Flat Beer From Bulk Priming

[hoganknowbest]

Hi guys
cracked open one of my ales last night after conditioned for 3 weeks out of the sun in a cool place.
Had no fizz!
I bulked prime for the 1st time and racked my beer for the first time as well.
I followed all the instructions on how this should be easy from http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/...mpleGuide.shtml
I had about 21l in the fermenter and added 126gm of dextrose which i mixed very well with hot water that was cooled prior to adding to the fermenter

Question 1. Can you fix a flat beer?
eg. can i carbonate the beer again and let it sit and condition for a further few weeks?

Question 2 . When racking, could oxygenisation of the wort effect the carbonisation of the beer? Though thought i was extra careful not to do this
eg. racked to 2ndary for 5 days, then bulk primed in other fermenter. Beer was moved between fermenter twice before bottling.

Question 3. Does anyone have their own special techniques that consistently work every single time?

Thanks

 

[phonos]

G'day,

The way you bulk primed is the way I generally do it, so I can't see any major problems with that.

One thing I do find with this method, however, is that because you've taken a fair amount of the yeast out of the fermeter by racking and letting it sit for a while, it tends to take longer to carbonate the bottle to a reasonable level - sometimes a couple of months or longer, particularly if you are trying to keep it cool (which is a good ting to do!)

You've also only added a relatively low amount of dextrose to your beer. I'm guessing that you used a bulk priming calculator. Once again, i think these are designed for long term storage. My advice would be to wait a month and see how it goes then.

Oh, and it it possible to add more suager after bottling, but I would advise against this, as you may end up over carbonating and producing bottle bombs

 

[sid]

I add 150-180gm of dextrose to 23 litres, and it turns out just right. I do it the same way you have. I'd up the dextrose.
My first batch of bulk priming I added 150gm to 23ltrs and i had this beer the other day, the life in this beer was on the low side, I like it to have a bit more life, so in the 2nd batch bulk primed I'll put in around 180gm, which I'm yet to taste.

I find that most commercial beers aren't carbinated very much anyway...............nothing worse than trying to knock bad a fizzy beer in hurry, heh.

 

[simpletotoro]

hi

i use this table from grumpys works a treat for me...

Final Gravity Grams
1006-1008 180
1008-1010 160
1010-1014 140
1014-1018 120
1019-1025 100

link to grumpys
http://www.grumpys.com.au/m1.php3?manualid=13

i also boil my sugar in about 200-300ml of water for a few minutes and bung on the pot lid and let sit until coolish...

why you got no carbination i don't know sorry...what ya use to santaize your bottles and bulkpriming drum ?never heard of anyone conditioning beer in the sun before (not saying it won't work mind) just maybe it or something else has killed off your yeast is all?

i personally don't do much 2ndary anymore (each to their own though) unless i'm wanting the yeast cake in a hurry...

chhers simpletotoro

 

[matt white]

Have patience my friend, a little too little priming sugar but it will eventually come good. Summer will soon weave it's magic. If not, get a pocket beer engine, ie. a 5ml syringe and pump up some beer and spit it back into the glass and you will have the second best head you have ever had!

 

[matti]

Too add onto what has already been said.
Different yeast work at different temperatures.

You primed 5.7g/L. It appear you prefer a low carb and have a porter or a darker ale in mind.
This type of yeast goes to sleep under 18 degrees.
Try to keep it between 18-22 degrees and invert the bottles or just twist it around to arouse the yeast a bit.
Allow to sit for another 2 weeks.

I do everything you do, then after a week in bottle, I twist all of them a couple of turns and put them back.
Ready to drink in a month. :chug:

Generally the average drop is the best around 10-12 weeks.

good luck

 

[saturn]

Hi Guys

had the same issue with my 1st (and only ) bulk prime

Got the following advice from paul Burge at Coopers HB

Worked really well. No hestitation in recomending it





Recarbonation


If the brew has reached FG in primary and you want a CO2 level of about
2.8g/litre (this is what we normally shoot for), it will require priming
sugar at the rate of 8g/litre in secondary, regardless of the storage
temperature.

Yes, you can add more priming sugar because there should still be sufficient
viable yeast in the bottles. The issue will be, even though it appears
flat, foaming - sugar, dextrose or carbo drops create nucleation points for
the CO2 to break out. So you would have to be very fast with recapping to
prevent foam going all over the place.

You can get around this by dissolving sugar in water and adding the water to
each bottle. Let's say you have 25 talls remaining - measure out 75g of
sugar (25 x 3g) and top up with hot water to 250ml then stir to dissolve.
Once cooled, add 10ml of the sugar solution to each bottle (it doesn't
matter if you reduce the head space in the bottle), cap and agitate the
bottle to bring all the yeast sediment back into suspension. They should
come up to condition in 2 weeks

 

[Kleiny]

bulk prime all the time and never had a bad result

180g dextrose boiled in 2 cups of water
cooled
added to bottleing bucket
beer racked into bucket
bottle

worked everytime

give it another go

 

[hoganknowbest]

Thanks guys!
Seems my techniques are correct!

I'll let it sit for a while longer and hope for the best!

 

[BoilerBoy]

hi

i use this table from grumpys works a treat for me...

Final Gravity Grams
1006-1008 180
1008-1010 160
1010-1014 140
1014-1018 120
1019-1025 100

link to grumpys
http://www.grumpys.com.au/m1.php3?manualid=13

I reckon this is a pretty good guide, I have been bulk priming for 3 years and early on used sugar, but now always use dextrose. One observation though is that dextrose does not provide the same amount of carbonation as sugar and you will need to add a little more than the above chart suggests.

Cheers
BB

 

[sathid]

I recently batch primed for the first time, and I have had a few bottles that had little carbonation, and one that poured all head in the glass. I have put it down to poor mixing of the sugar solution when racking the wort into it, as I had a sieve in between to catch and stray hops.

Thinking that the first couple of bottles i filled perhaps got a bit extra sugar, and then as I went further through, the sugar concentration was a bit more even.

 

[adniels3n]

I've got to the bottom of the bottling bucket & found concentrated sugar "sludge" which gave an uneven carbonation through the batch. I thought it could have been the warm syrup hitting the cold beer & coming out of solution.
Last night I did the "tap-to-tap" connection idea, & it seems to mix a lot better.

Whoah - pissed forum searches = necro threads

 

[roverfj1200]

When I read your post I hear you prime in the fermenter then rack....You should have racked onto the priming mix and bottled right away. If left in the racking container the yeast would chew the sugars... Thus no prime in the bottle.

So did you rack onto the priming sugar and bottle without delay?

Cheers

Where the bottles stored at a temp that yeast could work at.....

 

[scooter_59]

Your bulk priming is good . However did you take into account the temp of your beer when you added the dextrose . I bulk prime all the time and only ever had one batch that had low carbonation . The temp was around 21-22 * C when I primed it and at this temp a lot of the Co2 had been released out of solution . The colder the batch the more Co2 kept in solution and therefore 128g of dextrose should have given you a reasonable amount of carbonation . I ferment at 18*C for ales and 12*C for lagers and then try and cool them down further after fermentation has finished to keep the residual Co2 in solution .


Cheers
Leachim

 

[mwd]

A gentle stir before bottling without introducing too much Oxygen works quite well. Make sure your racking pipe is coiled into the bottom of the bottling bucket and the swirl will help dispersing the sugar throughout the beer.