Flat ale in bottle

[Jymbo]

I brewed a Silver Dollar porter a while back and bottled it as i had no keg space. It turned out very well - only problem was it ws very low in carbonation. This was surprising as I gave over half a teaspoon worth of corn sugar to each bottle, and I've never had this problem before.

So the last batch I did (a Gales Bitter) I bottled six pints and put the rest into a keg. This time I added a full teaspoon of corn sugar to each bottle. After two weeks the kegged ale was perfectly carbonated but the bottled stuff was flat as a pancake.

My suspicion is that I must have left it too long in the secondary to clear - leaving enough yeast in suspension for bulk carbonation but not enough for the bottles. Also, I used Safale-04 for the bitter and Safale-05 (US) for the porter, which both fermented within 3-4 days. I bottled/kegged after a further 3-4 days.

The Silver Dollar porter is fairly well carbonated now after six months in the bottle, but I don't fancy waiting that long each time I bottle a batch.

Any ideas?

Jymbo

[Calum]

How are you conditioning the bottles?

I tend to bulk prime by adding 80g of disolved (and boiled) sugar per 23litres (probably around half a teaspoon per bottle). I then condition in the house for a couple of weeks before I move them to the garage for cold conditioning.

Even with S-04 which drops clear fairly quickly I would still expect enough yeast to be in suspension after a 6-8 days to let it condition quicker than you are experiencing.

[Jymbo]

I conditioned by adding the sugar to the bottle before the ale, capping the bottle and then shaking to dissolve the sugar. The bottles were then stored in a cupboard at room temp.

This method has worked well for me in the past - the only difference being that this time I left the ale in the secondary for a bit longer to clear.

[Matt]

Hi Jymbo,

I left several S-04 brews for 3 weeks secondary fermentation and not had a conditioning problem.

Bit mystifying this. Are your caps on nice and tight?

Matt

[Jymbo]

Yes, Matt,

If I turn the bottles upside down they don't leak - plus, since the Porter was left for about 5 months it has become reasonably well carbonated. I made a 23L batch of Caledonian 80/- last week and bottled four pints as soon as primary fermentation had finished (4 days) just to see if it makes any difference. I also opened a new bag of corn sugar just in case!

I kegged at the same time and the kegged stuff is well carbonated already after only a few days, but I haven't tried any of the bottles yet.

Jymbo

[SteveD]

Low viable yeast count so job gets done but only eventually. If you're kegging first then bottling the remainder then it's the clearest beer, with the lowest yeast count, that's going into the bottles. It won't be getting into condition very quickly at all. Still, with a decent gravity beer, you shouldn't be in hurry anyway.

Is the corn sugar a syrup, or granulated? (a powder or granulated I think, as 'bag of corn sugar' is a bit of a giveaway) If granulated, I'd recommend boiling it in a little water to make a syrup before adding. Adding sugar as a solid to bottles isn't a great idea.

(1) It's not sanitised.
(2) Granules could get caught under the closure and ruin the seal.
(3) You've got to shake the bottle to dissolve it. Who wants to do that?

If using syrup add it to the bottle first, then simply running the beer onto it will dissolve it evenly enough.

Is corn sugar particularly cheap? For priming purposes, ordinary white sugar is fine. There's no way you'd notice it in such small quantities. I use whatever's in the cupboard. Sometimes white, sometimes brown, sometimes caster, icing, whatever.

[Jymbo]

Cheers, SteveD,

Thanks for the advice - I'll dilute the sugar (powder - not syrup, and too fine to call granulated) in future in boiling water. Corn sugar is pretty cheap - I'd been using it as it's recommended by a few books I've read as not leaving an aftertaste.

Jymbo

[SteveD]

Cheers, SteveD,

Thanks for the advice - I'll dilute the sugar (powder - not syrup, and too fine to call granulated) in future in boiling water. Corn sugar is pretty cheap - I'd been using it as it's recommended by a few books I've read as not leaving an aftertaste.

Jymbo

If you're using it as part of your recipe, and in a fair quantity, I'd agree. But in small quantities and for priming, you wouldn't notice anything with ordinary sugar. Still, you use what ever you want.

When you make up the syrup, you calculate weight of sugar and the volume of water so that post boil you have say 1/2 teaspoons worth in X ml of priming solution. I use 2.5ml of the resulting syrup as my pint bottle priming and use a small syringe to get an accurate ammount into the bottle. Why 2.5ml? Because I also use quart bottles, which use 5ml solution, and my syringe is 5ml.

Less messing about is to rack off your beer into another fermenter and bulk prime it before bottling/kegging.

[Jymbo]

Less messing about is to rack off your beer into another fermenter and bulk prime it before bottling/kegging.

I'll do that next time. I usually bottle about 4-6 pints for friends. For these I'll do likewise with a stronger solution and add to the bottles with a syringe.

[BarrowBoy]

I usually just put half tsp of glucose (brewers sugar) in the bottle before adding the beer and it works a treat but my Wadworths 6X is as flat as a pancake. I put it down to the flocculance of the fresh yeast I used from my local brewery. Shame, because it's a clear as a bell and tastes very nice.