Hello fellow brewing enthusiasts. I have a situation with a batch of flat beer. I have a Festa Brew Pale Ale 5G batch here. Bottled on 06 Mar 10. Just tried it tonight. I tried 4 bottles. All were flat. These are in 355ml Moosehead glass bottles. 1.5 Cups of dextrose suger added at bottling. Any ideas or comments. Thanks in advance.
Flat Beer
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JefeTheVol
Well-Known Member
i usually add 3/4 cup of dextrose to prime, 1.5 cups is a lot. Sometimes the yeast need to be stirred up just a little at bottling to get them in suspension. You are lucky you dont have bottle bombs with that much priming sugar. As for advice, you might be SOL on this batch, sorry.
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JOHN51277
Well-Known Member
That is a lot of sugar for bottling. Sounds like dead/no yeast in them bottles. Put them in a bottle bomb safe area just to be safe and give it another month. I had a batch do that once and it never did carb up.
At what temp are the bottles stored? I've had a lot of trouble with flat batches. One method I've found success with is inverting each bottle to resuspend the yeast and move the bottles to a warmer location (at least 70F). Part of my usual routine now is to wrap the just-bottled batch in an electric blanket to raise and maintain the temp for a week or so.
I have to agree with the last post, however, that you may have overdone the priming sugar. Watch out for bombs.
I have to agree with the last post, however, that you may have overdone the priming sugar. Watch out for bombs.
Five gallon batch? Are you sure? I thought the Festa Brew kits were all 23 litres (six gallons). As far as priming sugar goes, I always go by weight, and prime with around 200 grams. Hopefully you don't have anything to worry about with respect to bottle bombs, since Moosehead should be sturdy bottles.
Buffman's question is key--what temperature were the bottles stored at? You need 70 degrees. I would reiterate the advice to invert each bottle gently to get the yeast back into suspension.
Also a few other details about your batch would be helpful to us: OG, FG, number of stages, length of time of each, fermentation temperature, pitching method, etc. But all other things being equal, I would give the beer more time at proper carbonation temperatures after giving each bottle a gentle turn.
Buffman's question is key--what temperature were the bottles stored at? You need 70 degrees. I would reiterate the advice to invert each bottle gently to get the yeast back into suspension.
Also a few other details about your batch would be helpful to us: OG, FG, number of stages, length of time of each, fermentation temperature, pitching method, etc. But all other things being equal, I would give the beer more time at proper carbonation temperatures after giving each bottle a gentle turn.
Thank you for the responses. This is a Festa Brew 5 imp gal. kit. Started on 02 Feb, OG 1.046, Secondary transfer 07 Feb, and bottled 06 Mar. FG 1.010. The 1.5 cups is recommended from the instructions. (I can't find the actual copy, but I follow the instructions to a letter.) Bottles are stored at approx 68 degs. Most of these extract kits I have done call for 1.5 cups of sugars, and I have never had a beer bomb. 
. The batch before this one was also a Festa Brew. I followed the same routine and they turned out fine. Thanks
. The batch before this one was also a Festa Brew. I followed the same routine and they turned out fine. Thanks
Thank you for the responses. This is a Festa Brew 5 imp gal. kit. Started on 02 Feb, OG 1.046, Secondary transfer 07 Feb, and bottled 06 Mar. FG 1.010. The 1.5 cups is recommended from the instructions. (I can't find the actual copy, but I follow the instructions to a letter.) Bottles are stored at approx 68 degs. Most of these extract kits I have done call for 1.5 cups of sugars, and I have never had a beer bomb.
Most folks here talk US gallons, not imperial so you may as well speak the language of the natives (or use litres so there is no confusion) if you want to get good advice (e.g. that's part of the reason they're freaking out about 1.5 cups dextrose at bottling).
I can't see anything wrong with the process, except that 68 is a bit low on the temp side. So, you can say it worked for your last batch, but that doesn't really help you now, does it? I would reiterate that you should re-suspend the yeast and put the bottles somewhere that is at least 70. My guess is that you will be fine, it will just take more time. I had a Brewhouse Munich Dark Lager kit that took forever to carb up, even under ideal conditions. It happens. Hang in there.
Sounds good. Don't forget to give each bottle a gentle turn/swirl/shake. Let us know how things turn out.
durads73r
New Member
I have a question regarding this. When racking the beer to the bottling bucket should you try to pick up some sediment? I bottled beer yesterday and it is unbelievably clear, very little sediment in the bottles. Thanks.
I believe there will be millions upon millions of yeast cells still in suspension in even your clearest looking beer.
The OP noted that he follows kit instructions closely; it is those instructions that say rack after 3-5 days.
babydoc
New Member
Agreed. Beer that appears clear can have up to about one million cells per mL. No visible turbidity until you pass that threshold. That "clear beer" should have plenty of yeast.
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