I brewed a 5-gallon batch of a cream stout on 12/30/12. It was an extract recipe and i boiled 2.5 gallons on the stove. The yeast is WLP013. It fermented actively and I moved it to a secondary fermenter after a week. Kept it in the secondary for about 2 weeks. I bottled on 1/20/13. When i bottled I boiled 2 cups of water with 1.5 cups of Briess Golden Light DME plus 1.5 ounces of corn sugar - I added that touch of corn sugar just to ensure good carbonation.. I kept the bottles in the warmest room in my house - which is not so warm at this time of year. It's probably 66 degrees most of the time and the thermostat sets back to 63 during part of the day and at night. After three weeks I tried one of the beers and it tastes very good but there was no carbonation. I took one of the two cases of bottled beer and put a heating pad under it for the past week. The heating pad is on its lowest setting. I thought one week would be enough to generate a little bit of carbonation so I put one in the refrigerator for 24 hours and then opened it but there is still no carbonation at all. Anybody have any ideas? I had a batch once in the past that didn't carbonate and I never figured it out. This is not a real high gravity beer, so I don't think the alcohol killed the yeast. Any help is appreciated.
Bottles didn't carbonate
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highgravitybacon
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Is there any carbonation at all? Even the slightest "pffff" when you open a bottle? Could you have not sealed the bottles well?
Try keeping it on a heater pad that can get the bottles to at least 75F. Invert them and agitate them a bit before doing this. Wait about two weeks. If that doesn't work, then report back in two weeks.
highgravitybacon said:
There was no hint of carbonation. The bottles are well sealed. I can turn them upside down and there's no leakage. I did turn them upside down an back gently when I put them on the heating pad, but I'll do it again and I'll get a thermometer in there to check the temperature. I was a little bit afraid to get them too warm - didn't want to kill the yeast.
They would have to be over 130 degrees to kill the yeast!
They need more time and since they were kept cold for the first 3weeks you need to basically start the clock over.
My bigger beers can take 8-10 weeks to carb and condition. I've got a Belgian IPA at 9.5% that's going on 6 weeks and still needs some time and they are at 71.
Also, you used DME which takes longer since its a more complex sugar so put them somewhere warmer and forget about them for a month or so.
They need more time and since they were kept cold for the first 3weeks you need to basically start the clock over.
My bigger beers can take 8-10 weeks to carb and condition. I've got a Belgian IPA at 9.5% that's going on 6 weeks and still needs some time and they are at 71.
Also, you used DME which takes longer since its a more complex sugar so put them somewhere warmer and forget about them for a month or so.
