Bottling And Sedimentation.

[matti]

I bottled my FWK lager the 15th may, 4 days ago.
I attempted to single prime with dextrose 1st time ever and had trouble keeping the beer in the bottles as it rose like Mount Etna. I allowed the bottles to sit and topped up with more beer as they settled.

I just checked the bottles. All are perfectly clear but only half has any sedimentation in bottom.
Those with sedimentation I am happy with I wont touch.

What happened to the others?

Is this a normal phenomenon?

One possible solution is that when I added the sugar, the beer that escaped, took the added sugar with it.

I re-primed these and intend to let them sit at 10 degrees for a couple of weeks to see the out come.

No more single priming for me <_<

 

[joecast]

not sure what you mean by "single prime"? is that adding sugar to the bottle, then filling the bottle?
if yes, ive done that once before when only filling about 6 bottles and it went fine.

if you've got plastic PET bottles, wait another week and try squeezing them. they should start to firm up by then.
if you've got glass, wait another week (or more if you can) and try one bottle with sediment and one without. you should get a pfft of CO2 when uncapping by then.

either way, four days is very early for bottling so hard to tell either way.

another thought is the sugar has probably already disolved in all the bottles and what you see is sediment carried over from the fermenter. if thats the case, you shouldnt have any issues.
hope they turn out well.
joe

 

[maltedhopalong]

FWIW a few drops of water in the bottom of the bottle, then the dex, then once you've finished the bottles, you go back to the start and begin filling them. The reason it foams (I believe) is because the dex provides the surface area for any dissolved CO2 to precipitate out of the solution (just the same way a mentos and coke rocket works).

The water in the bottle makes dex crystallise together (try it and see) therefore there is less surface area to which the beer can attach.

Also, if you can decrease the pressure of your bottle filler (WITHOUT increasing the turbidity of it), this will help also.

 

[kabooby]

Hi Matti,

Try adding the dextrose and then the beer. This seems to work better

Kabooby

 

[boingk]

I generally use white sugar for my single-priming, as its easier to manipulate with the little measurers and you don't need to adjust for dextrose being slightly less potent at carbing the bottles. Also, white sugar costs around 1/3rd of what the good old dexy does and doesn't foam up like a biatch

 

[Brewtus]

The Mt Etna effect is most likely that you have bottled to early. Did you take an FG?

beware of bottle bombs!

 

[maltedhopalong]

Hey Brewtus, see my above post. Dextrose, by its nature has a HUGE amount of surface area by volume, which provides a site for the nucleation of co2 bubbles. I've had the vesuvius effect on beers that have been finished primary for over a week, generally high gravity ones with lots of malt and therefore more dissolved co2.

It can occur if bottling prior to completing the fermentation (when there's inherently more co2), but it's not the cause.

 

[matti]

Cheers all.

Maltedhopalong got the money.

Brewtus, this will be my first bomb(s)

I racked this one to cube after ten days and allowed it to ferment out and then I chilled it to 4 degrees over two weeks.
Final gravity 1.012.

It is most likely it had some CO2 in it as I bottled it a bit cold @ 16 degrees.
I let you know in a couple of weeks lol