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Carbonation tabs adding the extract 'tang' to all grain beer

Maine Homebrewer

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I've been kegging for a while using forced carbonation.  Recently I inched up the batch size to allow putting some brew into bottles to share, and I've been using carb tabs to give them bubbles. The problem is that all the bottled beer has that same 'tang' that is the main reason I haven't brewed a single extract batch since I started brewing all grain.  I'm sure many of the people I would share the brew with would not notice or care, but I do.  That's the whole reason I started putting a six pack into bottles per batch, so I could have something to share.  The problem is that I won't drink anything I've bottled.  It tastes like ass (figuratively of course), and I don't feel that it is an accurate example of what I have been brewing.
Before kegging I did bottle my first few batches using a boiled half cup of corn sugar and they tasted fine, but that's not the same as dropping a few sugar pills into the bottles.

Is it just me or has anyone else ran into this?
 
I am doing the same thing as you are, however I have yet to tast a beer with the sugar pills in it yet. I think I have about 5 or so days to go until I actually try one. I was also doing it for the same reason. I will let you know in this thread when I crack one and giver her a try.
 
I won some tabs and tried them, and wondered about the now-open package of essentially 100% sugar getting nasties on it.  I changed my process and eliminated the need for tabs, but I can see those tabs becoming a problem the longer the package is open. 

I don't keg, but is it impossible (or messy) to add the same amount of priming sugar to the keg as I do the bottling bucket?  Let it "keg prime" itself, and then use CO2 to serve it? 
 
I only bottle.
Usually my sugar dosing  for the prime is  4.5 ounces by weight of  corn sugar ( per 5 - 6 gallons of beer)  that has been dissolved in  boiling water.
I let it sit till it's cool without removing the cover from the boiling vessel.
Then I add that to the carboy  from which I'll be bottling.  
Then I rack the beer from the secondary to the carboy I'll be bottling from.
The swirl of the beer as it enters the carboy ensures mixing but If I get all squirrely about It can stir it with the racking siphon.

It wouldn't be terribly to do the math and calculate how many ounces of sugar to use for however many 12  or 16 ounce bottles you planned on bottling.

God only knows what they put in those pills or what the environmental conditions are where they compress them and package them.
 
In all honesty I never could figure out why my first beers had that off taste. At the same time I was using the carb drops and tabs. All of the beer I used them in seem to have this funky off-taste that I just could not pin down.

Now I only use priming sugar and I do not seem to have that problem anymore. Seems to have stopped when I switched to boiled corn sugar. I can not say with 100% certainty but I don't know what else may have caused it. I star san everything.
 
Next time I'll select some bottles, do some math, and boil some priming sugar.
That or I'll take a gravity reading, do some math, and figure out how much wort to set aside before pitching the yeast.
Either way the sugar pills are going to say hello to mr septic tank.
 
Does anyone just add corn sugar to a bottle?  I was thinking of 1/8 tsp per bottle for the 6 I bottle before kegging the rest.  What do you all think?
 
Why are you doing it that way? Why are you not just bottleing from the allready carbanated keg with a beer gun?
 
Because I don't have a beer gun and don't know how to do that.  Please give me a breif description of the method.  Thanks.
 
This is what I do...
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/

We No Need No Stinking Beer Gun!

Cheers
Preston
 
Ya I fill growlers the same way. Transport beer with little to no issues and still carbonated nicely!
 
I keg exclusively and for sharing beer I force carb as usual and then just sanitize and fill the bottles with already carbed beer, forgoing any need to bottle conditioning.  This is also a good way to carb and age big beers that require a longer aging period like Barley Wines, Triple IPAs, or other "Imperial" beers.
 
I'm definitely in the "no beer gun" camp. But if you have the extra time and cash, I guess they have some merit for certain folks. The videos just make it look so ridiculously "involved".

I have educated & introduced friends & family to the growler. :( I should have just bought a case of 12 or 22 oz. ceramic tops instead.  That might cover your sharing idea without loosing a lot of beer.

I just bought some of those tabs (for convenience) so that I can enter some bottles into competitions. Now ya got me worried.

 
JABrews said:
I keg exclusively and for sharing beer I force carb as usual and then just sanitize and fill the bottles with already carbed beer, forgoing any need to bottle conditioning.  This is also a good way to carb and age big beers that require a longer aging period like Barley Wines, Triple IPAs, or other "Imperial" beers.

So this works? Cool. That might be the answer. Do you just fill the bottles and cap? Do you have to let the head settle and top-off? Or low PSI drizzle?
 
I use the Carbonater to transport beer. I keg and all I have to do is fill a cleaned 1.5 liter soda bottle and put on the "Carbonator" in place of the cap. I squeeze out any air and then put on the gas and carbonate. If I am taking the beer to the kids or somewhere where I will be I leave on the carbonater. Otherwise I put on the original cap and let them keep the bottle. Here is a link to a description of the product http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/kegging/draft-bottling/the-carbonator.html This works well to take kegged beer to a beer club meeting, however the carbonater will get swiped so use the cap at the meeting!
 
I do have a beer gun, but if I'm just doing a few bottles, especially if I'm going to drink it right away, I just fill from the tap.

A bit of tubing to get the beer to the bottom of the bottle/growler is nice.  Also to reduce foam- reduce the head pressure, pour slowly and fill cold bottles.

Ziggybrew said:
JABrews said:
I keg exclusively and for sharing beer I force carb as usual and then just sanitize and fill the bottles with already carbed beer, forgoing any need to bottle conditioning.  This is also a good way to carb and age big beers that require a longer aging period like Barley Wines, Triple IPAs, or other "Imperial" beers.

So this works? Cool. That might be the answer. Do you just fill the bottles and cap? Do you have to let the head settle and top-off? Or low PSI drizzle?
 
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