Not carbonating properly

Hi all,
I am new to brewing and I brewed a 6 gallon batch of Nut Brown Ale. My local brew store recommended priming my 16 oz bottles with 5 tablets of priming sugar tablets. After two weeks, i opened two bottles. The beer tasted good but was still flat. I know the bottle seals were good and I was able to hear very little gas escape with minimal head when opening and pouring. Does anyone have any advice for me to fix the problem or do you think I have to waste the entire batch? Any help is appreciated. [email protected]


Rob

Give it time?

Standard minimum time is three weeks at 70F when bottle carbonating/conditioning.

Also, I would use one of the calculation tools/sites, like this one and weigh the sugar long before I'd ever think about dropping tablets into bottles. From what I've read, it's one drop for a 12oz bottle, so 5 drops could see the brew heavily over carbonated on you.

Longer carbonation times can result from tired yeast, or more yeast has dropped out of suspension than you normally have. Either way, giving them more time is a pretty standard fix. Give the bottles two more weeks, then chill one down for 5-7 days before pouring to a glass.

Darker/higher ABV=longer carb time. I used a carb calculator for a 6.7% wheat porter, it has been bottled for 11 weeks, just now getting a head when poured aggressively, been stored @ 75 the whole time. Patience is a virtue, a virtue that sucks.

allenH said:

Darker/higher ABV=longer carb time. I used a carb calculator for a 6.7% wheat porter, it has been bottled for 11 weeks, just now getting a head when poured aggressively, been stored @ 75 the whole time. Patience is a virtue, a virtue that sucks.

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It only sucks when you bottle carbonate. I still give my brews time to carbonate (typically ~2 weeks), but I don't need to wait for bottles to chill for time before I can enjoy them. :rockin:

Golddiggie said:

It only sucks when you bottle carbonate. I still give my brews time to carbonate (typically ~2 weeks), but I don't need to wait for bottles to chill for time before I can enjoy them. :rockin:

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Agreed, that was my last bottled batch. I go 20psi for 48 hours and 12 psi for 5 days now and it's good to go. I love kegging!

allenH said:

Agreed, that was my last bottled batch. I go 20psi for 48 hours and 12 psi for 5 days now and it's good to go. I love kegging!

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I've found that 2 weeks at serving pressure and temperature gives me a better result. BUT, do what works well/best for you. Just like some will always bottle carbonate.

Golddiggie said:

I've found that 2 weeks at serving pressure and temperature gives me a better result. BUT, do what works well/best for you. Just like some will always bottle carbonate.

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I just kegged my 3rd batch tonight, as soon as I get some room in the kegging pipeline, I agree totally. For now, this works beautifully. I will probably naturally carb in the keg for stouts/porters to get some age on them. I am brewing 2 batches tomorrow, then I will have some breathing room.

So everyone agrees that I should wait another couple of weeks? Would it hurt the process if I open the bottles to add a couple more priming tablets then reseal? This is only my 3rd batch ever and I don't have a clue..LOL. I can't find any reference to this problem in the 3 books i have. The initial 5 tablets were the correct dose for 12 ounce bottles but I have 16 oz. The folks at the store told me to use 5 tabs which according to the instructions would result in a high 12 oz carbonation..so they thought it would produce a med 16 oz carbonation. Thanks for the advice.

Quit f'n with it, wait 2-3 weeks and try one again.
You did not tell us what temp they are being stored at, or the og.
The little tablets work fine. Relax.