T Falconer
Member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2021
- Messages
- 10
- Reaction score
- 7
Hi All,
Beginning all-grain brewer here with a carbonation question. My second ever batch (Hefe) seemed to go perfectly through the whole process, but I have almost no carbonation in the final product. Just a tiny little hiss when the bottle top opens, but no carbonation in the glass. The taste and smell are right on, but without the carbonation, it just doesn’t work.
I’m using an Anvil 6.5 gal foundry, which means I’m making around 2.5-3 gal batches. I’m finding I have to cut a lot of recipes in half, as they’re usually written for 5-6 gal batches. (I’ve since discovered brewfather and brewer’s friend, a huge lifesaver).
So with my halved ingredients, my mash and boil went just fine. Cooled it down to 68 degrees and transferred the wort into my fermentor. I then pitched a full pack of WLP300 (overpitching?).
From there it went into a temp controlled fridge at 71 degrees for 2 weeks. Fermentation was active and formed a nice krausen. After fermentation, I cold crashed for 24 hours and then transferred to a new tank to mix with my priming sugar. I used the Northern Brewer priming sugar calculator for my corn sugar ratio. I prepared my priming sugar volume for the current temp of the beer, which was 34 degrees. Not sure if I should have prepared it for the intended bottling temp.
I transferred into bottles that were cleaned with PBW and sanitized with StarSan right before. Once that was done, they were put in the basement to condition for two weeks.
After 2 weeks, I tested one bottle and discovered no carbonation. I also discovered that the constant temp in the basement was a steady 65 degrees. I thought this may be a cause, and moved the bottles upstairs where it was approx 72-75 at all times. After two more weeks of conditioning, there was no change in the carbonation levels.
So I see a few areas where things could have gone wrong:
1: Overpitching the yeast
2: Incorrect priming sugar ratio
3: StarSan in bottles affecting conditioning
4: Low conditioning temp put the yeast to sleep
I’ve written off the batch, but I’d really like to learn where things went wrong so I can improve in the future. I truly appreciate any insight you guys can provide.
Also, I apologize for the long description, but I’ve read through enough homebrew forums to know you guys like your details.
Cheers
T
Beginning all-grain brewer here with a carbonation question. My second ever batch (Hefe) seemed to go perfectly through the whole process, but I have almost no carbonation in the final product. Just a tiny little hiss when the bottle top opens, but no carbonation in the glass. The taste and smell are right on, but without the carbonation, it just doesn’t work.
I’m using an Anvil 6.5 gal foundry, which means I’m making around 2.5-3 gal batches. I’m finding I have to cut a lot of recipes in half, as they’re usually written for 5-6 gal batches. (I’ve since discovered brewfather and brewer’s friend, a huge lifesaver).
So with my halved ingredients, my mash and boil went just fine. Cooled it down to 68 degrees and transferred the wort into my fermentor. I then pitched a full pack of WLP300 (overpitching?).
From there it went into a temp controlled fridge at 71 degrees for 2 weeks. Fermentation was active and formed a nice krausen. After fermentation, I cold crashed for 24 hours and then transferred to a new tank to mix with my priming sugar. I used the Northern Brewer priming sugar calculator for my corn sugar ratio. I prepared my priming sugar volume for the current temp of the beer, which was 34 degrees. Not sure if I should have prepared it for the intended bottling temp.
I transferred into bottles that were cleaned with PBW and sanitized with StarSan right before. Once that was done, they were put in the basement to condition for two weeks.
After 2 weeks, I tested one bottle and discovered no carbonation. I also discovered that the constant temp in the basement was a steady 65 degrees. I thought this may be a cause, and moved the bottles upstairs where it was approx 72-75 at all times. After two more weeks of conditioning, there was no change in the carbonation levels.
So I see a few areas where things could have gone wrong:
1: Overpitching the yeast
2: Incorrect priming sugar ratio
3: StarSan in bottles affecting conditioning
4: Low conditioning temp put the yeast to sleep
I’ve written off the batch, but I’d really like to learn where things went wrong so I can improve in the future. I truly appreciate any insight you guys can provide.
Also, I apologize for the long description, but I’ve read through enough homebrew forums to know you guys like your details.
Cheers
T