So i’ve been bottle conditioning a 2.5 gallon batch for 2 weeks now. I cracked one open and it was carbonated, but not much. Based on my internet searches I used about 2.1-2.5 oz of priming sugar (not table sugar). I didn’t really measure the amount of water to make the priming solution, as I read that it’s the amount of sugar that’s critical. It’s been pretty cold in the closet where I keep all my beer supplies, probably in the mid 50s. So i’m wondering if that would cause it to carbonate slower, or I didn’t use enough sugar. OG was 1.048 and FG was around 1.013ish.
Lower temps will slow down fermentation. If you can, find a more temp-stable area, and let it condition at the regular temp. Or just wait it out a little longer, it will probably come out fine. I had a brew that after a month had very little carbonation to it, but after 3 months, came out fine. (Belgian strong dark ale) To be sure, tho, it did need a longer conditioning time for the flavor.
Yeah, you want the temp to be around 70 to carbonate. Once carbonated, you can put them in an area with those temps to “condition” them. So if you can find an area in the upper 60s or low 70s, you’d be in good shape.
Ok cool. I will move the beer out of the closet to where it is warmer and let it sit for another week or so and I’ll try one then.
Update: The warmer temperatures have been helping. Cracked a bottle open last night to check the progress. It is still on the low end in my opinion, but there was a thin head this time. A few more days and it should be right where I want it… Even if it’s not it still tastes great.
Temps that low may have put your yeast to sleep. Warm 'em up, tip each bottle upside down and swirl the yeast back in suspension, then right side up and wait a week or two.
It seems like 2.5 oz of priming sugar is a little low too. not sure what style and how much carbonation you were after though. I often use around 4 oz of table sugar and I don’t think the difference between corn and cane is that great.
I typically use 3-4oz cane sugar. Just about the sweet-spot IMO.
I was just shooting for a generic “light” ale. If you want to get more specific, it was a low IBU pale ale. 1.048 OG 1.015ish FG. I moved the beer to a warmer location (~68-70F) and let it sit for another week. Just doing that helped significantly. I had one last night. Thin head, but decent amount of carbonation, and it tasted great.
I think I may increase the priming sugar in the next batch. I did a lot of google searching about priming sugar for small batches and came up with ~2.1 ounces. I put in 2.5 for the hell of it. Maybe that’s some misinformation. I thought I might have read that there’s a way to calculate how much priming sugar you want, but I’m really not sure what I would be shooting for? Volumes of CO2? Or is that something different?
It’s a 2.5 gal batch.
That’s for a five gallon batch though, right? He stated that this is a 2.5 gallon batch. I think 2.5 oz is plenty.
Edit: ndcube beat me to it.
Volumes of CO2 measure how much CO2 is dissolved in the beer. The more vols the fizzier your beer will be. I don’t know of any off hand since I stopped bottling but there are calulators you can search for. Diffferent styles are carbonated to different levels.
Be careful of using too much priming sugar. I’ve used up to 7oz in a 5 gal batch for a Belgian before. With 7 I had a couple bottles explode. I don’t use more then 6.5 now (although I haven’t bottle conditioned in a year since I started kegging).
Also, The tempature of the beer being bottled plays a role in how much CO2 is already dissolved. The calculator I used (Beersmith) took this into account.
Tastybrew has one of those online bottle priming calculators…
Ahh my bad. then yes 2.5 oz seems like plenty.
Ah ok. And thank you for the tasty brew link, ndcube
Credit for that goes to hokerer.
I love you all
Yes! However I’ve been reviewing my notes for my last three 2.5 gallon batches and I indeed used 4oz of cane sugar @65F for each! Thought the carbonation was a little bit more than expected- but not terribly so. Remind me next time not to bottle and drink beer at the same time. Yeah like that’ll happen… ;D
Warm it up, wait another week at least. Have some goddamn patience, man!