Why so fizzy?

melbourne man · Post by **melbourne man** » Saturday Jun 02, 2007 10:48 pm

the majority of my 15 brews are over carbonated and i don't know why. they taste alright but are fizzy like soft drink. my last brew tastes very nice but is really over carbonated even though i left it in the fermenter for 4 weeks and i only used 100g of sugar to bulk prime it.

what is the problem?

r.magnay · Post by **r.magnay** » Sunday Jun 03, 2007 6:20 am

How long has it been bottled?

Boonie · Post by **Boonie** » Sunday Jun 03, 2007 11:19 am

how many litres?

blandy · Post by **blandy** » Sunday Jun 03, 2007 12:37 pm

Hi Melbourne Man,

here are some things to consider while you're brewing RE carbonation

- Make sure it's finished fermenting before you bottle it. If there's fermentable sugars left over, then they'll get eaten in the bottle. producing more CO2 than you'd get if you bottled after fermentation has finished. Check for 2 consecutive equal SG readings

- how much sugar are you adding? Here's a good site I found for bulk priming, which saves heaps of time, and improves consistancy:

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Metho ... uide.shtml

melbourne man · Post by **melbourne man** » Sunday Jun 03, 2007 2:15 pm

been in the bottle for 6 weeks now

brew was 21L

it was in the fermenter for 4 weeks and i only used 100g of sugar so what else could be the problem. i also got consecutive readings 3 days in a row.

blandy · Post by **blandy** » Sunday Jun 03, 2007 2:54 pm

from what you've said, I can't see anything wrong with your method.

any other ideas, people?

melbourne man · Post by **melbourne man** » Sunday Jun 03, 2007 4:35 pm

is it possible that it could be the caps or bottles?

chris. · Post by **chris.** » Sunday Jun 03, 2007 5:07 pm

blandy wrote:from what you've said, I can't see anything wrong with your method.

any other ideas, people?

Some infections can continue to ferment sugars that yeast won't. ie. If you pick up an infection at bottling it can continue to chow down on any left over fermentables & over carbonate the beer. One sign of this would be an overly dry thin beer.

Pale_Ale · Post by **Pale_Ale** » Sunday Jun 03, 2007 7:04 pm

Most importantly is what temperature was the beer when you added sugar and bottled it? This will determine whether there was possibly more residual co2 in the liquid which would account for over-carbonation.

Zuma · Post by **Zuma** » Sunday Jun 03, 2007 8:15 pm

Your readings can be consistent and still have a problem if your brews got too cold and the yeast has gone to sleep. It can re-awaken and continue fermenting in the bottle causing milkshakes galore.