First time with no carbonation

Hi.
Im having carbonation problems, first time in my life, with my Double IPA Batch.

I brewed in april and bottled it first of may.

Recipe:

13l OG 1.087, FG 1.018
4kg pale-ale
0,3kg Vienna
0,175kg Aromatic malt
0,1kg Cara60l
0,1kg Cara30l
0,075kg Brown malt
0,3kg table sugar

FWH: 10g Cascade, 10g Columbus, 5g Magnum
90min 15g Magnum
60min 15g Columbus
30min 25g Citra
20min 25g Amarillo
15min 25+25g Centennial and Simcoe
5min 25g Centennial
0min 25+25+25g Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo

Dryhops: 9 days 25g each: Citra, Columbus, Amarillo, Simcoe and 4 days 25g each: Citra, Amarillo, Simcoe, Centennial.
Yeast: Safale US-05

Carbonated for 2,4vol (approx. 82g of corn sugar).

I even re-pitched yeast two weeks ago and still no carbonation. I used dryed yeast (safale S04) for approx 0,5ml/bottle. No signs of infection, really nice beer actually.

I had a problem similar a few weeks ago. It turned out the "whirlpool" motion that is supposed to mix the sugar, didn't mix the sugar. First time out of many that gave me problems.

Is there no carbonation at all? Or do you get a little bit of a hiss or maybe very little c02 smoke out of the top?

Very little hsss when I open the bottle, but the beer is flat.
I measured FG ratings again, it's 1.021, so there's corn sugar in the bottles and it tastes also in the beer, somewhat sweet sugar taste on it.

I just dunno what to do. Just wait (but for how long), add more yeast, add more sugar (how much) or what?

When you say you repitched yeast, do you mean you opened up the bottles, added some more yeast, and then recapped? That's a pretty big beer, so I wouldn't be surprised if the carbonation was taking a little longer than usual with the initial yeast. So long as you were keeping it fairly warm (65-75F, 24-28C?), it probably would have eventually gotten there, just maybe later than you would have liked. The trouble now is that if you opened up the caps to repitch, any co2 that had been generated is now gone. So you added new yeast, which isn't a problem, but you can't be sure how much sugar was left to carbonate with the new yeast.

Best case scenario, the original yeast were so tired out that they didn't get around to using up any of the priming sugar, which means that the new yeast are able to carb the batch just fine. Give them a month or two in a decently warm room and then start checking to see how they're coming along.

Good but not great case scenario, the original yeast used up some of the sugar, but since you mention that the FG is higher and it tastes sweeter, not all of it. The new yeast will eventually use up that sugar, carbing it to a lower level than desired, but still certainly drinkable. Same rules apply, tuck those bottles away somewhere warm and let the yeasties work.

At this point, I wouldn't try adding anything else. More sugar could just lead to bottle bombs, the yeast you've added should be working just fine, and I've found the more I try to fix things the worse they get. Toss those bottles in a closet somewhere and then in two weeks, take one out, cool it down for a few days, then test it. If not carbed, give the rest another two weeks and test another, repeating until they're ready. If they start to seem slightly carbed but don't improve on the next testing, they may have carbed as much as they're going to.

Ok. So it's September and still no carbonation. Im giving up hope with this. Any ideas what to do?
Add sugar? Add yeast? Flush the beer away? Pour it to the fermenter add yeast and sugar? Carbonate them with sodastream?
I almost can see all the money and effort I invested to this batch flying away.

Arska said:

Ok. So it's September and still no carbonation. Im giving up hope with this. Any ideas what to do?
Add sugar? Add yeast? Flush the beer away? Pour it to the fermenter add yeast and sugar? Carbonate them with sodastream?
I almost can see all the money and effort I invested to this batch flying away.

Click to expand...

Uncap them and add yeast and I would add more sugar, 1.021 could be unfermentable sugar causing the problem. I think the risk of infection is small, but honestly I don't see another option.

Don't worry about losing money! Get some cheap dried yeast and pitch some in.

Someone most likely knows more than I do in this situation, but I can't see another way besides kegging.

Mojzis said:

Uncap them and add yeast and I would add more sugar, 1.021 could be unfermentable sugar causing the problem. I think the risk of infection is small, but honestly I don't see another option.

Don't worry about losing money! Get some cheap dried yeast and pitch some in.

Someone most likely knows more than I do in this situation, but I can't see another way besides kegging.

Click to expand...

Well I don't have kegs. How much yeast and how much sugar is the magic question?

Maybe 1/4 to half a packet. And for sugar I would think 1/2 of what you had originally used. I would be wary of creating bottle bombs with such a high FG that could be caused by priming sugar already in the beer, but if this was the case I think some would have been carbed by now.

82g of priming sugar for a 1.087 beer does not appear to be enough sugar. My IPA at 1.065 carbonated to 2.3vol requires 125g of corn sugar. It appears that you did not use nearly enough sugar so adding more yeast is not going to solve the problem as there is not enough sugar present.