Carbonation

[Barticus]

Can someone please explain carbonation and how long it should take and fizz expectation compared to a pub pint or supermarket can.

Last week I bottled some TC with 1 tsp of sugar and a coopers lager with 2 coopers lager drops.

While I know a week is not long enough to get the taste right, should it be long enough to carbonate it.

I opened one of each today to get a feel for the process and the difference between stages and they were both pretty flat.

Is it too soon for carbonation or are my expectations of fizz way out?

[Matt12398]

I was of the understanding that you leave them for a week in the warm for secondary fermentation to take place and then somewhere cool for at least a couple further weeks for the CO2 generated by secondary fermentation to absorb into the beer. This works better at cooler temperatures.

[oldbloke]

A week somewhere about 20, if it's much lower than that it's going to take at least 2 weeks. It's a ferment, it needs fermenting temperatures.
Then somewhere well cool for a good while for the gas to be asborbed into the liquid, or it just escapes when you take the cap off.
What sort of caps? My first brew I used those plassy reseal caps, almost no carbonation, they just didn't seal well enough. Screwtops need to be properly tight.

[Barticus]

Cheers fellas.

The caps are coopers plastic caps but neither of these has had any time in the cold so that hopefully explains it.

[edonald774]

On my first brew I used the coopers screw caps and discovered a few of them worked loose a couple of times.
Worth keeping an eye on them.

[Barticus]

Checked the lagers today and the plastic bottles were rock solid so have now been transferred to the chiller at around 12c.

The Turbo Cider. Turns out the squash I added to it after fermentation had nastys in which probably killed all the yeasties.

Now on the look out for a soda stream which I assume will resolve the lack of fizziness.

[Pinto]

Checked the lagers today and the plastic bottles were rock solid so have now been transferred to the chiller at around 12c.

The Turbo Cider. Turns out the squash I added to it after fermentation had nastys in which probably killed all the yeasties.

Now on the look out for a soda stream which I assume will resolve the lack of fizziness.

Simpler suggestion for you B - buy a few litres of cheap appleade and mix with the cider when you serve it - will add a little bit of sweetness and a lot of fizz - and at 40p odd a bottle, damn sight cheaper than a soda stream

Just remember to boil up the cordial next time

[Barticus]

Checked the lagers today and the plastic bottles were rock solid so have now been transferred to the chiller at around 12c.

The Turbo Cider. Turns out the squash I added to it after fermentation had nastys in which probably killed all the yeasties.

Now on the look out for a soda stream which I assume will resolve the lack of fizziness.

Simpler suggestion for you B - buy a few litres of cheap appleade and mix with the cider when you serve it - will add a little bit of sweetness and a lot of fizz - and at 40p odd a bottle, damn sight cheaper than a soda stream

Just remember to boil up the cordial next time

Excellent, I'll give that a go.

The cider is for the wifey so it's imperative she is kept happy whilst my hobby takes over our kitchen, cupboard space, fridge and eBay account.