Hello, first 2 brews we're great, third... hmmm

[jasonsimmo]

Hi all,

This is my first post so hello to all.

I have only been brewing for a short time and enjoying the results; that was until my third brew. Fermentation was successful, but bottle carbonation is where it has gone a little pear shaped. Carbonation is very low, even after leaving bottles for 8 weeks and of course no head retention. Taste is good but needs more bubbles.

Below is what i used and how I brewed this beer:

Coopers brew kit
Coopers Canadian Blond can
500g dextrose
250g maltodextrin
250g DME
Kit yeast
Sterilised using keg king no rinse steriliser
Mixed fermentables SG 1045
Pitched yeast directly into wort at 26c
Left in fermenter for 3 weeks FG 1010
During fermentation there were some very hot days and wort did get to around 26 a couple of times
Sterilised bottles using keg king no rinse steriliser
Filled bottles with wort and added 2 carbonation drops per 740ml bottle - did not rinse bottles or let bottles dry after sterilising.

What could I have done wrong to cause this, and can I fix it?

Thank you and appreciate/welcome your responses.

Regards

Jason

 

[amcqueen]

Welcome and congrats on entering the foray of home brewing

One of the questions to be asked is where have you been storing them? Carbonation issues could be:

Too low storing temperature (which judging by your ferm temps this shouldn't be an issue)

Canadian blonde forgive me if I'm wrong as I haven't brewed with it, but I wouldn't be expecting a big head on it anyway

Also, how clean are your glasses that your pouring into? Dish washing liquid left on your glasses also affects the bubbles in your glass.

Also what did you wash your fermenter with? This will have some sort of impact. Again if you have used washing detergent this can have an impact on your beer.

Hope this helps..

 

[jasonsimmo]

Hi amcqueen,

Thanks for the reply, i can discount the detergent as i dont use in fermenter and beer glasses. I have confrimed with another mate that the head on this type of beer is small but mine had none at all...

I just realized that I may have posted this question in the wrong thread; apologies if I have.

I was thinking maybe I should poor all beer bottles back into fermenter (very slowly of course) and pitch some more yeast; I did not create a yeast starter for this brew, which I did for the others. Could this be the cause of low carbonation; not enough suspended yest to eat up the carbonation drops?

Regards

Jason

 

[mxd]

I was thinking maybe I should poor all beer bottles back into fermenter (very slowly of course) and pitch some more yeast; I did not create a yeast starter for this brew, which I did for the others. Could this be the cause of low carbonation; not enough suspended yest to eat up the carbonation drops?

I would not do that and doubt there would not be enough yeast, if you could pour a beer into a glass and put a vid of the "bubbles" or lack there of, so we could see what you have.

is one of mine that had carb issues.

 

[bum]

I've had a bottled batch carbing very slowly (and a batch in the fermenter go to sleep!) because of the cold Mebourne nights lately. This is my least favourite time of the year to brew - weather swings too much and the yeast doesn't like it.

Your alc isn't high enough to have killed the yeast. As mxd points out, it is very unlikely that there isn't enough yeast in there to do the job. The nights have been getting cold at my place and I've got a batch that is showing little head at 4 week as a result. As I see it, you've got two options. Wait and see what happens or drink it. I can't remember the last time I was served a commercial beer (any venue) where head retention was remarkable. I reckon you'll muddle through somehow.

 

[jasonsimmo]

Hi All,

Thanks for the further responses guys. I have uploaded a video of the brew being poured into a glass. As you can see the bubbles dissipate very quickly and very little/no head.

http://youtu.be/kc4mi9S0Xls

Regards

Jason