Hugo
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- 3/5/06
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I have numerous problems, but this is one of them...
My last 5 or 6 brews have all ranged from moderately to substantially over-carbonated. I swap between AG's and partials, and bottle into the same bottles I've been using for years.
First step to alleviate the problem was to reduce my gms/L (dextrose) when I bulked primed from about 7 to less than 5 gm/L. Still over carbonated. I switched back to the "two level teaspoons of suger per long neck" method from my kit days. Still over carbonated. I went to "one level teaspoon of suger per long neck". Still over carbonated.
Each brew had stable FG readings for at least a week leading up to bottling. I am pretty cautious about bottling too early, so brews typically had at least 3 weeks in primary/secondary combined at stable temps.
My most recent effort (a no-frills summer ale with Whitelabs 001), I left the beer in primary for two weeks and secondary for two weeks. All air lock action finished within the first week of primary. Gravity readings stable at 1008 for the whole two weeks in seondary. One teaspoon of cane sugar per longneck. Still over carbonated. A previous brew was my first lager, which I let sit in primary in ambient (cold) winter temp for 6 weeks, and then put into a fridge at 3 degrees for 6 weeks before bottling. Still over carbonated.
All my other processes have been the same for the last 4 or so years, and up until the last 6 months, there'd been no problem.
Any thoughts? The beer under all the froth tastes quite good. I realise carbonation can really only come from unfermented sugars in the wort or from extra sugar added during priming, but I can't see what has changed so dramatically of late.
All suggestions welcome.
My last 5 or 6 brews have all ranged from moderately to substantially over-carbonated. I swap between AG's and partials, and bottle into the same bottles I've been using for years.
First step to alleviate the problem was to reduce my gms/L (dextrose) when I bulked primed from about 7 to less than 5 gm/L. Still over carbonated. I switched back to the "two level teaspoons of suger per long neck" method from my kit days. Still over carbonated. I went to "one level teaspoon of suger per long neck". Still over carbonated.
Each brew had stable FG readings for at least a week leading up to bottling. I am pretty cautious about bottling too early, so brews typically had at least 3 weeks in primary/secondary combined at stable temps.
My most recent effort (a no-frills summer ale with Whitelabs 001), I left the beer in primary for two weeks and secondary for two weeks. All air lock action finished within the first week of primary. Gravity readings stable at 1008 for the whole two weeks in seondary. One teaspoon of cane sugar per longneck. Still over carbonated. A previous brew was my first lager, which I let sit in primary in ambient (cold) winter temp for 6 weeks, and then put into a fridge at 3 degrees for 6 weeks before bottling. Still over carbonated.
All my other processes have been the same for the last 4 or so years, and up until the last 6 months, there'd been no problem.
Any thoughts? The beer under all the froth tastes quite good. I realise carbonation can really only come from unfermented sugars in the wort or from extra sugar added during priming, but I can't see what has changed so dramatically of late.
All suggestions welcome.