After returning to the brewing scene after many years. I decided to start off using "Kit" beers to get my hand in. I have made several batches of various beer types all lower alcohol content and one of cider. All have very little carbonation evident after several days/weeks/months in the bottle. In my previous brews I would prime each bottle with 1 teaspoon of normal household sugar, brewed for many years and always had good carbonation. There are a couple of common denominators re the lower carbonation that I am trying to work out. I have used two different types of drops. One type has a package weight of 200 gms, contains 60 drops giving a weight per drop of 3.33gms. The second type has a package weight of 250gms containing 80 drops, giving a weight per drop of 3.13gms. One teaspoon of sugar weighs 5.69gms. Now, the manufacturers specification is for two carbonation drops in a 750ml bottle. When I bottled previously, I would use one teaspoon of sugar per 50ml bottle and had good carbonation, so there is a difference of only about 1 gm of sugar, yet I am getting much less carbonation from the drops. Any ideas why?
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fluketamer
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clearly its the drops. maybe they arent as fermentable as straight cane sugar. (although that doesnt make much sense the whole point of priming is to add fermentable sugar) i think they may have some binder in them or something.
go back to sugar or increase the number of drops you are using per bottle.
go back to sugar or increase the number of drops you are using per bottle.
If table sugar was working well for you, I'd say go back to. My experience is it does the job and costs a good bit less than drops. Good luck!
Thanks, I was seriously thinking the same, just didn't want to create "Bombs", I will go back to sugar next brew and see if things are better.
fluketamer
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i always primed with dextrose because when i first started brewing beer using muntons kits 30 plus years ago i was convinced that the massive amounts of table sugar i used is what caused the cidery off flavors ( which turns out to be completely untrue. - ferm temps is what always messed up my beers because as soon as i started controlling temps my beers got much much better. ) so table sugar terrified me and i was scared to bottle with it. but many threads, videos, and articles show that table sugar is perfectly fine for priming.
also as an aside for fun bottle a few in PET bottles and increase the amount of priming sugar . you can carb to really high volumes in PET without them exploding. the caps usually crack before the bottle bursts. i have made some very fizzy beer and cider with PET bottles and up to 2 whole teaspoons of dextrose in a 20 oz bottle. those bottles really get hard.
also as an aside for fun bottle a few in PET bottles and increase the amount of priming sugar . you can carb to really high volumes in PET without them exploding. the caps usually crack before the bottle bursts. i have made some very fizzy beer and cider with PET bottles and up to 2 whole teaspoons of dextrose in a 20 oz bottle. those bottles really get hard.
Thanks for your help. I will try that next brew I make. I was beginning to think that I was doing something wrong when bottling. My Son in law uses pet bottles, two Carbonation drops each and his brews carbonate very well. I usually use Pet bottles for convenience, but my last brew of Cider was bottled in glass and I have the same problem with that. The only other thing that I have changed was that I have used Sodium Percarbonate to sterilise the bottles, where in the past I have used a "No rinse" sterilising solution.
fluketamer
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several squirts from the starsan spray bottle. shake it up and let the foam do the rest. hang ‘em on the bottle tree or the dishwasher rack and let the foam run out sanitizing as it goes . i never had a bottle infection like that.
I switched from carb drops to table sugar several brews back and have had good success. I am currently using 3/4 tsp per 12 oz. Overall level of carbonation seems to suit my taste but nice thing about this system is that I can experiment by bottle rather than a whole batch and make minor adjustments accordingly.
fluketamer
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i never liked batch priming cause i hated the thought of stirring up beer even a little just to mix the sugar. i never liked the idea of racking on to sugar solution thinking that was enough to mix it up evenly.
Thanks for all the great help. I paid a visit to my local Brew Shop in here Whangarei New Zealand, while there, I explained my problem with Carbonation drops to the proprietor. He advised me not to go back to sugar as the Carbonation drops are more readily digested by yeast. We went through a list of things that may have been the cause, and after excluding most of them, he came up with too much variation in the storage temperature immediately after bottling. I keep my newly bottled brews in the same room that they are brewed for at least a month, before moving them to my outside shed for storage. I have noticed that the ambient temperature can swing between 9 Deg c on a cold morning at this time of year to about 19+ during the day. Other than trying to heat my whole basement workshop are there any suggestions on how to keep the storage temperature more constant?
I'd be strongly inclined to ignore that advice.
Put the bottles in a cooler (or even a sturdy cardboard box) with something like a heat mat.
I also use a small funnel to pour table sugar directly into the bottles, but the best method would be to use a bottling bucket. Dissolve the required amount of sugar in a little boiled water, pour it into the bottling bucket when it cools down and slowly pour the beer from the fermenter using a hose and then bottle it from the bottling bucket. In this case, mixing is not necessary, which introduces air into the beer, and the sugar is properly mixed so that some bottles do not have too much and some too little carbonation.
