Bottle conditioning / Carbonation

[Prenderb]

I've had beer in bottles for 4 days now, and it's clarifying quite well. I was wondering however, is there any way of telling if carbonation is working, or what should I be seeing in the beer while it's sitting? It's brewferm Ambiorix - 6 to 8 weeks wait...

[oxford brewer]

Open and drink 1 bottle after a week to check the carbonation levels.If its to your liking then move to somewhere cool until ready to drink,if not leave for another week then check then.
How much priming sugar did you use?
What temp are you storing the bottles at after priming?as they are best left at the same temp that fermentation took place.

[Prenderb]

I used 120g of plain ordinary sugar, dissolved in some water and chucked in the bottling/secondary bin - the amount came from the instructions. I'm keeping the bottles in the same room that the fermenting bin was in , so that should be fine. I have swingtop bottles, so might take a sip from one of them next week!

[Totem]

It’s sometimes a good idea to have use a few plastic bottles to bottle with - you can feel how the carbonation is progressing as the bottle feels more pressurised.

[oxford brewer]

What totem said about using a plastic bottle is good advice.You still need to open/drink it to check it is to your liking

[macleanb]

I often open one after a week, then 3 the following week, 9 the week after, and 26 the week after that! At least I get one bottle past the month....

[Prenderb]

The beer is like a scab - I can't leave it alone. I opened the runt-bottle, which was the last when I was filling, and it was only half full. Delighted, I was, to hear the "kish" of carbon dioxide escaping from the beer - it's fizzy! Taste-wise, I hope it improves. It's not the worst thing I ever tasted, but it's kinda sweet. Maybe that's why we've to leave it for 6-8 weeks....Patience, grasshopper.

[kenny850]

i,m with you prenderb, got 40 pints of wherry sitting in my garage "conditioning" and i,ve already drank 5 pints of it.Apparently it wont ready for another couple of weeks-not the best beer in the world but certainly not the worst i,ve ever tasted

[Vossy1]

I used 120g of plain ordinary sugar, dissolved in some water and chucked in the bottling/secondary bin

Not sure if you did or didn't P, but to minimise possible sources of contamination for your beer, microwaving or boing the sugar/water mixture and allowing it to cool before priming will minimise the chances of infection from your priming sources.

[Aleman]

boing the sugar/water mixture

Is that using your new Zeb E Dee filter then Vossy?

[Prenderb]

I didn't allow it to cool too much, but I will next time, thanks for the tip!

[Prenderb]

After 6 weeks, it's quite fizzy. By which I mean, decorating the kitchen fizzy. I got about 20% of the contents into a glass, the rest of it bubbled down the sink.

Why did this happen? I used the right amount of sugar according to the instructions?