Why Is My Beer So Flat So Quick?

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

campo133

Member
Joined
4/10/11
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Hi all,
I recently made a 23L batch of niell's centenarillo ale. Followed the recipe exactly and also added 250g steeped crystal. Fermented at 18 degrees. I bulk primed but cant remember how much exactly i used.
Its been in the bottles now for two weeks. When pouring the beer seems carbonated and holds a small head, but VERY quickly all carbonation disappears and i lose all the head, by the time iv had half a glass i may as well be drinking cordial, an it tastes crap.
Can anyone help with this issue? Have i under carbonated? If so could i pop the tops and put in a carbonation drop or two and re cap?
Thanks all
 
I've managed to pop the top off a couple of bottles and put in an extra carb drop....but I hope they are PET bottles and not glass as you have to put the cap back on REALLY quickly!!!
It worked quite well though and after a week or so was more carbonated than it was before putting in the extra drop.

Also...have heard it mentioned not to wash beer glasses with soap...the residue on the glass can kill the head and carbonation. (Not sure how true it is :unsure: )
 
With out knowing specifics like OG, FG and how much you primed with it hard to give advice. All I'd suggest at this stage is wait a few more weeks and see how it is then
 
i would say leave them 2 more weeks and have another go at drinking one... 2 weeks in the bottle is still a bit green IMO
 
Dirty glasses, pourly crushed malt, dirty glasses, poorly crushed malt. Check out the cicerone stuff, in one of the presentations he waxes lyrical about a clean and dirty glass ... and it is true ...
 
With out knowing specifics like OG, FG and how much you primed with it hard to give advice. All I'd suggest at this stage is wait a few more weeks and see how it is then


Thanks guys, yeh normally id leave a month or so before making a judgement but reading neill's thread i noticed he mentioned that his beer was drinkable after 2 weeks and started going down hill after 6. Guess im a bit to eager haha. Ill post up the OG and FG details when i get home and have the data in front of me.
 
Clean your glasses properly. Your issue isn't entirely a carbonation one - you said you start out with head and bubbles. Dirty, greasy, (or god forbid, soapy) glasses will instantly destroy any head you achieve.

Also - 2 weeks in the bottle isn't a very long time.
 
Pop a glass in a bucket of warm water with napisan for a couple of hours.

Rinse it really well with cold tap water.

Pour your beer.
 
2 weeks is not long enough to condition and establish carbonation. It has been a while since I bottled but I always waited 6 weeks before tasting a beer and found that at 2 - 3 months after bottling the beer was at its best, once at its best it doesn't start deteriorating it just doesn't get any better after 3 months, I had bottles up to 18 months which still tasted great. Eventually the beer will go off, but not within weeks.

The second most important thing next to cleanliness in brewing is patients :)
 
2 weeks is definalty not long enough... 6 weeks is what I would consider minimum

Wash glassed only in boiling water or nappi-san, then rinse with a vinegar solution
 
I find that if your headspace in the beer is sizable and you don't give the bottle much fridge time you can get this. This is because the co2 is less soluble at higher temps and you havent given the time for the co2 to dissolve into the beer. When the bottle is opened you release all the co2 not in solution and the beer is mostly flat.

Try putting a bottle in the fridge for 24 hours and see if that fixes the problem, otherwise it's just not fully carbed.
 
... i noticed he mentioned that his beer was drinkable after 2 weeks and started
going down hill after 6. ...
Did it taste a bit on the sweet side or as dry as might be expected? If sweet, then
priming/carbing probably hasn't finished, therwise you might hae underprimed.
I bottle primed a batch of DSGA which I was able to put in a spot that had low/mid
30C's during the day and within a week and a half or so were ready to drink on
Xmas day.
 
Perhaps you meant the hopsital with all the hop-head patients?
 
Back
Top