Carbonation

There's plenty of yeast in the stuff you transfer to the bottles, no need to add more. In fact, you can take a year old bottle of home brew and use it as yeast for a fresh batch of home brew - but there are some disadvantages to doing that . . . and you can even start a batch with a slice of bread . . . but don't . . .

The variability you are seeing is likely due to poor mixing.

You dissolve the priming sugar in ~ a pint of boiling water. Pour the priming solution into the bottling bucket and stir it (avoid stirring in air). The priming solution (can be hot - since there's relatively little of it compared to the 5 gallons of wort) will not mix well, and that's where the variability come in.

I went to a restaurant supply house and bought a long stainless steel spoon that easily reaches the bottom of the 7 gallon bucket.

Try to impart a rolling motion to the mixing so you are causing the stuff on the bottom of the bottling bucket to mix with the surface layers.

Stir it very well and immediately fill 6-8 bottles, then stir it again, do another 6/8, etc.. Don't let it rest too long - get the bottles filled then put on the caps. (or enlist the aid of a helper to cap them as you fill)

I do mostly ales. I prime with 1-2 cups of sugar and haven't burst a bottle in over ten years.

The other possibilities are a bad batch of caps or your capper is not working or improperly adjusted (assuming it has an adjustment, or the bottles are not suited to the type of capper you are using.

Thanks for the advice. I think you are right. Doubt that it is the caps (could be wrong)--more likely the mixing because I tend to go pretty light with the mix not wanting to incorp air.

Did you by any chance boil the caps? That can destroy the lining and lead to poor seals.

--------->Denny

I always boil my caps, and I don't believe I've ever had a sealing problem. Pop the cap off and it always goes PSSSST! I've even had bottle explosions, and it was the glass that broke, not the cap coming loose. If you reuse caps over and over again dozens of times, boiling each time, I would imagine that eventually the plastic lining would crack, but for single use, I just can't see it. Aren't these things designed to be boiled?? They must be. Age of the caps could certainly pose a problem, though. If caps sit around for 20 years prior to use they are probably garbage.

Oops, my occupation as part of the aging management team is shining through. :)

I agree with Mr. Default's assessment. It is possible that the priming solution is either inconsistently prepared or inconsistently mixed. Priming solution is dense stuff so it might have a tendency to sink to the bottom of the bucket with minimal interaction with the beer if you don't stir it up a bit. Just be careful not to make a lot of bubbles when stirring it in.

Also likely is that the bottle capper isn't working properly for all bottles. I know on some kinds of bottles (Hacker Pschorr bottles, and all kinds of green bottles in particular), I have to jam really hard on those caps and it takes like 6 or 7 tries before it bends around the crown of the bottle really good. But even with these more difficult bottles, I haven't had any problems with them carbonating as long as the cap is on there tight.

I do sanitize caps. Am more suspicious of my priming soln mixing. In any case I will track all the variables closer in my next bottling. Ciao

agree mostly this idea also idea

if 6 work and 1 does not. try double rinsing the bottles. and don't load the bottles wet surprising but have taught a few guys how to use a proper cleaned oven