Last 4 batches have been pretty flat???

[Ryan D]

Hi all

I have been making kit beers the last year or so, the first half dozen have been pretty good. But recently my last 4 batches i have made have come out not very carbonated and lacking head. I dont know what I have done wrong as i havent really changed anything. the first two which were flat i had changed from using dextrose or brew enhancers to spray malt which i thought might have caused it. So the next two i made i just kept it simple but they are still pretty flat! I prime using 1 heaped teaspoon in 750ml bottle and left for 2 weeks before the fridge. One batch i even removed from the fridge for another week to see if it would carbonate more. Any ideas why all of a sudden they are doing this? Its hardly drinkable to me like this. It tastes fine though so i doubt there is an infection in all those brews.

[JR]

Dextrose will carbonate your beer faster than malt extract but both should get the job done.

 

Warm up all the flat beer to 18-23 degrees and hold it there at least a couple more weeks or until it carbonates.

For some reason it didn't get the job done in the first couple of weeks then it got put in the fridge preventing any further carbonation.  I would only put it in the fridge once you are happy it is carbonated enough.  In future either have a few 330 ml bottles you can open and test flavour and carbonation without risking a 750ml bottle or fill a rigger and give it the squeeze test to see if its carbonated.

A couple of years ago I had a random couple of batches that took 6 weeks or so to carbonate properly - don't know why but they all got there in the end.

Worst case scenario you could open all the bottles and add some more yeast to each bottle but I really think that patience and time is the easier option.

[Ryan D]

ok, will do. would it be a good idea to maybe give each bottle a lil shake to stir it up again? or not? i primed with white table sugar as well if ti makes any difference

[denimglen]

Are all the bottles the same carbonation level - no chance of bad seals on some bottles?

 

Maybe try pitching a packet of SO5 or SO4 instead of the yeast that comes with the kit, it could be tired yeast.

 

 

[Ryan D]

No, all are the same

[Llew Bardecki]

I don't know how often you brew, but another potential cause is the ambient temperature warming up at this time of year.

 

CO2 is more soluble in cooler water, so there's more residual CO2 in a cold beer.  7 degrees temperature difference is equivalent to about the same as 15g of priming sugar in a 20L batch.  Depending on what level of carbonation you're shooting for, this could be 10-25% of your priming sugar.

 

I like using a bottle priming calculator like this one, which takes the temperature into account.  The calculators are more geared toward bulk priming (boiling up ALL of your priming sugar in a bit of water, then adding that to your bottling bucket before racking the beer on top of it.)  But then bulk priming might actually be something you want to try anyway if you're having trouble with carbonation.

 

Hope some of this helps solve your problem.  Happy brewing!

[Ryan D]

Yes I am thinking about bulk priming in the future. I have pulled all my bottles out of the fridge and will leave them out for a few weeks and hope for the best. If that fails i guess i may as well try adding some more sugar and/or yeast to all the bottles and see what happens. If i did do this would I add just some more sugar or should I add yeast as well? Quantites?

[JR]

Assuming you added the correct quantities of sugar in the first instance you would only need to add yeast.  If you add both you will end up overcarbonated.

[Ryan D]

Ok thanks, yea all my brews i have used teaspoon of table sugar per 750ml bottle, but its only these last 4 batches that have had a problem. Would I be adding something like 1/4  teaspoon of yeast or something per bottle? or not that much?

[JR]

Not sure exactly.. In the bottling yeast thread someone says they add 1x 11g packet to 300l of beer for bottling so you don't need to add much.. don't use any more than 1 packet. between all your bottles.

[Patrick]

Tired yeast sounds like a likely culprit - as we move into summer, the yeast sitting at room temp with the brew kit is exposed to higher temps which means less viable cells at pitching time.

 

Alternatively - how long have you been leaving it in the fermenter for? Maybe so long that more yeast is dropping out in the fermenter?

 

Highly recommend bulk priming - makes it so much easier.

[Ryan D]

In fermenter for up to 2 weeks - they needed longer than a week, so i was leaving them til the next weekend when i had time to bottle.

 

all my yeast packets i was putting in the fridge when i got them,but i guess sitting in the shop they can get hot?

[Patrick]

2 weeks is sweet as - some brew shops remove the yeast from the kit and store in in the fridge till the kit is sold. I guess it helps.

 

You could try using a better yeast next time and see if it makes a difference - Safale US-05 is a good one.