link between carbonation and cleanliness

[melbourne man]

almost all of my brews have been over carbonated could it be to do with the way i clean and sterilize things?
all i do is wash all bottles and equipment in hot water after use then spray with iodophor 15 mins before use. i dilute the the iodophor 1 mL per L.
how do you guys clean and sterilize equipment?

[wambesi]

Mine all seem pretty good carb wise using standard dex or drops. My honey one was something else...
Cleaning wise, I use brewshield and brewclean, clean with the brewclean and hot water a few times, let it drip dry then spray it over with brewshield and use.

From what I have read alot of people go to alot more lengths than me with it but I have not had a problem yet 10 brews to count so far.

[James L]

I do prettty much the same for stelilizing.... how do you prime/carbonate the beer? and what temp?

the biggest problem i've had with overcarbonation has been due to using carbonation drops... Since i've stopped using them and gone onto bulk priming, i haven't had a problem...

[melbourne man]

for my earlier brews i used a sugar scoop from brewcraft and they were consistently overcarbonated.
my last two brews i've bulk primed on the lower end of the amount of sugar and they've both been overcarbonated.
one was using a dry enzyme so may not have been done fermenting and the other may have got too cold for an ale yeast which may have made the yeast dormant.
i think the sugar scoop is too big but i've just been unlucky with bulk priming
i'll have another go at bulk priming on my next brew and i'll make sure it's finished fermenting
how much sugar should i use to bulk prime 21L?

[OldBugman]

I seem to recall someone pointing out the sugar scoop is bigger than you'd want in a 750ml bottle.

only way to know is to fill the scoop how you do and weigh it.

I dont bottle that much so I use the scoop and I vary how much I load up the big end depending on style.

[James L]

the ammount of sugar you us in bulk priming obviously depends on the type of beer you are making,

http://www.geocities.com/lesjudith/Alco ... lator.html

This priming chart will help you out with the ammount of sugar you should be adding... it depends on the temp at which the brew is, and other factors... (dont forget to change the temps to celisius, and weights into grams and volumes into Litres).

I hope it helps a bit...