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Author Topic: Corked Bottles - Lost carbonation?  (Read 1269 times)

Offline breweite

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Corked Bottles - Lost carbonation?
« on: May 03, 2015, 11:58:27 am »
I corked a saison that took me about 1 year to create.  It is by far my favorite hombrew.. my problem is, I corked about 20 bottles and the first few I cracked, within a month or two were all fantastic and well carbed ( I aimed for 3.2 volumes).  But because of the brett, I wanted them to bottle age more.  Now months and months later... all my bottles have ZERO carbonation... 
1. what is the problem here? 
2. Can i uncork, drop in sugar and/or yeast and recork?  How should that practice look?
Cheers from Austin, Tejas!

Offline Black Sands Brewery & Supply

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Re: Corked Bottles - Lost carbonation?
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2015, 02:18:12 pm »
were they corked and caged? or just corked?

maybe they didn't seal up so well and it escaped.

i'd say it might be worth trying to save the bottles. You might want to look into "Prime Dose" pils from norther brewer. Mixed reviews on that products but its a pill w/ dextrose AND yeast so it could help with your flat beer.

good luck
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Offline breweite

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Re: Corked Bottles - Lost carbonation?
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2015, 06:29:13 pm »
Yup, corked and caged. I'll look into those pills.
Cheers from Austin, Tejas!

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Corked Bottles - Lost carbonation?
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2015, 09:10:25 pm »
What corks and what corker? Some times the corker leaves a slice down the side of the cork. Open one and take a close look. I'm no cork guru, but apparently there is a difference in cork types. I use belgian corks and I assume they are designed to be stored upright (dry). Just a guess but maybe other than belgian corks can dry put and allow off gassing? Just a guess, I could be talking out my ass.

Offline breweite

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Re: Corked Bottles - Lost carbonation?
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2015, 06:15:05 am »
Not sure where I got them, but they said Belgian... I investigated the corks, they look fine. I'm using a Portuguese floor corker and I cork a lot a with it. This was my first corked beer on the same set up. What do u think about saving the bottles?
Cheers from Austin, Tejas!

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Corked Bottles - Lost carbonation?
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2015, 07:34:45 am »
I would dump them. Not saying you should, thats just what I would do. Then I would put some force carbed beer in one of those bottles and cork it. Come back in a couple weeks and see if it lost any carbonation. I suspect that the jaws on your Portuguese are creasing or slicing your corks. When I bought my corker I was told not to use the Portuguese,  but the italian corker

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Corked Bottles - Lost carbonation?
« Reply #6 on: May 04, 2015, 11:12:34 am »
If the carbonation is escaping, you'll likely see the level in the bottle drop as well.

I'm with Jim.  Dump 'em.

But, if they taste good and you want to do it, you could add prime dose or a sugar cube, re-cork, and seal with wax.
It's all in the reflexes. - Jack Burton