Can You Demystify Carbonation?

[pikerinoz]

On my third ESB 3kg kit. Only additions have been some hops

1. Czech Pils with 40g Saaz added for 5 mins. Kit yeast - didn't look what it was
2. Bavarian Lager with 40g Hallertau for 5 mins. Kit yeast - didn't look what it was
3. English Bitter with hop tea 10g Nelson Sauvin @20mins, 20g Williamette @10mins, 20g Williamette @ 0min. Safale S-04

1 & 2 were carbonated in the hydrometer tube and at bottling. Primed in the bottle.
3 is flat flat flat and has been throughout fermentation. Will prime a little at bottling time tomorrow.

Now I know they're different styles of beer and being a pom I know my bitter should be less carbonated. But why are the carbonation levels so different? I would have thought that CO2 was a by product of the fermenting process whichever style I was making?

Pikerinoz

 

[svyturys]

Not sure what you are talking about here.

Carbonation is about about getting bubbles into the beer AFTER bottling.

Your beer will be flat out of the fermenter no matter what.

Cheers

 

[avaneyk]

You'll get a small amount of dissolved CO2 during and shortly after fermentation - how much you notice when you take your hydro samples depends on how long the beers been sitting since the fermentation ends.

This isn't an indication of how bubbly your finished beer will be in the bottle though...it just depends on the temp of your beer in the fermenter and how long its been since fermentation finished.

 

[bum]

Not sure what you are talking about here.

Carbonation is about about getting bubbles into the beer AFTER bottling.

Your beer will be flat out of the fermenter no matter what.

Cheers

There is often some CO2 in solution from the fermenter though and this is what I suspect pinkerinoz is asking about.

I'm not sure what you're noticing necessarily has any bearing on the carbonation of your conditioned bottles but it seems pretty clear to me that it'll be related to the use of different yeasts. Kit yeasts are kinda well known for chewing through the fermentables pretty quick so I'd take a stab at the answer being that the kit yeast throws off more CO2 in a shorter time, thus more in solution? Complete guess though - I've probably got more to learn about yeast and yeast management than any other aspect of brewing (which is saying something). I'm sure someone will have a correct answer soon enough.

[EDIT: Beaten - of course]

 

[buttersd70]

This isn't an indication of how bubbly your finished beer will be in the bottle though...it just depends on the temp of your beer in the fermenter and how long its been since fermentation finished.

zachary. The residual co2, post ferment, is temperature dependent. The first 2 were a pils and a lager, and the third was an ale....if the first 2 were fermented colder, then there would be more co2 left in solution after fermentation.

If you have a look in the article section, there is an article on how to use a bulk priming calculator....even if you don't plan on bulk priming, the explaination of residual co2 relative to that process, should answer your question.

 

[pikerinoz]

Just noticed that with teh pils and lager that there was some light carbonation in the hydro tube each time I took a reading but absolutely diddly squat with the bitter.

I'm just being a bit jumpy cos my S-04 stalled with the bitter and needed a swirly-wirly kick start. The first two brews were much less problematic.

Glad to hear all is ok.

How much sugar would you put into longnecks to prime the bitter?? I have one of those tripod sugar measures.

thanks for the quick advice

 

[avaneyk]

That depends on whether you want the beer to be bubbly like a coopers PA or less bubbly like a UK bitter on tap. When I bottle I bulk prime - which is dissolving enough sugar for the whole batch in a cup of water and mixing this into your beer (preferably after racking to a bottling bucket or spare fermenter) then bottling. This way you can control the sugar down to g/L. My last stout I used 4g/L and it turned out pretty close to guinness on tap but you need to pour it from a height to get any head. 5 or 6g/L is probably a safe bet. If you're less picky then either the biggest or middle scoop size will both work fine - the bigger scoop will make the beer more bubbly.

Andrew.

 

[pikerinoz]

thanks Andrew

 

[casualties_army40]

Another demystifying carbination question for you all.

how much more alcoholic does carbination make your brew? ive heard not much at all, like around 0.2% but ive heard from others like 2% even? so yeah just a question that id like to know. cheers

 

[manticle]

Carbonation itself does nothing to ABV. Carbonation is a byproduct of the yeast in suspension in the beer eating your priming sugar.

It depends how much sugar you add but the effect is quite minimal.

 

[Nick JD]

Priming sugar adds about 0.5% to a 21L brew IIRC.

 

[manticle]

ive heard from others like 2% even? so yeah just a question that id like to know. cheers

Nowhere near 2%. You can't make a 4% beer into a 6 % beer with two carbonation drops. Nick's answer is probably a good average -obviously differing amounts change the final figure a bee's dick or two..

 

[brettprevans]

i always counted on 0.5% when bottling with 2 carb drops. as Manticle said, its bugger all. but nice to know

 

[buttersd70]

Another demystifying carbination question for you all.

how much more alcoholic does carbination make your brew? ive heard not much at all, like around 0.2% but ive heard from others like 2% even? so yeah just a question that id like to know. cheers

Easy answer to your question; take the amount of priming sugar you are adding.....add that (not physically, but theoretically) to the recipe, and use the OG obtained as the OG for working out the ABV.

Nick mentioned 0.5%, which is the 'close enough cos I can't be arsed working it out' average.....if using carb drops, the effect would be very close to 0.5%, at least close enough not to care. If bulk priming to a particular carbonation level, it will change it; in practice, it's more likely to be less, than more.

 

[RobboMC]

Easy answer to your question; take the amount of priming sugar you are adding.....add that (not physically, but theoretically) to the recipe, and use the OG obtained as the OG for working out the ABV.

Nick mentioned 0.5%, which is the 'close enough cos I can't be arsed working it out' average.....if using carb drops, the effect would be very close to 0.5%, at least close enough not to care. If bulk priming to a particular carbonation level, it will change it; in practice, it's more likely to be less, than more.

Based on the usual calculation that 1kg of pure sugar ( dex of course ) produces 2% abv, then 200g of priming sugar will make 0.4% abv.

Now one can argue the 2% rule of thumb, but that gives you some idea. The Coopers instructions under the lid say 0.2%,
but I guess that's just an approximation.