Need 2nd opinion on whether it's salvagable.

Hello, I posted this a couple of days ago in the beginners forum. One of the responses said that I should have left the beer after it was bottled at room temperature for about 3 weeks. He said I might be able to salvage it by removing it from the fridge and shaking it every few days but he wasn't sure.

So.... will this work? Are the yeast dead or just dormant after refrigeration?

Original Post!


PROBLEM - Beer was completely flat, no carbonation what's so ever, tasted flat and stale.

I am not sure what happened, I painstakenly followed the directions the best I could. I let sit in primary for about a week then racked to 2ndary for about 3 weeks. When I bottled I diluted and put the priming sugar into the bottleing bucket before pouring from carboy. I let the bottles sit for about 2 weeks in my fridge.

I'm thinking the yeast must have been inactive or dead? What could have caused this? How can I prevent this in the future?

THANKS!

I honestly don't know, but I can't think of any reason not to try. My guess is that the yeasties will get back to work after they warm up. Refridgeration doesn't kill them, after all: we all refridgerate our liquid yeast supplies before we brew with them...

What do you mean, "When I bottled I diluted"?

Warm them up to 20c or 68f for a week and keep the yeast in suspension. Let settle at room tempertures for another 2 weeks and it should carb up.

After bottling, you gotta keep em at room temp for at least a couple weeks for carbonation. I only fridge a few at a time as I need them AFTER carbonation. I suggest you remove them from the fridge, give em all a quick shake after they warm up and then let at room temp for at least two weeks. The yeast are probably fine.

evetS said:

After bottling, you gotta keep em at room temp for at least a couple weeks for carbonation. I only fridge a few at a time as I need them AFTER carbonation. I suggest you remove them from the fridge, give em all a quick shake after they warm up and then let at room temp for at least two weeks. The yeast are probably fine.

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Yup...sounds like they went right from being primed into the fridge. Keeping them at room temp for a couple of weeks should get them back in line.

dibby33 said:

What do you mean, "When I bottled I diluted"?

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I think he means he mixed the priming sugar with water. Either that or he's deluded.

Hopfan said:

I think he means he mixed the priming sugar with water. Either that or he's deluded.

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Ahhh......

dibby33 said:

What do you mean, "When I bottled I diluted"?

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I think he said that he mixed his priming sugar into water before racking his brew onto the wort. I boil mine and cool before racking. Much the same if the sugar is mixed well into the solution, but not the same sanitary mix.

Yeah...what they said. In order to carbonate in bottle, you need for a mini-fermentation to occur in each bottle. In order to do this, the bottles need to be at least close to the listed temp range for the yeast. Currently, my recently bottled IPA and Cherry Stout are sitting in my guest bedroom with a space heater that keeps it around 75-80f.

Putting them in the fridge is prohibiting bottle fermentation from happening. Take 'em out, shake 'em up lightly, and sit them in a warm room.

yeah that's what i meant, i diluted the priming sugar with hot water and poured into the bottling bucket before pouring wort in there. right now my beers are back out of the fridge and warming up.