10 votes

When bottling, is it better to use corn sugar or saved wort?

Having done both, I can tell you that sugar (corn or table, doesn't matter) is the way to go. It's easy reliable and tasteless. Priming with gyle (the name for what you propose) is uncertain and ...
Denny Conn's user avatar
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10 votes
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How can I prime bottled beer in accordance with the reinheitsgebot?

Yes. Priming with sugar would break the reinheitsgeboten. The way you want to go is to retain unfermented mash and add it when bottling takes place. There's a really handy calculator right here: ...
Þórgnýr Thoroddsen's user avatar
10 votes
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Swing-top bottles leaking carbonation

Replace the seals. Buying 100 seals from eBay should cost you something like US$10. I also use swing-top bottles, and my protocol is to replace a seal immediately after opening a bottle that turned ...
Roman's user avatar
  • 1,498
9 votes
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Do I need the dregs from primary fermentation for carbonation?

No. The settled yeast (trub/dregs) from primary shouldn't be included in bottling. There's plenty of yeast in suspension to bottle condition, unless your cold weather was enough to completely crash ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
7 votes

how do you add yeast during bottling stage and ensure it won't burst?

I can't imagine anyone suggesting bottling at a FG of 1.042 I would return them to the fermenter and allow fermintation to complete. Those are bottle bombs. Be careful. Many yeasts don't survive at ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
7 votes
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kegged cider and oxygen

Yes you will oxidize the cider (or beer or wine) if you don't use CO2 or some other inert gas like Nitrogen (but that has it's own problems). Oxygen will not "reignite" the yeast. Yeast will happily ...
farmersteve's user avatar
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7 votes
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Carbonation process - Using the carboy

You do not want to do this. Carboys are not meant to hold pressure and will break. If you want clearer beer, aging it longer in a carboy and/or using something like gelatin or whirlfloc will greatly ...
farmersteve's user avatar
  • 3,012
6 votes
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Beer looses almost all carbonation when opened

What your describing is volcano bottles. Over carbonation This is caused by bottle conditioning with too much priming sugar, too much residual sugar or wild yeast infection. Priming sugar misdose is ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
6 votes
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How to over carbonate?

Bottle bombs are usually beers that are about 10 gravity points above terminal gravity for standard 12oz bottles, then hit TG in the bottles. So 1.020 SG when 1.010 is TG. For typical normal ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
6 votes

Is there anything as too much priming sugar?

If you have added approximately the right amount of priming sugar and your beer is not carbonated at all, your problem probably is not the amount of sugar added. A common problem is inadequate mixing ...
Rob's user avatar
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5 votes
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When bottling, is it better to use corn sugar or saved wort?

Using sugar is easier. There is no risk that you have too much gyle or too little. You can just buy extra sugar and be on the safe side. Gyle needs to be saved in sterile containers (I usually fill a ...
Robert's user avatar
  • 1,266
5 votes
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Force-carbonation of unfiltered beer?

Force carbonation is very common for homebrewers. I'd imagine any homebrewer with a kegging setup does force carbonation by default. I would guess, too, that it's much more often than not done without ...
jsled's user avatar
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Does carbonating with sugar make the beer sweeter?

Your beer is sweeter because the yeast did not ferment all the sugar. Once the sugar is fermented, the sweetness should dissappear. The reason could be: Not enough yeast left (specially if your ...
Philippe's user avatar
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5 votes

Carbonation drops in cider

Carbonation drops are just aliquoted doses of sugar. They still carbonate by the action of yeast in the bottle. I don't think carb drops will solve the problem you describe.
brewchez's user avatar
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5 votes

How can I prime bottled beer in accordance with the reinheitsgebot?

