I am new to brewing and I started with a kit my in-laws gave me for
Christmas. from wal-mart. So I made the first batch in a 1 gallon plastic
container. It did not ferment real aggressively but it did ferment. So I
then bottle it and they had me put in some powdered dextrose in each bottle
for carbonation. I let it rest for about 20 days and then refrigerated.
The brew had the right color but it was flat. No bubbles at all! so I open
a couple more and I getthe same thing. I then Dump an unchilled bottle down
the drain and there is Tons of carbonation. In fact I Pour the rest in a
glass and I get a nice two inch head. so I know that chilled the beer is
FLAT and at room temp (72 degrees) is has bubbles. both batches of the
wal-mart kit did this. My yeast was old. I got the kit at Christmas and
made the first batch in June. The yeast was labeled brewers yeast but it
looked allot like the yeast we make bread with.

I now have the first real batch going. Extra pale ale. I started it in a 6
gallon carboy. It fermented like crazy! monster foam and lots of bubbling.
I have bottled it. and I dissolved the priming sugar and mixed it in the
bottle bucket as directed. SO the question is. When I put this beer in the
fridge will go flat? or can I relax and know All is well and wal-mart
should stay out of the brewing supply business?

Thanks for your time.
Cheers!
Nate

Interesting ...
[color=blue]
> ... bottle it and they had me put in some powdered dextrose in each bottle
> for carbonation. I let it rest for about 20 days and then refrigerated.
> The brew had the right color but it was flat.[/color]

20 days should be long enough to develop good carbonation if it was a
room temperature (somewhere around 70F).

[color=blue]
> ... I then Dump an unchilled bottle down
> the drain and there is Tons of carbonation. In fact I Pour the rest in a
> glass and I get a nice two inch head. so I know that chilled the beer is
> FLAT and at room temp (72 degrees) is has bubbles.[/color]

More CO2 will dissolve in cold beer than in warm... so the cold beer
is probably holding a lot of the CO2 when you pour a glass. The warm
beer will let go of its CO2 quicker. However, you should have enough
either way. Perhaps they didn't instruct you to add enough dextrose
in each bottle to get the carbonation you want.

[color=blue]
> When I put this beer in the
> fridge will go flat? or can I relax ...[/color]

Relax!

Generally, it is recommended to put the sugar in the bottling bucket, as
it appears that you did on this last batch. That way it is more evenly
distributed and the correct amount gets into each bottle.

It should not go glat in the fridge. Be sure to leave it at room temp
(70F) until it is well carbonated. I just put one bottle at a time into
the fridge and test it until it is done.

Nate & Laurie Benzing wrote:[color=blue]
> I am new to brewing and I started with a kit my in-laws gave me for
> Christmas. from wal-mart. So I made the first batch in a 1 gallon plastic
> container. It did not ferment real aggressively but it did ferment. So I
> then bottle it and they had me put in some powdered dextrose in each bottle
> for carbonation. I let it rest for about 20 days and then refrigerated.
> The brew had the right color but it was flat. No bubbles at all! so I open
> a couple more and I getthe same thing. I then Dump an unchilled bottle down
> the drain and there is Tons of carbonation. In fact I Pour the rest in a
> glass and I get a nice two inch head. so I know that chilled the beer is
> FLAT and at room temp (72 degrees) is has bubbles. both batches of the
> wal-mart kit did this. My yeast was old. I got the kit at Christmas and
> made the first batch in June. The yeast was labeled brewers yeast but it
> looked allot like the yeast we make bread with.
>
> I now have the first real batch going. Extra pale ale. I started it in a 6
> gallon carboy. It fermented like crazy! monster foam and lots of bubbling.
> I have bottled it. and I dissolved the priming sugar and mixed it in the
> bottle bucket as directed. SO the question is. When I put this beer in the
> fridge will go flat? or can I relax and know All is well and wal-mart
> should stay out of the brewing supply business?
>
> Thanks for your time.
> Cheers!
> Nate
>[/color]
Chilling beer will tend to reduce the bubbles a little. I'd guess your
Wal-Mart kit beer wasn't completely flat, but just a little weak in the
carbonation department. Maybe they didn't have you put quite enough
dextrose in the bottles, which is better than putting in too much
anyway. You can get "gusher" bottles that you have to chill and then
open over the sink, or worse yet the legendary "bottle bombs".

That can happen if you bottle it before it's done fermenting, too.

