Carbonation issues

[cleslie]

Done a Coopers Ginger Beer and a Coopers Cerveza now and both seem to be lacking bubbles.

My Cerveza fermenting slowly over 3 weeks as I had it at a lower temperature (as you would do with lager). Problem was the yeast in these kits is just standard ale yeast to brew at 21 C - 28 C.

When I siphoned to secondary I bottled some of the beer at the bottom with a lot of sediment for fun.

After that had sat for a week and was clear (with a good 5mm of sediment in the bottom) I popped it open and was pleasantly surprised to see how nice and fizzy this was and thought it tasted pretty close to real Corona. I was all excited but after opening my second bottle. (bottled a week later with little sediment) I was disappointed to see it is flat and tastes like ****.

Any ideas where I went wrong? Or was the extra fizz a result of having extra sediment / yeast in the bottle of the first one?
Perhaps I fermented it for too long (delayed by the low temp at the beginning)....

 

[Hollow Legs]

MMmm, have you added sugar to the bottles? if so how much

 

[cleslie]

Just used 1 Coopers Carbonation tablet per 330ml bottle. Pretty sure it was capped properly also.

 

[equiliser]

Funny you should say that but i had the same problem with my mexican cervesa.
I used coopers carbonation drops and after two weeks there was no fizz at all.
I left the bottles for another week and gave one to my son to test (always after a freebie)
To my amazement there was carbonation there??
This is not the first time i have left beer for a little longer and the improvement after just a short time is substantial.
Only advice i would give is try leaving the brew a little time longer...it may be worth it

keep us updated :thumb:

 

[mickthetrick]

i found my cerveza was better after a day or two in the fridge. i do think it would have benefited from a touch more sugar when i bottle it but its still a nice drink.

 

[Hollow Legs]

Just used 1 Coopers Carbonation tablet per 330ml bottle. Pretty sure it was capped properly also.

1 carb drop per 330 is spot on :thumb: , it will take longer to condition if it was left to ferment for 3 weeks as most of the yeast has dropped out and produced the end product we all want, alcohol, therefore you had good carbonation with the sediment in the first bottle (lots of yeast to feed on the carb drop)

It could take at least 3 weeks to condition properly, just be patient

Colin. :