The easiest way to not break the Reinheitsgebot rules is to use malt extract. Either liquid or dried. Simple as that. Many people do this and most homebrew books have a way to calculate the amounts. ...
farmersteve's user avatar
  • 3,012
5 votes

Still, un-bubbly cider after priming and left for 3 weeks at room temperature

Sound like its just not done yet. Wild yeast will work slower than some purer strains will work. If there is pressure under the cap when you open it then there is some activity going. Of course, if ...
brewchez's user avatar
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4 votes

Why does my beer have carbonation but no foam head?

I must admit, I am not an expert in home brewing but I do work in the pub trade and whenever we encounter customers whom have problems with beer head retention or glass lacing, the first place we ...
Ashley Garrett's user avatar
4 votes
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Does lagering reduce yeast so much that bottle carbonation is effected?

Usually its fine. There's plenty of yeast around for carbonate, but it will take longer. You should still be bottle conditioning at 60-70F to get the carbonation to happen. If you lager a beer for ...
brewchez's user avatar
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4 votes

Bottling hard ginger beer

I'm a bit late to the conversation, but I also recently started brewing my own Ginger Beer using a Ginger Bug and bottling in the Grolsch-Style swing top bottles. I've had very good success with this ...
jc allen's user avatar
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4 votes
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Bottles lost pressure, can I rebottle?

Yes you can. Oxidation doesn't skunk beer, light does that. Oxidation gives a cardboard / wet paper aroma & taste. Oxidation can be minimized by using a funnel with a tube that reaches the ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
4 votes
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Lack of head from under carbonation? A force carb question

It could be undercarbed Try the plug and forget method, set at serving psi 12 and let it sit for a week. If in a rush, set to 12psi attached to the out port and tip the keg on its side slightly and ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
4 votes
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Does force chilling have the same effect as regular chilling as far as carbonation absorption is concerned?

Dissolving CO2 takes time. Area of contact between gas and liquid in bottle is really small. Thus, I doubt that few minutes would really help carbonate much. Of course, this is not totally pointless. ...
Mołot's user avatar
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4 votes
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Store beer uncarbonated in a keg

It will indeed absorb some CO2. But a single blast of CO2 from the tank at 30PSI, then disconnected and left at room temperature is not enough CO2 to generate fully carbonated beer. Leaving it hooked ...
brewchez's user avatar
  • 36.2k
4 votes

Residual CO2 from fermentation as a function of altitude

Here's some resources on some carbonation basics. I too have not seen a chart made for residual cO2 but would be a great tool if someone made it. However most of it has been done by force carbonation ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
4 votes

What is the ideal temperature during carbonation with priming for an ale?

Optimal about 18C-20C. But almost any temperature between 5 and 25 will work. If cooler then it takes longer. It is possible to go higher but there may be some more fruity esters produced although not ...
barking.pete's user avatar
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4 votes
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Temperature fluctuations during carbonation/conditioning

IMHO the minor fluctuations in temperature don't really affect the overall flavour because the beer has a thermal capacity to resist rapid temp changes. Gradual changes over half a day will affect it ...
barking.pete's user avatar
  • 5,631
4 votes

Safe way to backsweet a braggot with honey?

It's worth mentioning that it depends somewhat on how you plan to package the braggot. If you're planning to bottle condition, I'm not sure it's possible to back-sweeten with something fermentable ...
thesquaregroot's user avatar
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4 votes
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Force carbonating then bottling

There's isn't any formula or table established for a timescale of force carbonating. The unknown variables that vary too much to quantify are liquid density, container shape, liquid volume, cO2 ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
4 votes

Should I leave serving pressure on after carbing beer or cider?

Generally it's OK. You should only lose gas if there's a leak. This goes for whether the bottle is turned on or not. It's a closed system, the CO2 should stay at the same pressure, and thus ...
Kingsley's user avatar
  • 2,060
4 votes
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Bottled a Belgian ale not carbonating

This is a high gravity beer right? Just wait, it will get there. Ensure they are stored somewhere good for ale temperatures (> 15C / 60F). If you're really worried, give them a gentle shake every ...
Kingsley's user avatar
  • 2,060

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