lid on. Made starting water adjustments based on my glass top stove.

2nd Attempt: 3 ga BIAB NB Dead Ringer Recipe
Result: Poor. Fermentation in my basement was too warm. Ended up with sour flavored beer.
Lesson: Converted an old fridge to a fermentation chamber with temp controller.

3rd Attempt: 3 ga BIAB NB Dead Ringer Recipe
Result: Great! Taste is perfect. But realized that SOME of my beers had zero carbonation. I thought that this might have to do with poor seal when capping. But seems like a week later none of the beers have any carbonation.

I’m stumped.....
Did I not add enough sugar when bottling? I followed the NB calculator.
Am I loosing carbonation? Some of the caps has a tiny crease in the cap. But doesn’t seem excessive.

Still have about 15 beers left. What is the best way I can salvage the remaining beers? Can I add those little tablets ( don’t know what their called) for each bottle and give them time to re-carbonate.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Gameface]

How are you adding the priming sugar? To each bottle or to the bottling bucket? I'd recommend dissolving it in a little water then adding to the bottling bucket before you transfer the beer.

Sometimes the capper can make an indentation on the cap if you're being a little over-aggressive. Usually doesn't cause the seal to fail.

How long has it been since you bottled and what kind of temps are the bottles at? It can take a few weeks to get carbonation and if the bottles are cold it can take longer than that. Somewhere in the 60s or even 70s is a good temp for letting the bottles carb up.

 

[brewcat]

How did you add your priming sugar? Did you slowly mix it while filling the bottling bucket? Otherwise, you are on the right track. Check the seals. Re-prime them.

 

[Foureyes2020]

Yes, I added priming sugar to bottling bucket. Amount of priming sugar was based on the NB online calculator.

How should I re-prime them? How long should they sit?

 

[Calder]

You added sugar, it will ferment out and carbonate. Sometimes it will take a while to fully carbonate, but most young beers will carbonate within 2 to 3 weeks at room temps. If you are storing them in a cold location, it may slow down carbonation time.

I've never had a problem with carbonation in several hundred batches. You might want to get a new capper. I use the two handled red-barron capper. I have 3 that are set up for both US and European caps, and one for wide Champagne bottles. None have failed me and I'm still using one from about 30 years ago.

If you think the cap seal has failed, you can get carbonation tabs (or just add a level teaspoon of sugar to the bottle), and recap.

 

[Foureyes2020]

thanks guys.

Yes CARBINATION not fermentation. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote that earlier. I’ve gone back and edited my original post to clear up the confusion.

I added the priming sugar slowly to the bottling bucket just before bottling. Everything seemed to go fine during the process.

I bottled the beer almost 5 weeks ago. Originally I put the bottled beer in my garage ( temp = 74*) for about two weeks but then read in the Palmer book that the beer should be stored cool to slow down oxidation. So now it’s being stored at 40*.

 

[Foureyes2020]

Any perferance for tabs vs teaspoon of sugar?

Since I bottled almost 5 weeks ago. Will it still carb up or is the yeast gone at this point?

You added sugar, it will ferment out and carbonate. Sometimes it will take a while to fully carbonate, but most young beers will carbonate within 2 to 3 weeks at room temps. If you are storing them in a cold location, it may slow down carbonation time.

I've never had a problem with carbonation in several hundred batches. You might want to get a new capper. I use the two handled red-barron capper. I have 3 that are set up for both US and European caps, and one for wide Champagne bottles. None have failed me and I'm still using one from about 30 years ago.

If you think the cap seal has failed, you can get carbonation tabs (or just add a level teaspoon of sugar to the bottle), and recap.

 

[thehaze]

If everything was OK, you should have had full carbonation at 2 weeks. I have carbonation at day 5 on absolutely all beers, no matter if they are 4% or 8%, so there must have been something in your process.

For higher ABV beers, it's a good idea to add like 2 gr of yeast at bottling, just to make sure there is viable yeast in the bottles to create carbonation. When using a bottling bucket, I first boil around 200-250 ml of water, add the sugar and keep on boiling for a couple of minutes, while stirring with a sanitized, stainless steel spoon ( the pot is also stainless steel ). I then proceed to cool the pot. Once cooled, I add it to the bottling bucket. I then gently rack over from the fermenter, without splashing, foaming, etc. The beer is being transferred with ease, no splashing, and the very gently whirlpool created by the transfer, will ensure that the sugar solution is properly mixed with the beer.

 

[RM-MN]

I added the priming sugar slowly to the bottling bucket just before bottling.

