How long can priming take?

I've had a batch of red that has been in the bottles for about 5-6 weeks. It has almost no carbonation, to the point where I decided to open the bottles, add a little sugar and a bit of yeast to try to get things moving. During this process, I opened about 10 bottles, each with very little CO2 escaping when I opened the bottles. The 11th one frothed over when I opened it.

What gives? How long can carbonation take? Anyone else had this problem of very uneven carbonation between bottles?

Priming can be tedious, no doubt. Are you using Corn Sugar or table sugar? How are you priming.... Are you mixing the sugar with water on the stove and then pouring it into your bottling bucket before adding the wort or manually adding sugar to each bottle?
Also, where are you storing your bottles? I have come to believe that letting them sit close to a heat source like a dryer could accelerate some, without affecting the whole batch, hence your issue of the 11th beer spewing but not the others. It could be a combination of both storage and incorrect sugar saturation.

priming each bottle individually with corn sugar. All should be the exact same temp (maybe 68-72 F).

Scarthingmoor said:

priming each bottle individually with corn sugar. All should be the exact same temp (maybe 68-72 F).

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I've never done it that way and that doesn't mean the way you're doing it doesn't work. I've always boiled up my water with my priming sugar, cooled it down, and then added it to my bottling bucket while the wort is filling the bottling bucket up. I've never had an issue doing it that way?

I'm having the same issue with mine after 2 weeks. I've opened up roughly about 10 bottles and only 1 had good carbonation. Glad I'm going to be kegging and force carbing after this batch so not to worry about it.

Millsteg said:

I'm having the same issue with mine after 2 weeks. I've opened up roughly about 10 bottles and only 1 had good carbonation. Glad I'm going to be kegging and force carbing after this batch so not to worry about it.

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So, just because you're openning your beer too early and complaining that your beer isn't ready yet, you think kegging is the magic answer, when in truth PATIENCE is the magic answer...and even if you keg, you still often need to wait the same amount of time for the beer to condition and not taste like crap.....Just because a beer can carb quick, doesn't necessarily mean your beer isn't still gonna be green.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.


Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Lazy Llama came up with a handy dandy chart to determine how long something takes in brewing, whether it's fermentation, carbonation, bottle conditioning....



If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

At two weeks I wouldn't expect ANY of my beers to be carbed yet.....

Revvy said:

So, just because you're openning your beer too early and complaining that your beer isn't ready yet, you think kegging is the magic answer, when in truth PATIENCE is the magic answer...and even if you keg, you still often need to wait the same amount of time for the beer to condition and not taste like crap.....Just because a beer can carb quick, doesn't necessarily mean your beer isn't still gonna be green.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.


Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Lazy Llama came up with a handy dandy chart to determine how long something takes in brewing, whether it's fermentation, carbonation, bottle conditioning....

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

At two weeks I wouldn't expect ANY of my beers to be carbed yet.....

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At first I was like... this guys kind of a jerk. And then I was like.... ok he's kinda coming around. And then I was like.... this guy really has some pretty good insight. And then finally i was like.... Ok he might now what he's talking about.

Thanks for straightening my ass out.

Millsteg said:

At first I was like... this guys kind of a jerk. And then I was like.... ok he's kinda coming around. And then I was like.... this guy really has some pretty good insight. And then finally i was like.... Ok he might now what he's talking about.

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This might be a candidate for addition to Revvy's sig.

bigrediowan said:

i've never done it that way and that doesn't mean the way you're doing it doesn't work. I've always boiled up my water with my priming sugar, cooled it down, and then added it to my bottling bucket while the wort is filling the bottling bucket up. I've never had an issue doing it that way?

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+1

Millsteg said:

I'm having the same issue with mine after 2 weeks. I've opened up roughly about 10 bottles and only 1 had good carbonation. Glad I'm going to be kegging and force carbing after this batch so not to worry about it.

