Low/NO carbonation after 3 weeks

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jlfindley74

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I brewed two delicious 5 gallon batches (a russian imperian stout that I added hops to in the last 5 of boil & a custom IPA that tastes fantastic) and now, 3 weeks after they've been in the bottles, theyre both flat as can be. I used the priming calculator website and followed their recomendations. I feel like the suggested priming sugar amounts were low. Cant recall off the top of my head but I want to say it suggested 4-5 oz for the IPA and close to the same for the stout. Both were dead on 5 gallons of volume and at about 69 degrees when bottling took place. So, now im wondering, will they carb up in time (aka give um another 2 weeks) or do I pop the tops and add a certain amount of sugar to each bottle and re-cap? Both of the beers taste very good. They are just as flat as can be. Jesus help me.....

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5 oz. is the default standard for a five gallon brew. That's what all the kits include for priming sugar.
Try raising the temps a bit,maybe to 72-74 degrees and wait another week at least.
 
How many did you open? Not every bottle is the same. Did you gently stir in the priming sugar or did it possibly all sit at the bottom of the bottling bucket? What sugar did you use?

If you do have to uncap and re-prime, you would be looking at ~3 grams of sugar per (12 oz) bottle.
 
How did you add the priming sugar? Did you dissolve it in just-boiled water before adding it to the bottling bucket? Carefully stir it in with no splashing?
 
It's common for higher alcohol brews (i.e. 7% or higher) to have longer lag times when it comes to bottle carbonation. I would suggest waiting another couple weeks before worrying about it.
 
It's common for higher alcohol brews (i.e. 7% or higher) to have longer lag times when it comes to bottle carbonation. I would suggest waiting another couple weeks before worrying about it.

I haven't bottle conditioned in a while, but this is exactly what I remember. Maybe the yeast are fewer due to the higher alcohol or maybe a little slower/weaker. I just remember when I brewed a high alcohol brew, it took longer to carbonate.

It's hard to wait, really hard.... but give it as long as you can. Even more than a few weeks, if you can stand it. Brew a few others and forget this one for a while. It'll come good. You'll be glad you waited.

Cheers!
 
I had a similar problem with a Maharaja clone that I brewed. It came in at 11% ABV and I bottled as normal. After about 3 weeks I put one in the fridge for 24 hours and cracked it open and got absolutely no carbonation. Not even the faintest hiss! So I pitched some fresh, run of the mill dry yeast into each bottle and after 2 extra weeks it's fully carbonated.
 
How did u pitch more yeast into already bottled beer?

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I opened them up, sprinkled a little yeast into each bottle and re-capped them with sanitized caps. It's not ideal but better than waiting months to carb an IPA.
 
I just had this same problem with my milk stout. I read somewhere to turn the bottles upside down and gently shake them up to get the yeast that is in the bottles moving. Couple weeks later and it's like I never had a problem.
 
How many did you open? Not every bottle is the same. Did you gently stir in the priming sugar or did it possibly all sit at the bottom of the bottling bucket? What sugar did you use?

If you do have to uncap and re-prime, you would be looking at ~3 grams of sugar per (12 oz) bottle.

Ive opened about 4 or 5 of both the ipa and imperial stout at 1 week, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks time in bottle and they all were the same. And the last ipa I tasted actually seemed to not only be flat but the flavor appeared to have changed as well. Not in a favorable way. I added the sugar the same as always. brought about 1/2 water to a boil, let it cool a bit, added the sugar to the warm sanitized water, then slowly adddd the sugar/water mixture to the bottling bucket as the beer was being transferred from the fermentaion bucket via a siphon (and after about 1.5 -2 gallons of beer had already transferred into the bottling bucket).

Based on everyones response, it sounds like I have nothing to worry about and I simply need to give it time and itll be ok.

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A good rule of thumb is 1 week conditioning for every % of alcohol. 7 weeks for 7% alcohol, etc. brew another batch while you wait, or drink some good craft beers and harvest the bottles.


Roed Haus Brewery
 
If they're still not carbed in another month, get yourself a pack of champagne yeast, sprinkle a tiny amount in each bottle and re-cap. They'll be carbed in less than a week.
 
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