If you added the sugar dry it probably didn't all dissolve into the beer and you could have wildly varying carbonation depending on how the sugar mixed. Always dissolve the sugar into hot water first, then as the beer is just starting to siphon into the bucket, slowly pour (not that slowly) the sugar water into the swirling beer to let it start mixing. I often use a sanitized spoon to stir the beer (carefully so to not mix in oxygen) to get better mixing.

When using a bottling bucket, I first boil around 200-250 ml of water, add the sugar and keep on boiling for a couple of minutes, while stirring with a sanitized, stainless steel spoon ( the pot is also stainless steel ). I then proceed to cool the pot. Once cooled, I add it to the bottling bucket.

You don't need to keep boiling the water, one second at boiling kills bacteria. Bring it to boil, stir in the sugar, and then add it to the beer. Yes, add it hot. 250ml of hot sugar water won't have much effect on 20 liters of beer.

 

[eadavis80]

I always boil my sugar solution for 8 minutes and then cool it to room temp with a quick ice bath before adding to the bottling bucket. I know many add the priming solution hot, but I've read (and had good experience) with cooling it to the same temp as your beer before racking your beer into the bucket. I've never used carbonation tablets.

 

[thehaze]

RM-MN ---> you are right. adding 250 ml of hot liquid wont change anything. I just cool it down a bit, as I am also doing other things in the meantime, like rinsing bottles, getting everything ready, so... I got the time.

 

[Foureyes2020]

Thanks guys.

What is the best way to salvage the bottles that I have remaining?? Is it salvageable ?

Can I add carbination tablets to each bottle and then recap? Or since I bottled this 4-5 weeks ago it’s to late.

Thanks for all the great info

 

[ncbrewer]

If you think the cap seal has failed, you can get carbonation tabs (or just add a level teaspoon of sugar to the bottle), and recap.

I have two concerns with this.
1. 1 tsp per 12 oz bottle is about 8 oz for 5 gallons. This is way more than normal.
2. If the original priming sugar fermented but the seals leaked by, there is apt to be more CO2 left than normal coming straight out of a fermenter. A full sugar addition would produce more than normal volumes. I don't know how to tell how much CO2 is in the bottles. I've had the cap seals leak by - I just drank the beer flat.

One question: Were these twist-off bottles? They leak sometimes.

 

[Foureyes2020]

Thanks for the info. I think you’re right. I think where I went wrong is when I added the dissolved sugar into the bottling bucket I didn’t stir it afterwords. So some bottles got more sugar than others. Now I don’t know which bottles have carbonation or not. So if I add sugar to all of them I may just create some bottle bombs. I think I’ll just drink the beer flat. Just really disappointed because this is the first batch that tasted really good and it ended up uncarbonated. Bummer

I have two concerns with this.
1. 1 tsp per 12 oz bottle is about 8 oz for 5 gallons. This is way more than normal.
2. If the original priming sugar fermented but the seals leaked by, there is apt to be more CO2 left than normal coming straight out of a fermenter. A full sugar addition would produce more than normal volumes. I don't know how to tell how much CO2 is in the bottles. I've had the cap seals leak by - I just drank the beer flat.

One question: Were these twist-off bottles? They leak sometimes.

 

[Gameface]

Thanks for the info. I think you’re right. I think where I went wrong is when I added the dissolved sugar into the bottling bucket I didn’t stir it afterwords. So some bottles got more sugar than others. Now I don’t know which bottles have carbonation or not. So if I add sugar to all of them I may just create some bottle bombs. I think I’ll just drink the beer flat. Just really disappointed because this is the first batch that tasted really good and it ended up uncarbonated. Bummer

Be careful with this. You don't really want to stir your finished beer in the bottling bucket. That will greatly increase O2 exposure. I don't bottle and haven't for a long time, but what I remember is that you want to add the sugar solution to the bottling bucket and then put the beer transfer hose in such a way as that it gently swirls as it transfers so that the sugar solution gets mixed in evenly.

 

[ncbrewer]

Be careful with this. You don't really want to stir your finished beer in the bottling bucket. That will greatly increase O2 exposure. I don't bottle and haven't for a long time, but what I remember is that you want to add the sugar solution to the bottling bucket and then put the beer transfer hose in such a way as that it gently swirls as it transfers so that the sugar solution gets mixed in evenly.

I quit stirring for a while for that reason and got good results. I put the priming syrup in the bucket and racked on top of it, with the beer making a slow whirlpool. But I got concerned about possible poor mixing, so I went back to stirring gently. Both ways worked for me - I just stir as a safety precaution.