Philm00x and Problems with Honey Malt?

[JimH]

Alright, so some interesting developments have occurred, and hopefully the Borg knows what is going on. The Hat posted the other day about his problems with gushers and chocolate malt. What has happened here seems to be the opposite. A little while back philm00x made up a simple blonde ale, AG, and I made up a Partial Mash version using extract. I don't remember Phil's recipe, but if I remember it was Honey malt, and 2-row, and S-05. (Hops too of course, but I don't think this is the issue) My recipe was 6oz Honey malt, and 2.5 lbs Golden light DME. Also used S-05. Now, the problem is, it seems both of our beers came out woefully under-carbonated. Good flavor (mine I think needs more conditioning) but for some reason it appears neither or our Blonde ales carbonated fully. Phil bottle primed, and I batch primed using Screwy's calculator. Is there something about honey malt that leads to undercarb? I don't think it is the S-05, because it worked well for me in the Murican Wheat Ale and never heard anyone else have the issue. And I really find it hard to believe that Phil got a "bad" batch of 2-row at the same time I got a "bad" bag of DME.

(Also, is this the proper thread to post this in?)

[russki]

The reality is that malt really has no effect on carbonation levels. If your beer is at a stable FG, and has enough viable yeast, carbonation levels depend on three things:
1. Residual CO2 (priming calculators use the highest temperature reached during fermentation for that).
2. Amount of priming sugar
3. Distribution of priming sugar during bottling.

Are you sure you used the correct amount of priming sugar, and that it mixed well with your beer in the bottling bucket? I always give it a gentle swirl with a long spoon to ensure even priming.

[JimH]

Thanks Russki! I am reasonably sure I used the correct amount. I always bring up the Screwy Calc and measure it exactly as I see on the screen. No guesswork, usually using a kitchen scale and in grams. It just seems weird that both Phil and I had the same problems with the same recipe, and it seems like this beer is the only one both of us have had problems carbing.

[Brewbirds]

Your saying both batches were under carbed and not flat right?

Have you asked Screwy about it? Maybe the Blondes just aren't carbed as high in the calculator as you are both used to?

[philm00x]

Hmmm.. what a strange coincidence. I haven't opened a bottle of blonde ale for several weeks since the last time, when I told you about how it was lacking carbonation. There's one that's been in the fridge for a couple of days. Maybe time to open it up and see what's up. Hopefully the honey malt isn't causing the yeast to die!

[Yankeedag]

I was having problems with head retention... wife is giving me the hairy eyeball over that... but back to what I was typing before the Baronka attack... when I was drinking them at 4+weeks but under 2 months, they'd do a quick foam, then die down faster than my pay check at bill paying time.
once I let them sit for at least 2 months, they seemed to react better... but then, there were only a few bottles left. Oh well.