Maybe your carbonation temperature is too low? A week at 25'C is best. My beers are less carbonated in the winter because the temperature in my room is below 22'C, so it takes up to three weeks to properly carbonate. But in the summer, it has the correct foam already after five days.
The consensus appears to be that the probable problem with my lack of carbonation could be temperature related. So, I have bottled another batch of Cider, put the full bottles in cardboard boxes, raised them off the concrete floor and covered them with an old eiderdown bedspread. Also I used X3 Carbonation drops in each bottle. I will leave for three weeks before sampling and look forward to better Carbonation this time.
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Jack_0106
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Works for me - 1:1 sugar to warm water to dissolve. For a pale ale I'll go with 100g sugar and 100ml water. Let it cool a bit and add it to my bottling bucket then rack wort onto it. Mixes fine
Kinda depends on how much beer you're carbonating and what type of sugar you're using, doesn't it?
Here's a handy priming calculator, for different kinds of sugar:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
Best is to weigh each sugar addition, not relying on a measuring spoon. Or at least calibrate it.
Alternatively you could dissolve the right amount of sugar for the whole batch, and use a syringe to dose each bottle.
When doing your calculations for dilution, it would be wise to get the individual dosages to an easy measurable amount. For example, 2 or 3 ml per bottle.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
Best is to weigh each sugar addition, not relying on a measuring spoon. Or at least calibrate it.
Alternatively you could dissolve the right amount of sugar for the whole batch, and use a syringe to dose each bottle.
When doing your calculations for dilution, it would be wise to get the individual dosages to an easy measurable amount. For example, 2 or 3 ml per bottle.
Cleaning and sanitizing are 2 different processes. Unless we use an autoclave (or an oven), we don't sterilize, we (merely) sanitize, and for most homebrewing purposes, that's all we need to do.
Sodium Percarbonate is a cleaner, not a sanitizer and definitely not a sterilizer. It's related to common Washing Soda (Sodium Carbonate), with a loosely bound Hydrogen Peroxide molecule that releases O2.
I would definitely rinse it off after cleaning, then use a dedicated sanitizer. StarSan or an Iodine (Povidone) based sanitizer are excellent and easy to use for homebrewing. A Starsan working solution can remain active for several weeks or even months, while Iodine based sanitizer solutions need to be replaced after 12-24 hours after mixing.
We have many threads addressing cleaning and sanitizing regimens.
Johnny2
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I've had best luck when I've rehydrated new yeast for 20-30 mins, adding it in to fermenter and stirring well, before bottling. It has given me best and fastest carbonation on a cider and ginger beer. Basically full carbonation in 7 days. Sprinkling new yeast to bottles or to whole batch has not been as effective as rehydrating it first.
Isn't that how you take in a lot of oxygen that changes the taste and shortens the shelf life?
Thanks for that, great calculator.
Johnny2
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Not, if you gently stir it. Oxygen gets in by shaking and splashing. Alternatively you could add the same measured amount of that yeast solution to each bottle.
YVW!
That site has many calculators, a recipe formulator, recipe databases, and whatnot, all for free and everyone to use!
Disclosure, they are related to HomeBrewTalk forums.
But, but... any sediment (from the bottom) gets stirred back into suspension.
Hence the reason for using a bottling bucket (or a keg) to rack the finished and clear beverage into, leaving all the trub behind in the fermenter.
There are ways to transfer without (or at least minimize) mixing air (oxygen) into the finished batch.
This is what I do when I want to add both priming sugar and bottling yeast:
1. Rehydrate the amount of yeast needed for the batch in water.
2. Dissolve the amount of sugar needed for the batch in water.
3. Pull a small amount of the beer from the fermenter (this is to avoid osmotic shock when mixing yeast and sugar).
4. Combine the yeast slurry, beer, and sugar solution.
5. Divide the volume of the above mixture by the number of bottles to be filled.
6. Add the required volume to each bottle with a syringe.
7. Fill the bottles with beer to within ~ 0.5 inch of the top.
8. Tap (to foam) and cap (or cork as the case may be).
1. Rehydrate the amount of yeast needed for the batch in water.
2. Dissolve the amount of sugar needed for the batch in water.
3. Pull a small amount of the beer from the fermenter (this is to avoid osmotic shock when mixing yeast and sugar).
4. Combine the yeast slurry, beer, and sugar solution.
5. Divide the volume of the above mixture by the number of bottles to be filled.
6. Add the required volume to each bottle with a syringe.
7. Fill the bottles with beer to within ~ 0.5 inch of the top.
8. Tap (to foam) and cap (or cork as the case may be).
Johnny2
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I don't use bottling buckets, I use fermenters as bottling buckets, so that's why I said fermenter instead of a bottling bucket. But sure, I meant that it is racked into a bottling buck, if you don't have a second fermenter.
