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Question About Carbonation in Bottles (NEW as of Last Night: 1 Exploded bottle?)

Josh_Saratin

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Hello All!
Quick question for everyone, I have been carbing my blonde ale now for a week and a few days now and did a test run just to see how carbing was progressing. I put it in the fridge and once it was cold opened it and a very small amount of co2 came out and poured completely flat. I know a lot of people always carb for 2 or more weeks which I was intending to do any ways, but I feel I should have at least some carbination, not flat? My last batch of pale ale was very carbed within a week and a half and  many a little earlier. The bottles seem to be extremely clear with very small yeast collection at the bottom on most of them, another few had a decent amount and seemed to produce more bubbles when agitated (a good sign to me). I cold crashed for two days rather than my standard 20 to 24 hours so the beer came out very clear. I was wondering what your take is on this and should I just give these bottles a lot more time to carb up? I moved them from an area that was around 68 to 73F in hope to wake up some of the yeast if that is the issue. Also, when should and how do I declare that there will be no more carbonation and should consider it to be a flat batch?

Thanks for all the support
-Josh
 
Carbonation times  and levels depend on several factors. The amount of CO2 in solution when you prime and bottle, proper priming calculations and procedure, the amount of yeast in suspension and storage temperature after bottling just to name a few. Like fermentation, the yeasts have their own schedule. The best practice is to refrigerate one bottle after a couple of weeks at room temperature and use it as a test several days later. If your priming and bottling procedures are up to snuff, all of the bottles should be very close to the same level of carbonation in the same amount of time providing they are in like bottles with even fills. 
 
Greetings Josh -adding to Bob?s reply, I have made the mistake of not adding the measured bottling volume into BS and had carbonation issues.  In other words, my predicted bottling volume was 4.74 gallons and my measured was closer to 5.1.  So I used the recommended amount of priming sugar for the lower volume of beer and my batch ended up with only a light carbonation level.

Bob makes some good points.  Give it another week or two before throwing in the towel.
 
I got worried about one of my recent batches because there was very little carbonation after a week, and my batches previous to that had all been fairly well carbonated after a week. Then I realized that all of those batches had been bottled in spring and summer, and the house had gotten quite a bit cooler since then. It took 3 weeks instead of 2 weeks, but the beer eventually carbonated just fine. Keep checking every week, and keep them as warm as you reasonably can. 68 is on the low end, 73 should be fine.

--GF
 
Hello All,
So weird thing happened last night. One of my bottles exploded from build up of pressure. I tried putting a few bottles in the fridge and tried them this morning and they are still flat? Bu that one exploded. Little confused. Must have been a very non-uniform distribution of priming sugars?
 
Josh_Saratin said:
Hello All,
So weird thing happened last night. One of my bottles exploded from build up of pressure. I tried putting a few bottles in the fridge and tried them this morning and they are still flat? Bu that one exploded. Little confused. Must have been a very non-uniform distribution of priming sugars?

Did try not stir the beer after adding the sugar? You need to carefully do so with a sanitized metsl spoon before you bottle or you won't get even distribution of sugar.
 
Ck27 said:
Josh_Saratin said:
Hello All,
So weird thing happened last night. One of my bottles exploded from build up of pressure. I tried putting a few bottles in the fridge and tried them this morning and they are still flat? Bu that one exploded. Little confused. Must have been a very non-uniform distribution of priming sugars?

Did try not stir the beer after adding the sugar? You need to carefully do so with a sanitized metsl spoon before you bottle or you won't get even distribution of sugar.

So, this batch I did do something differently when it came to bottling time. I added my priming sugar water to the bottom of the bucket and racked on top of it (creating a little whirlpool effect) hoping that that would be enough to distribute the sugar evenly. I have heard from others that this is all they do. In the past I have gently stirred the sugar in and all of those batched ended up with carbonated bottled within a week and a half. Maybe this could be the issue on this batch. Thanks for your time!
-Josh
 
Josh_Saratin said:
Ck27 said:
Josh_Saratin said:
Hello All,
So weird thing happened last night. One of my bottles exploded from build up of pressure. I tried putting a few bottles in the fridge and tried them this morning and they are still flat? Bu that one exploded. Little confused. Must have been a very non-uniform distribution of priming sugars?

Did try not stir the beer after adding the sugar? You need to carefully do so with a sanitized metsl spoon before you bottle or you won't get even distribution of sugar.

So, this batch I did do something differently when it came to bottling time. I added my priming sugar water to the bottom of the bucket and racked on top of it (creating a little whirlpool effect) hoping that that would be enough to distribute the sugar evenly. I have heard from others that this is all they do. In the past I have gently stirred the sugar in and all of those batched ended up with carbonated bottled within a week and a half. Maybe this could be the issue on this batch. Thanks for your time!
-Josh

Yeah I would put $20 on that being the problem. I've done it a few times where I've gotten lazy didn't stir and had gushers and explosive bottles while some didn't even have a drop of carbonation
 
I agree with Ck. When I bottled, I always stirred before the first bottle and also about every 10 to 12 bottles. The difference in temperature between the priming solution and the beer will cause striation, so stirring is what I recommend.
 
To all that have been following...
I decided to take a bottle from the other side of my batch bottles, the ones that were bottled I believe from the start of the bottling process. These beers are carbonated enough to get some decent head but definitely not fully carbonated. I think another week at 73 will do just fine for the bottles that did get some sugars. Hopefully there are no more bottle bombs to explode in the middle of the night!
Thanks to all who gave their opinions. Seems the issue has been resolved once I tried that bottle!
 
A week and a half is just not long enough. To me, bottle conditioning involves both carbonation and allowing the yeast to go dormant (or mostly so). This usually takes 3-4 weeks (or longer for higher alcohol beers and/or lower conditioning temperatures). Beers that I crack open after 2 weeks are carbonated, but they don't taste "finished." Even a hefeweizen will need a little time to settle into a good finished flavor. This is just my experience with beers I brew, so yours may be different.
 
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