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I'm not equipped with kegs, so I bottle everything. Before bottling, I go to http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/ and weigh my priming sugar (corn sugar) depending on the style of beer I've brewed. I boil the sugar in about 1/2 cup of water, add the mixture to my bottling bucket, rack my beer into the bucket in a way that the sugar mixes well with the beer, then I bottle.

My question is: how long should it normally take to have proper carbonation? I usually wait at least 2 weeks to crack open the first bottle, and batch after batch, it's still dead flat after 14 days. It usually takes close to a month for my beer to develop a good carbonation. I leave my bottles conditioning in a closet at a temp of about 18-19C.

I usually have a good start on carbing at 14 days but things start to get really good around a month.

Ambient temp around 20C.

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adams81 wrote:I usually have a good start on carbing at 14 days but things start to get really good around a month.

In other words, 1 month is normal? I thought I was doing something wrong, but couldn't put my finger on it... Could the lower temperature slow down the process?

I bottle all my beers and they carb up downstairs after 2 weeks no problem at temps around 15C or lower. The only time I had problems with carbing is after experimenting with racking to a secondary, cold crashing, and bottling cold all on the same batch (don't ask, but yes I used an online calculator to try and account for the stored CO2.)

I almost always have full carbonation at 2 weeks; in the summer, when it's warmer, of course, it's often at a good level after 7-10 days.

I have horrible luck bottle carbonating. I've only Ever gotten two batches to work properly. Not sure why as most people have a lot of success using the same methods I do.

I bottled for the first time in years last month and somehow have some that carbed up nicely and others that are barely carbonated... what a pain

Hmmm... Would the fact that I rack to secondary, then to bottling bucket, eliminate too much yeast? Is that even a possibility?

In average, how much priming sugar do you guys use in a 23L batch? My batches pretty much always turns out great (look, flavour, aroma, body, ...), but the carbonation is something that still baffles me... I've had many people tell me "I like your beer, but I'd like it more if it had more fizz".

Are you using glass or plastic bottles?

Houblon34 wrote:Hmmm... Would the fact that I rack to secondary, then to bottling bucket, eliminate too much yeast? Is that even a possibility?

In average, how much priming sugar do you guys use in a 23L batch? My batches pretty much always turns out great (look, flavour, aroma, body, ...), but the carbonation is something that still baffles me... I've had many people tell me "I like your beer, but I'd like it more if it had more fizz".

"I like your beer, but I'd like it more if it had more fizz... and it were yellow, you know like an IPA... like Keith's..."

The whole racking to a bottling bucket after secondary seems like a stretch. How long a secondary do you do? I go straight to the bottling bucket from the primary when I do bottle and it still is hit and miss for me.

keithforbes wrote:Are you using glass or plastic bottles?

Glass.

jtmwhyte wrote:The whole racking to a bottling bucket after secondary seems like a stretch. How long a secondary do you do? I go straight to the bottling bucket from the primary when I do bottle and it still is hit and miss for me.

Next week, I'll be bottling my first batch straight from primary. I'll see in a month or so if that makes a noticeable difference. But I usually transfer to secondary after 5-7 days, and will leave in secondary for at least 2 weeks. What do you mean by "The whole racking to a bottling bucket after secondary seems like a stretch"? Would you dump your priming sugar straight in secondary and bottle from there?

Seems like a stretch that this is your problem

When I bottled, at two weeks I would have some carbonation, but 3 to 4 weeks gave the best results.

I find if I leave my beer for a long time in either primary or secondary, carbonation takes a lot longer in the bottle. A month or more sounds about right for one batch I left in primary for about 12+ weeks. If I'm completely flat when racking I sometimes add a little extra sugar to the bottles (I don't use a bottling bucket) or leave the bottled beer somewhere warmer (bottle temp ~22C) for a couple of days to kick-start the carb before everything goes to storage. If I go from primary to bottle right after fermentation, things always go fine (well carbed at 2-3 weeks).

