Carbonation in fermenter?

[Songster Brau]

Question; can't seem to find an answer: First batch with Brew Demon 3 gallon conical fermenter and American Ale 3.7 abv. After 9 days in fermenter, I taste tested prior to bottling. Seems to be a nominal amount of carbonation in the batch. Is this normal? Should I use priming sugar in the bottles? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

[mashani]

If there is "normal" amount of carbonation, as in it is as fizzy as freshly poured beer, then it probably is not done fermenting yet unless your fermenter got totally sealed up by gunk and actually pressurized. That should really not happen, normally it requires a special kind of fermenter designed to do this intentionally. It would probably explode a brew demon fermenter. So I say it's "not done" and is still fermenting if it really has that much carbonation and you should just walk away and ignore it for another week.

That said, it is normal for there to be some slight residual carbonation remaining after it's all done and has sat for a bit. How much depends on the temperature of the wort. But it will never be as much as fully carbonated beer unless you are comparing it to gravity poured British "Real Ale".

Priming calculators like the one below can take this into consideration and tell you a more specific amount of sugar to add based on it.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

[John Sand]

Hi Songster, welcome aboard!
Mashani is giving good advice above. I generally wait three weeks before bottling a batch, seeing it clear is a good sign that it's finished. If you want to experiment with the carbonation, try adding different amounts of sugar to different bottles. Don't go too high though, as you could burst the bottles. Have fun, keep us posted.

[Songster Brau]

Thanks to John Sand & Mashani for the tips. Besides not being able to figure out how to navigate this forum, I just wanted to clarify my situation.
I used a Brew Demon kit, with American Ale 3.7 abv recipe, and followed all of the instructions implicitly. The instructions said to taste test batch after 7 days.. I waited 9. It's possible that my batch was below the recommended temperature range of 64-74F, at about 63F. The batch has some floating particles, not too bad, although hard to determine through the amber colored acrylic. It has about 2 inches of trub in the bottom at the cone, and flaky looking billows of yellowish substance -which I assume to be kraeusen- taking up about 35% of area floating at the top. Upon testing, it was distinctly carbonated, and it actually tasted like really good American ale. That is where my concern about fermentation and bottling timing came in, because the Brew Demon instructions -which were very sparse in detail- said that if the batch tastes slightly sweet, more fermentation is needed, but if the batch tastes like flat beer, it should be good for bottling. To me, it tasted like neither, and that's why I came to the forum for more comprehensive insight. I haven't been able to nail down any information indicating that the batch may convey a carbonated taste straight from the fermenter, information which was also lacking in the Brew Demon instructions. At this point, I'll try to use a little common sense and instinct, and perhaps experiment with bottling timing and priming sugar amounts. So far, so good.. this is my very first attempt at brewing a batch of beer. Thanks all for any input.. stay safe out there.. there's a virus on the loose.

[berryman]

Thanks to John Sand & Mashani for the tips. Besides not being able to figure out how to navigate this forum,

Hello and welcome to the Borg. good advice from above^^^. To navigate easier start with this index.php Have all the basic sub-forums, but then click on view active topics and the fastest way to see all the new post. search.php?search_id=active_topics