I just tried my first batch of home brew, and some of the bottles were over carbonated. What caused it and what can I do about it in the future?
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Can you please post some basic info about what you did? The recipe, the gravity readings, how much sugar you used, the technique you used to carbonate? Seriously, how do you expect anyone to answer this question?– jsledCommented Mar 31, 2015 at 3:41
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I assume The Man Mug meant that some exploded.– daniellaCommented Mar 31, 2015 at 19:52
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1 Answer
If only some of the bottles were overcarbonated, in my experience that means the priming sugar wasn't mixed into the beer thoroughly enough in the bottling bucket. Two ways to ameliorate that are:
- if you have enough length, coil the tubing coming from your racking cane on the bottom of the bucket, creating a gentle whirlpool
- sanitize a spoon and gently mix the beer/priming sugar mixture before bottling.
The main problem with the above two solutions is that it has the potential to oxygenate the mixture, so make sure to do it gently and with as little splashing as possible.
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Thank you Herb. That makes sense. I was told to not mix it too much or it could oxygenate the mixture, so I was pretty timid with the mixing. Thank you for your answer and solutions, it was really helpful. I'm new to all of this. Commented Mar 31, 2015 at 5:41
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I should have also mentioned: most kits and many recipes that you'll find on the internet will include or tell you to use too much priming sugar. Use Northern Brewer's Priming Calculator (or something like it) to get the correct amount of priming sugar for your beer. Commented Apr 4, 2015 at 6:12
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Thank you so much Herb. You've been very helpful. I was pretty discouraged when I got the response from @jsled being a jerk. I knew that someone would be friendly and help me out. Commented Apr 5, 2015 at 0:20