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Evan! · 05-14-2007, 02:46 PM

Well I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.

I was using corn sugar to bottle carbonate, but I wasn't liking the texture of the carbonation, so I switched back to DME, because a friend gave me like 20 one-pound bags of laaglander DME. He said it wasn't new, but not too old. So I used it to prime my Wit and Hefe a few weeks ago.

It's still uncarbonated as of now.

My only thought is that the DME was old, and thus, it wasn't suitable for bottle fermentation.

Is this plausible? What should I do now? Carb-drops? I've never used them before. I'm just pissed off, and I refuse to lose 10 gallons of excellent beer!

rdwj · 05-14-2007, 02:49 PM

Old wouldn't cause the fermentable sugar to go away.

Cheesefood · 05-14-2007, 02:51 PM

Takes more than a week to carbonate. Wait two more weeks.

**the_bird** · 05-14-2007, 02:56 PM

Remember, Laaglander isn't nearly as fermentable as most other DMEs (got lots more dextrins by design), so that may be slowing you down and at the end, you'll probably have less carbonation than you expected.

There's no reason for the DME to go "bad" though, unless it's spoiled.

Desert_Sky · 05-14-2007, 03:04 PM

I have DME I keep in the freezer thats over a year now. I keep it sealed and dry and it still works great for my starters

ColoradoXJ13 · 05-14-2007, 03:20 PM

Papazian mentions in his second book that yeast have a much easier time fermenting corn sugar due to the non-requirement for oxygen (which fermented beer is low on) versus DME which having oxygen helps, not that you want to oxygenate...just give it more time, they will take care of it, and store at 65*F or so.

Evan! · 05-14-2007, 04:21 PM

I bottled nearly 3 weeks ago. They all have a slight hiss when I pop the top, but no carbo.

Believe me, I wouldn't be asking for help if it had only been a week. I'm just a little alarmed because the level of carbonation has been pretty steady for the past couple of weeks---and in the 30-some batches I've done, the only time beer that wasn't carbonated after 2 weeks was my Wheat Doppelbock, which never carbonated at all, even to this day, 6 or 7 months later. I just want to avoid a repeat of that episode.

So, even old DME doesn't become less fermentable?

I've tried various things, too. I've swirled the bottles to rouse the yeast...upped the temps in that room into the 80's...but it's been the same for a couple weeks now. So, 3 weeks in bottle...how long should I wait before I should start to worry?

Evan! · 05-14-2007, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheesefood

Takes more than a week to carbonate. Wait two more weeks.

Cheese, man, this is me, not some "It's my first batch, HELP!" noob.

Cheesefood · 05-14-2007, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evan!

Cheese, man, this is me, not some "It's my first batch, HELP!" noob.

I know. And I too used to freak out about carbonation not being there. Then I'd wait ANOTHER week, and voila.

Things that could be your problem:
1. Poorly mixed priming sugar. Are you testing consecutive bottles?
2. Not enough. What did you brew? How much did you use?
3. Weak Yeast.
4. Temps
5. Too good of clarification
6. Colony Collapse Disorder

Are you getting yeast at the bottom of your bottles?

This is why I kegged. Wasn't worth the wasted bottles in my opinion. You can pour a half-beer from a keg to test carbonation.

**olllllo** · 05-14-2007, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheesefood

6. Colony Collapse Disorder

I can't wait till someone parrots this answer in a month or two.