Stout flat as pancake

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grasshopper1917

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I made some stout - im worried the yeast i used sucked - it was old kit yeast - it fermented ok BUT. I primed it with half a cuppa corn sugar before bottling to give a slightly mild carbonation - I got anxious and tried a biottle after 6 days and it is flat as a pancake - tastes ok but no fizz! When i say flat i mean flat - u get like a few tiny bubbles when u pour it in. I know it is only been 6 days but with my IPA I had a big head. Is my stout doomed???? Is there any hope some carbonation may occur at all after a couple weeks even though there has been zilch so far? Helllllp
 
I think it'll be find in about 3 weeks. It usually takes a while for it to carb up. Try not to worry and drink some nice microbrews and forget about the stout until July 30. Then, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. :mug:
 
What temperature do you have your bottles conditioning at? If it is on the cool side that will also slow down carbonation. As mentioned, try to forget about it until the end of July.
 
Ohh well it was room temp - i did put one in the fridge after just 4 days or so and let it in the fridge for 2 - then tried it. I will wait thought til the end of July I still have lots of IPA left to drink til then anyway. Have there been cases when beer has not carbonated at all?
 
No, I've never had any carbonation in 4 days but then again, I wouldn't know. I never jumped the gun that soon. I tried most of my batches on day 10 and that's with flash chilling in salty ice water giving it a full 10 days at room temp. They've always been half carbed by then.
 
6 days isn't really all that long. It also can't hurt to roll the bottles around a bit, it'll get the yeast into solution and may speed up the carbonation a bit.
 
grasshopper1917 said:
I made some stout - im worried the yeast i used sucked - it was old kit yeast - it fermented ok BUT. I primed it with half a cuppa corn sugar before bottling to give a slightly mild carbonation - I got anxious and tried a biottle after 6 days and it is flat as a pancake - tastes ok but no fizz! When i say flat i mean flat - u get like a few tiny bubbles when u pour it in. I know it is only been 6 days but with my IPA I had a big head. Is my stout doomed???? Is there any hope some carbonation may occur at all after a couple weeks even though there has been zilch so far? Helllllp
Click to expand...

did you buy a recipe kit? everything I have made calls for 3/4 cup of corn sugar boiled in with 1 cup of water. then added to your bottle bucket before you syphon the beer into the bucket. All that sound familiar?
 
:mug: I always go with 3/4 to 1 cup of corn sugar and I give it a quiet stir with a sanitized spoon as I have gotten some batches where some bottles did not carb up as much as some in the same batch:tank:
 
It probably had decent carbonation but then putting it in the fridge for two days makes the carbonation go back down, especially if the carb isn't that strong yet. I always drink tester beers before they are truly ready. I've had some completely carbed in 3 days, some it took around 5 days, but never longer than that. I also always use 3/4 cup.
 
Yea I usually use 3/4 cups to prim as well - just in this case used 1/2 cup because i only wanted a light carbonation. Just as an added note - when i took the cap off it did make that normal sound - like psssssssss - ok maybe a bad immitation hehehhe. In anycase ill give it a couple more weeks and pray to the beer gods!
 
When I did bottle all of my brews, I always used 3/4 of corn suger to prime. I also would not even thing of opening one for a minimum of 14 days.
 
All of this is good info. If the yeast fermented they are OK but If you brewed a higher gravity than their alcohol tolerance will allow they may be in an alcohol coma. In that case it should carbonate but it may take months! If it isn't good to drink, buy something else to drink and try it again in 2 weeks. The time waiting to carbonate may condition it into a really fantastic beer. At this point adding yeast would be tedious and foolish. No substitute for time at this point. Good Luck!
 

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