Mixing the priming sugar in the bottling bucket is better all around
(especially for getting every bottle the same!) and I think you'll
probably get enough carbonation. How much priming sugar did you mix into
the beer?

Karl S.


--
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.
Matthew 20:27 KJV

You can always buy a corney keg, and a C02 bottle and have homebrew on tap.
It is quicker...and tastier.
"Karl S." <null_dev@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:0aBQc.10206$cK.622@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...[color=blue]
> Nate & Laurie Benzing wrote:[color=green]
> > I am new to brewing and I started with a kit my in-laws gave me for
> > Christmas. from wal-mart. So I made the first batch in a 1 gallon[/color][/color]
plastic[color=blue][color=green]
> > container. It did not ferment real aggressively but it did ferment. So[/color][/color]
I[color=blue][color=green]
> > then bottle it and they had me put in some powdered dextrose in each[/color][/color]
bottle[color=blue][color=green]
> > for carbonation. I let it rest for about 20 days and then[/color][/color]
refrigerated.[color=blue][color=green]
> > The brew had the right color but it was flat. No bubbles at all! so I[/color][/color]
open[color=blue][color=green]
> > a couple more and I getthe same thing. I then Dump an unchilled bottle[/color][/color]
down[color=blue][color=green]
> > the drain and there is Tons of carbonation. In fact I Pour the rest in[/color][/color]
a[color=blue][color=green]
> > glass and I get a nice two inch head. so I know that chilled the beer[/color][/color]
is[color=blue][color=green]
> > FLAT and at room temp (72 degrees) is has bubbles. both batches of the
> > wal-mart kit did this. My yeast was old. I got the kit at Christmas[/color][/color]
and[color=blue][color=green]
> > made the first batch in June. The yeast was labeled brewers yeast but[/color][/color]
it[color=blue][color=green]
> > looked allot like the yeast we make bread with.
> >
> > I now have the first real batch going. Extra pale ale. I started it in[/color][/color]
a 6[color=blue][color=green]
> > gallon carboy. It fermented like crazy! monster foam and lots of[/color][/color]
bubbling.[color=blue][color=green]
> > I have bottled it. and I dissolved the priming sugar and mixed it in the
> > bottle bucket as directed. SO the question is. When I put this beer in[/color][/color]
the[color=blue][color=green]
> > fridge will go flat? or can I relax and know All is well and wal-mart
> > should stay out of the brewing supply business?
> >
> > Thanks for your time.
> > Cheers!
> > Nate
> >[/color]
> Chilling beer will tend to reduce the bubbles a little. I'd guess your
> Wal-Mart kit beer wasn't completely flat, but just a little weak in the
> carbonation department. Maybe they didn't have you put quite enough
> dextrose in the bottles, which is better than putting in too much
> anyway. You can get "gusher" bottles that you have to chill and then
> open over the sink, or worse yet the legendary "bottle bombs".
>
> That can happen if you bottle it before it's done fermenting, too.
>
> Mixing the priming sugar in the bottling bucket is better all around
> (especially for getting every bottle the same!) and I think you'll
> probably get enough carbonation. How much priming sugar did you mix into
> the beer?
>
> Karl S.
>
>
> --
> And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.
> Matthew 20:27 KJV[/color]

Karl S. wrote:
[color=blue]
> Nate & Laurie Benzing wrote:[/color]
<snip>[color=blue]
> Mixing the priming sugar in the bottling bucket is better all around
> (especially for getting every bottle the same!) and I think you'll
> probably get enough carbonation. How much priming sugar did you mix into
> the beer?
>
> Karl S.[/color]

bottling bucket? what's that?

G_cowboy_is_that_a_Gnu_Hurd? wrote:[color=blue]
> Karl S. wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>>Nate & Laurie Benzing wrote:[/color]
>
> <snip>
>[color=green]
>>Mixing the priming sugar in the bottling bucket is better all around
>>(especially for getting every bottle the same!) and I think you'll
>>probably get enough carbonation. How much priming sugar did you mix into
>>the beer?
>>
>>Karl S.[/color]
>
>
> bottling bucket? what's that?
>[/color]

I use a (fermenting) plastic bucket and put a spigot on the bottom and
attach a piece of plastic hose and use it to fill my bottles. I rack the
beer into the bucket before bottling... Works a lot better than syphoning.


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
[url]http://www.newsfeeds.com[/url] - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----