carbonation process

[the baron]

hi there,

ok so I bottled my beer, its an australian pilsner. It's a kit where you mix with water and let ferment.

So I bottled my beer, put dextrose in each bottle and shook them upside down 5 times to mix the sugar with the beer. But the next day I saw the white deposit in the bottle, I know its the yeast but im affraid it could be the dextrose too. Im affraid that shaking too much the bottles will cause useless over carbonation. Is there a way to know if carbonation is going good ? Im at my first week of bottling (I'm waiting for a full month before tasting it).

[BillyBock]

Well, assuming you used glass bottles, there's not much you can do but wait, trust the yeast, and wait until you pop the cap to listen for the "psst". Leave it at room temp. for at least 1-2 weeks for it to develop carbonation and then refrigerate them (which will help drop the yeast out and cold age your beer).

Please explain your priming process. I get the impression you didn't use the bulk-priming approach. If you added the dextrose individually to bottles, you will probably find varying levels of carbonation in your bottles.

One method I've heard of is to use one soda bottle out of batch (instead of glass) to gauge carbonation. When the bottle gets rock hard, it's carbonated.

[the baron]

hey hi!

well I decided I would at least try a bottle...what happened is I opened the bottle and it made a good "psssshhht" sound. Then I poured myself a glass and it tasted like "water with gas". Also, the bottom produced a lot of tiny bubbles after i opend the bottle.

Is it because my second fermentation has not ended ? Well, I guess it is...and probably too much dextrose. Am I right ?

thanks !

[BillyBock]

Did you by chance take any hydrometer readings before and after fermentation? If the gravity reading stays stable for a few days at the end of fermentation, the beer is done.