Bottle carbonation - too much priming sugar?

Question

I posted a question here before about what I decided was an 'extract twang' flavor. I tried a bottle from batch #2 yesterday, and I noticed the same thing. Here's where it gets interesting.

My brew has only been in the bottle about at week so far, and the situation was the same last time I noticed this, so I'm beginning to think that the flavor is potentially from unconsumed priming sugar. Could that be? Also, I found the carbonation level to be just fine, and I'm worried about over-carbonation if there is still priming sugar left.

I had the same fear for my last batch and decided to refrigerate it in order to stop the yeast from carbonating further. This ended up causing around a third of the bottles to be under-carbonated.

So if this is priming sugar related, would I be better off stopping the carbonation now, risking slightly sweet/flat beer, or should I continue letting it rest, and risk bottle bombs?

Answer 1

It is possible that you reacted too quickly during your first batch. From what I understand, there is a point during the carbonation process were the carbon that is created can build in the airspace at the top of the bottle before the beer absorbs it. This could explain the amount of carbon released when you cracked the cap and the lack of carbon once you froze your batch.

You could crack a beer every week or so to monitor the batch. It's a good excuse to to get a few into you and you dont have to risk freezing too early. Just a thought ;)