bulk priming but no head retention

[worry wort]

Been bulk priming now for about a year without a problem, i dissolve 150g sugar in 350ml boiling water and add to 2nd fv that I rack off into. Brews have always had good life and good head retention all the way through the bottles, until now. Bottle a draught with a cascade steep 6 weeks ago, but now had 2 bottles and while the brew taste good, there is minimal head on pouring and it quickly settles and little activity in the glass. Not the glass, i've tried a number of glasses and even reverted to a pewter, same result. Any ideas on what could have happened? It was warm when I laid the brew and I used 1250ml bottle of frozen water to keep the temp down, but i've also done that with other brews without problem.

Cheers

WW

[Marty_G]

So did you use the same fermentables? 

 

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

15 minutes ago, worry wort said:

Been bulk priming now for about a year without a problem, i dissolve 150g sugar in 350ml boiling water and add to 2nd fv that I rack off into. Brews have always had good life and good head retention all the way through the bottles, until now. Bottle a draught with a cascade steep 6 weeks ago, but now had 2 bottles and while the brew taste good, there is minimal head on pouring and it quickly settles and little activity in the glass. Not the glass, i've tried a number of glasses and even reverted to a pewter, same result. Any ideas on what could have happened? It was warm when I laid the brew and I used 1250ml bottle of frozen water to keep the temp down, but i've also done that with other brews without problem.

Cheers

WW

Unless you used straight dextrose or sugar with the can the only thing i can think of is the when you racked off onto the sugar solution it didnt 100% mix into the beer. This happened to me a couple of times when bulk priming where i got inconsistent carbonation. After that i just gave it a gentle stir with the spoon and she was all sweet. Everything else looks fine. 150gm is good for about 2.5 volumes so should be plenty of carbonation there.

[worry wort]

2 hours ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

So did you use the same fermentables? 

 

the only difference to other brews was using cascade, other than that just the plain white sugar 

[worry wort]

2 hours ago, Greeny1525229549 said:

Unless you used straight dextrose or sugar with the can the only thing i can think of is the when you racked off onto the sugar solution it didnt 100% mix into the beer. This happened to me a couple of times when bulk priming where i got inconsistent carbonation. After that i just gave it a gentle stir with the spoon and she was all sweet. Everything else looks fine. 150gm is good for about 2.5 volumes so should be plenty of carbonation there.

I did and do use white sugar, without issue. must just be one of those home brewing mysteries. I am trying the brew i made after this batch tonigh, exact same mix and bulk prime quantities, just 2 weeks younger, will see how that fares.

[Shamus O'Sean]

Ambient temperature is dropping this time of year.  Was it high enough during the carbonating period?  If the temperature was a bit low, carbonating will take a bit longer.

[worry wort]

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Ambient temperature is dropping this time of year.  Was it high enough during the carbonating period?  If the temperature was a bit low, carbonating will take a bit longer.

no, this was fermented in Feb, i struggled to keep it at 22/23.  I just think its just one small issue that affected one brew, i've read and reread the method i used for that batch (i do this for every batch,  just in case its a cracker!) and can see nothing different, Initial wort was at 25 and I brought it down to 23 with a bottle of ice. I sterilise the bots in percarbonate then rinse again before bottling. It may have been the bulk prime wasn't fully mixed as Greeny xxxx said, I usually pour the liquid into the 2nd primer then coil the rack tube 3 or 4 times so the wort is swirling by the time its clearing the tube. Carbonating temp was fairly consistent around the 20d mark.  who knows, at least its drinkable!

cheer for all your advice over the years, i many not always respond but I'm always grateful.

Edited April 11, 2020 by worry wort

[Otto Von Blotto]

Do you mean you used white sugar with the kit or just for the priming? 

[ChristinaS1]

9 hours ago, worry wort said:

no, this was fermented in Feb, i struggled to keep it at 22/23. 

Sound like you are talking about primary fermentation temperature. Shamus was asking about your carbonation (secondary fermentation) temperature. In particular, what were your nighttime temperatures? Very important to keep the beer above 18C at all times during the carbonation period, and that includes at night. 

Not much thermal mass in a bottle. If the beer inside the bottle ever drops below 16C, the yeast can get very sluggish, or go dormant. 

Suggest moving the bottles somewhere warmer; they may still come right. 

Good idea to throw a blanket or sleeping bag over your bottled batches in winter, during the carbonation period. 

The Mexican Cervesa kit and APA kit come with an ale/lager yeast blend. They are good choices for winter brewing as they carb up well. Either one can be used as a base for hundreds of recipes, and they carb up well. Nottingham yeast is pretty hardy too. 

Cheers,

Christina.

 

[worry wort]

42 minutes ago, ChristinaS1 said:

Sound like you are talking about primary fermentation temperature. Shamus was asking about your carbonation (secondary fermentation) temperature. In particular, what were your nighttime temperatures? Very important to keep the beer above 18C at all times during the carbonation period, and that includes at night. 

Not much thermal mass in a bottle. If the beer inside the bottle ever drops below 16C, the yeast can get very sluggish, or go dormant. 

Suggest moving the bottles somewhere warmer; they may still come right. 

Good idea to throw a blanket or sleeping bag over your bottled batches in winter, during the carbonation period. 

The Mexican Cervesa kit and APA kit come with an ale/lager yeast blend. They are good choices for winter brewing as they carb up well. Either one can be used as a base for hundreds of recipes, and they carb up well. Nottingham yeast is pretty hardy too. 

Cheers,

Christina.

 

it looks like my edit to my post didn't get out in time. I did address the carbonating temperature issue in an amendment to the original post.  the storage area seldom gets below 18-20, so during summer the area is safe from sudden temperature variations as front etc move through. Even now the area is still steady on 21. 

cheers. 

ww

[worry wort]

5 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Do you mean you used white sugar with the kit or just for the priming? 

both

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'd say that's probably why the head retention is lacking. There's nothing in sugar to aid it. It's more of a mystery to me that previous batches had good retention if they were also brewed with sugar, however it could depend on the kit itself a bit too.