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I always bottle condition for 4 weeks, then refrigerate for 24-48 hours to help the CO2 redisolve into the beer. You opened them too early.

william_shakes_beer said:

I always bottle condition for 4 weeks, then refrigerate for 24-48 hours to help the CO2 redisolve into the beer. You opened them too early.

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Yeah I'm getting that feeling haha. I suppose I just need to be patient. That's the worst thing about this hobby. Having to wait so damn long to enjoy the fruits of your labor

Several threads of impatient/panicky noobs were updated today on undercarbed or green beer.

crj5000 said:

Update. So I tried this beer again last week after letting it sit for three more weeks. Everyone is correct time is your friend. The "off taste" is gone and the beer pours a good head. ... Anyways if anyone has rushed through the conditioning step or their beer does not taste right yet, then listen to everyone on this forum and just wait.

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brewgasm135 said:

For anyone who has this problem and wants a conclusion:

Patience is a virtue... They are all carbed up now.... But moral of the story... wait, and wait... and if some are still flat, wait some more. Easier said than done the first run or two it seems, lol.

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drew1d said:

The beer was fine.

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I'm just sayin.....

It really is FOOLPROOF. You add sugar, you cap it, you stick it in a warm place and you WALK AWAY for at least 3 weeks.....You check a bottle, if it's ready it's ready, if not you come in another week or more....and eventually the bottles will be carbed.

It's not magic, it's not complicated, and it's not something that is hit or miss or faulty, if you've simply followed the same process that MILLIONS of brewers do EVERY DAY, and if you are patient.

But if it's not ready before 3 weeks, and MOST OF THE TIME IT WON'T BE....you don't declare that there is something wrong, and you don't try to fix something....You give it AT LEAST the time we recommend....if you jump the gun, and it's not ready, it's not the beer or the beer yeast's fault...they're doing their jobs.

A lot of folks look for something to blame (un even mixing of priming sugar) us a good one...but it usually just boils down to a lack of patience, not that there's anything wrong.

Revvy said:

But if it's not ready before 3 weeks, and MOST OF THE TIME IT WON'T BE....you don't declare that there is something wrong, and you don't try to fix something....You give it AT LEAST the time we recommend....if you jump the gun, and it's not ready, it's not the beer or the beer yeast's fault...they're doing their jobs.

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There is a phrase I would like to add to this. It is a phrase I say to myself after every batch.

"Reserve Judgment for 3 weeks."

After I bottle, I taste 1 beer every 3-4 days for the first 3 weeks. It will burn a 6 pack ahead of schedule, but I find it really educational to see how a beer bottle conditions through the short-run. However, I will make no judgments about the beer during these tastings - it is for education only. That is a tough thing to do, but you just have to repeat the mantra.

So to be clear, it is fine to sample a beer that is still conditioning, but if you are going to do that, you can't start second guessing your process, ingredients, or recipe until the beer has been bottled for 3 weeks.

That said, a long period in the bottle is not a band-aid for poor fermentation or poor sanitation. The beer you rack out of the carboy will be a pretty good representation of the beer you will be drinking in 3 weeks. Bottle aging will allow some fine particulate and yeast to fall out of solution, which could also have been accomplished by a long primary (3-4 weeks) or a short primary with a cold crash (10-14 days). A long bottle conditioning period can also meld flavors (like next day chili) or mellow flavors (like an intense dry hop or a harsh roasted flavor from a little too much black malt).

....but it will not fix a beer that was destined to be bad.

jfowler1 said:

There is a phrase I would like to add to this. It is a phrase I say to myself after every batch.

"Reserve Judgment for 3 weeks."

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My reserve judgement is actually 6 weeks in the bottle. I've noticed that even at 3 a carbed beer can need more time to lose green-ness.


The other thing, is that although it's not a bandaid, you can be surprised what DOES end up getting fixed over time. I've been surprised at some of the things that have gotten better, like I and other's have chronicled here.