12 gal. Oak Barrel Stout bottling carbonation

What I am working with:

2nd attempt/use
12 gal. whiskey barrel stout
S04 yeast


I am ready to finish my 90 day secondary and I don't want to make the mistake as the first batch.

5 gal. will be force carbonated in keg

7 gal. will be bottled


The first batch was all bottled. The beer was outstanding and quite big. The challenge I faced was that the the beer did not have hardly any carbonation. For some reason the bottling sugars did not get used.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can avoid this challenge when I begin the bottling process on this batch?

KGBSpringTx said:

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can avoid this challenge when I begin the bottling process on this batch?

Click to expand...

Use a bottling yeast? Safe backup, just in case.

You might need to add fresh yeast to carbonate properly. You can use champagne yeast to carbonate and wont leave a huge cake on the bottom of the bottle.


Where in Spring, TX are you? I was born and raised there

You are most likely losing dissolved CO2 during your barrel aging process. If the temperatures where the barrel is differs from where the fermenter was then you might be losing dissolved CO2 due to temperature fluctuations. Also, each time you rack there's a good chance of losing some dissolved CO2. Additionally, all the nucleation points on the wood could assist in releasing dissolved CO2. Most of our priming calculators assume that dissolved CO2 is already there. Of course, dissolved CO2 will dissipate just with time.

All of that aside, depending on the strength of the beer you may need more time before it will properly carb. Adding fresh yeast at bottling can help accelerate that process.

So from the response so far, I should use a bottling yeast combined with bottling sugars to create the desired carbonation.........

My only concern at this point would be over carbonating, but I guess I can control that with the amount of bottling sugar.

3/4 cup per 5 gallon, I assume, using a champagne yeast strain is the reccomendation????



Where in Spring, Tx????? Kurky and Louetta Country Lake Estates

I grew up on kuykendahl and louetta. Now live and work in tomball down the street.

That's what ill do if I was in your shoes. Champagne yeast is cheap and just need to carbonate it. Just know how much to put in for the correct carbonation. I use an online calculator for the correct amount

And it's not even that much yeast to add back. Like a forth or so of a packet/tube for 6gallons.

mostly responding though coz I grew up in birnam woods off 1960 and aldine westfield. You guys sound like you're from what people in my neighborhood called klein. spring is like this giant blob of undefined territory that absorbs all else that isn't houston, humble or the woodlands on the northside.