Why have some bottles carbonated better than others?

[doctr-dan]

As the title states I was wondering why some bottles seem to have more fizz than others within the same brew.
Ive found this a couple of times now whether Ive bulk primed used sugar or carbonation drops.
All bottles are stored the same etc

 

[MartinOC]

Wanna describe your process?

 

[verysupple]

After how much time in the bottle are we talking here? If it's a relatively short time then it might be that some bottles have more yeast in them and just carb quicker. If this is the case then given long enough they'll all end up the same.

 

[mkstalen]

What kind of bottles? PET? Glass? Twist top? Pop top? What kind of capper are you using?

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[doctr-dan]

After how much time in the bottle are we talking here? If it's a relatively short time then it might be that some bottles have more yeast in them and just carb quicker. If this is the case then given long enough they'll all end up the same.

It was was bottled on the 11/10 so I guess you would call it relatively young....

 

[doctr-dan]

What kind of bottles? PET? Glass? Twist top? Pop top? What kind of capper are you using?

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Glass bottles, longs and shorts with a bench bottle capper

 

[doctr-dan]

Wanna describe your process?

In this latest occurrence , put carbonation drops into bottles, racked beer into bottles, capped with bench caper stored in foam boxes in a dark place.
Drinking from 3 weeks in the bottle

 

[MartinOC]

In this latest occurrence , put carbonation drops into bottles, racked beer into bottles, capped with bench caper stored in foam boxes in a dark place.
Drinking from 3 weeks in the bottle

OK, & what about your bulk-priming regime that had similar results?

Mate, if you want help to know how/where/why things are going wrong for you, you need to give out as much information as you can. Otherwise, anyone who could potentially help you is just shooting in the dark.

Choice is yours.........

 

[doctr-dan]

Okay Sorry mate
For the bulk priming I dissolved a bag of dextrose, put it in my second fermenter, racked the brew, gave it a little stir. Filled the bottles, capped them, stored them in foam boxes. Again started cracking them after about three weeks and up to about 4 months after being in the bottle.
I havnt been keeping brew notes but know knowing how important details are I will.

 

[MartinOC]

OK, now you understand how important notes are.

Your bulk priming regime seems OK, but it's a little difficult to know where you might have a problem.

Depending on what you're making, you want to make sure you use at least 1g/Litre (possibly more) of priming dextrose (do a bit of a search & work out what you're actually trying to achieve). Also, when you're racking from your fermenter to your bottling vessel, try to get the incoming beer to create a whirlpool. That will do a good job of mixing the sugars for you without having to give it a physical stir (possibly introducing infection & oxygen). Carrying-over a little bit of the yeast slurry in the bottom of your fermenter won't hurt either (you'll just end up with a bit more sediment in your bottles, but at least they'll get enough yeast to do the carbonation.

After that, it will depend on the type of yeast you used. If it's an ale yeast, you'll want to keep them warm for awhile to get carbonation. Lager yeasts will work cooler, but slower. Either way, you'll need to be patient. Just go & make another brew & another & come back to the older ones sometime down the track. You might be surprised!

From what you've said so far, it could just be a yeast-population & temperature thing, or not enough priming sugar ('difficult to know based on "a bag of dextrose" in an unknown amount of beer).

Good luck with it.

 

[Toper]

I don't think 1g/ Litre is going to give very much fizz at all Typo Martin?

 

[waz_j]

I found with bottles, whether bulk primed or individually primed, it made a big difference how long I gave them to chill down in the fridge. 3 hours was OK to cool to drinking temp but not enough time for the CO2 to dissolve into the beer. If I gave them at least 24 hours in the fridge then they were normally carbed.

 

[MartinOC]

I don't think 1g/ Litre is going to give very much fizz at all Typo Martin?

Oops! Yep! I missed a "0" - 10g/L - that should give somewhere about 3 volumes of Co2. PLENTY of fizz...

Thanks for catching me out there, Toper :blink:

Edit: 'Couldn't edit the original post..

 

[real_beer]

One thing to always remember is that all caps aren't equal in quality. If you've been mixing & matching them or buying cheap caps it could be an area to look at more closely.

Cheers

 

[HBHB]

Difference could be slightly different volumes in each bottle as well. ie 330mls, 350mls 375mls etc. when you consider 10%+ variation in volume in the stubbies.

There's also some pretty ordinary carbonation drops kicking around in some circles with slight variations in size and weight between them.

Bulk priming variations shouldn't happen. When the dextrose is boiled for a few minutes in a small volume of water and added to the secondary vessel via a racking hose through the airlock hole to the bottom of the vessel, it'll create a whirlpool and evenly distribute the volume and the yeast that's transferred.

Martin