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Put down on 24/10 with the kit yeast and a pack of Coopers Brew Enhancer #2, primary fermentation was 15 days before bottling and each bottle (grolsch x 42) primed with Morgans Drops (yeah I know they're probably crap but I wanted to use them up) I opened a couple last night (been sitting 13 days) and they looked flat, almost no bubbles rising and no head at all. Tried a few more (four in all) and ended up putting them down the sink so I had to resort to drinking bought ones I just tried another one about 5 minutes ago, icy cold glass of course and it gave a satisfactory pfffft when I flipped the cap and it was carbonating a little but not a lot of head. Now I know that when I opened them yesterday it was two days early (14 day secondary fermentation) but they should be drinkable right? The colour is really good and there is no sediment or cloudiness and they do taste ok so am I a little too hasty here and should I be leaving this particular brew a few weeks longer or is it a disaster and it's just not going to get any better? TIA Gusto

Hi Gusto,
Dont panic, the carb drops do appear to take longer than IMHO to carbonate in the bottle. Also check the temp you have them stored at. At 24-25C the bottles will not take as long as if stored at 16-18C.
The end result...if you can ....let them sit a bit longer!

Cheers

hey gusto, how'd yo go with the Grolsch bottles? Does the rubber in the push seal wear out at all over time? Maybe you lost some carbonation throught that?

First time I've used them, the seals all looked pretty good to me, I got them for 40 cents each from my local brew shop. I'm going to leave them for a bit longer and if they are still the same I'll assume that the seals are useless

You should be able to get new rubber seals for the grolsch bottles if they are cactus. Try your HBS.

Cheers,

Greg B

I've also heard carbonation drops are not a reliable way to prime... sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Can anyone confirm this?

nrb, i used to use them heaps. never had a problem with them.

The carbonation drops definitely work, although the bubbles tend to be quite large and can really ruin the mouthfeel of an otherwise good beer.

I've heard dextrose works better for a good creamy head.

Well I have since learned that one carbonation drop in a grolsch bottle is not enough as it is a slightly larger bottle than a stubby so apparently they are all under carbonated. I bit the bullet and tipped the whole lot down the sink last night. <sigh> Oh well, lesson learnt there I guess. I'm making brews flat out right now with two fermenters going so it's no great loss, just need more bottles.....