Houblon34 wrote: In other words, 1 month is normal? I thought I was doing something wrong, but couldn't put my finger on it... Could the lower temperature slow down the process?

To clarify, at two weeks my beer is carbonated enough to drink. However, after a month in the bottle things seem better - the bubbles are finer, carbonation lasts longer and overall the beer has had time to mellow. I suspect that fermentation is not fully complete until around a month, but I really have no proof.

Also a few days in the fridge really lets that CO2 dissolve into the beer well.

Typically I carbonate to around 2.5 volumes and that usually works out to about 125g of corn sugar.

Keep in mind also that higher alcohol beers might take longer to carb up.

On my latest batch of beer I noticed my 341mL glass twist top bottles were less carbonated than my 500mL pop top bottles. I'm using the light yellow coloured caps from noble grape that are supposed to be good for twist and pop top bottles. Maybe it's time to try a different kind...

CartoonCod wrote:Keep in mind also that higher alcohol beers might take longer to carb up.

I think this is your answer. What is your ABV? I have an imperial stout that I bottled about 8 weeks ago that is just getting to a drinkable level of carbonation, which is fairly low carbonation level. When I bottle up a 4% session beer, its nice and fizzy by the third week.

Wow, lots of great comments!

Ladd wrote:

CartoonCod wrote:Keep in mind also that higher alcohol beers might take longer to carb up.

I think this is your answer. What is your ABV? I have an imperial stout that I bottled about 8 weeks ago that is just getting to a drinkable level of carbonation, which is fairly low carbonation level. When I bottle up a 4% session beer, its nice and fizzy by the third week.

ABV is around 5% and I used 2.5 vol (123 grams) for a 5 gal batch (I used more than I should've for a Bitter, thinking it could solve my problem). Oddly enough, I also brewed a RIS at 8.5% not too long ago and it didn't take more than 3-4 weeks to have a good carbonation.

From what I can tell, 2-4 weeks seems to be average for most people. I'll simply wait a little longer from now on and avoid flat brew altogether. Thanks for the feedback everyone, this message board is awesome!

This is interesting to me that no one stores the bottles in a warmer area to carbonate. The first time I had trouble with carbonization I asked the guy at Noble Grape and he told me he stores his bottles up against his furnace so its warmer for 2 weeks. Once he's happy with it he moves it to a cooler storage area'. I've been doing this since and it's been working great. Does the increased temp affect flavor?

I don't think it should do too much harm so long as the beer isn't at 35c...

jhennigar wrote:This is interesting to me that no one stores the bottles in a warmer area to carbonate. The first time I had trouble with carbonization I asked the guy at Noble Grape and he told me he stores his bottles up against his furnace so its warmer for 2 weeks. Once he's happy with it he moves it to a cooler storage area'. I've been doing this since and it's been working great. Does the increased temp affect flavor?

I have mine in front of a heater, rooms set at 20. Stays there til it hits the fridge.

I carb all my bottles up at 20°C. Seems to work well, as mentioned 2-4 weeks is pretty normal for me. A little longer for high ABV brews.

Do you stir in the sugar solution before you start bottling? I noticed when I bottled that if I didn't do that, some bottles where undercarbed, while others almost exploded. If I did that, and stored the beer at around 20°C, it was good to drink after 10-14 days.

I don't boil it off into a liquid, add it in pure after I rack in 1/4 the beer, once it is done, I give it a light stir for a few minutes.

I used to add a tsp of sugar to every bottle when I first started brewing, then went to adding a cup to the bottling bucket because it was easier but after a couple of infections and a lot of inconsistent carbonation levels I started mixing my sugar with some water and boiling it to dissolve it. This also will remove any associated oxygen that can potentially stale your beer faster. Some may disagree but I think you obtain the best homogeneity that way as without boiling to fully dissolve the sugar, any undissolved granules will sit on the bottom resulting in higher sugar concentrations in the last of the bottles. I think this is the reason that some bottles don't carb up very well and others are nearly bombs.