Why the HELL isn't my beer carbonating

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rph33

rph33

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Of my last 2 brews:

Brew 1: Imperial Brown Ale with significant honey additions... ~1.080 OG, added more honey in secondary. Stayed in secondary for 5 months at no lower than 63 degrees and no higher than 70. I think maybe the loonnng time in secondary is what caused a problem with the yeast, but anyway, I bottled about 5 weeks ago with around 1/2cup of corn sugar and its still flat as anything.

Brew 2: Dubbel Abbey Ale, very straightforward. Around 1.077 OG, one week in primary, 2.5 weeks in secondary. It's been in the bottle for 13 days now, and I just can't get a head to come out of a pour. Very flat and sweet and I'm worried that it might not improve.

What in the hell is going on. Flavors are good if not great, had no problems in fermentation, I sanitize everything that contacts the beer with StarSan.... UGH. What is going on!?!?! It just sucks to spend 40 goddamn dollars on a beer and wait for months and months and then have it practically ruined by it mysteriously refusing to carbonate. If this happens for my Double IPA which is in secondary right now, I'm seriously going to punch a baby.
 
Those are pretty high gravities. Give them more time and keep the temp up, 70F or even a little more.
 
rph33 said:
Of my last 2 brews:

Brew 1: Imperial Brown Ale with significant honey additions... ~1.080 OG, added more honey in secondary. Stayed in secondary for 5 months at no lower than 63 degrees and no higher than 70. I think maybe the loonnng time in secondary is what caused a problem with the yeast, but anyway, I bottled about 5 weeks ago with around 1/2cup of corn sugar and its still flat as anything...
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Good luck...

I did a barleywine that secondaried for about 6 months with about a 1.08 OG and bottled. Left at 70dF for 3 weeks and got no carbonation whatsoever. The yeasties are just too tired to go on at that point. Many people say that they have bottled after 6-9 months and not had a problem, but I don't think they are bottling high ABV beers.

Here's what I did (learn from my mistakes!) I poured all the beer back into the carboy. Added 2 packets of dry yeast to get fermentation going again. Still nothing. Dead. All the yeast fell to the bottom and died, choking on the alcohol.

Here's what I would do if I were you...

pour all your beer into a corny and force carbonate, then re-bottle. If you can't do that, dump your beer into a carboy. Get another batch of something going and add the krausen plus 3/4 cup corn sugar or table sugar into your imperial brown. Then re-bottle. If after 3-4 weeks you still have no carbonation... well you may want to try blending that beer with something else or just drink it flat.
 
You mention your temps for secondary which is irrevelent to bottle conditioning/carbonation...

What temps are the bottles STORED at?

If you have a high gravity beer it could take A couple MONTHS AT 70 degrees to carb up.

We say 3 weeks at 70 for a normal sized beer...and that's just a general rule...when dealing with living things anything is just a general rule of thumb.

Heck even for a stout or porter, which isn't the highest gravity beer in the world I've had them take 8 WEEKS to come up to even the faintest carbonation.

You don't have to f with it, you don't have to dump it like lordbeermestrength posted back into the secondary or rack to a corney (Unless you want 5 gallons of liquid cardboard)...all you have to do is walk away for months, you leve the bottles alone in a warm closet...why the heck to you thing people leve BArleywines in bottles for a YEAR????? Lordbeermestrength, they ARE BOTTLING AND STORING HIGH GRAV BEERS, THAT'S HOW THEY KNOW IT TAKES TIME!

(Seriously, that is some of the worst advice I have ever heard on here...we're talking beers that need to be aged, and pouring into a secondary or a carboy is going to be the one thing that would cause the beer more than likely NOT TO AGE WELL....Oxydation takes months to develop...so basically when the beer reached maturity it would have oxydized...sheesh.)


This is a game of patience...and the stronger the beer the longer it takes...it doesn't mean there's anything wrong...it's not koolaind your making, but some of the strongest beers around...

1.070, and 1.080 are pretty honking big ales..

THINK in terms of Months, people, Months!!!!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/558191-post101.html

If you want quick beers, make and drink hefes or low grav beers, but if you are going to invest money and time in making strong ales, then have patience to let them mature into the great beers they are supposed to be...
 
Revvy said:
(Unless you want 5 gallons of liquid cardboard)

(Seriously, that is some of the worst advice I have ever heard on here...we're talking beers that need to be aged, and pouring into a secondary or a carboy is going to be the one thing that would cause the beer more than likely NOT TO AGE WELL....Oxydation takes months to develop...so basically when the beer reached maturity it would have oxydized...sheesh.)
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Correct me if I am incorrect; but, if the corny in question was purged of all O2 and flooded with CO2 wouldn't the risk for oxidation be decreased? I was actually planning on "unbottling" and force carbing but was going to make sure I got rid of every bit of O2 in the corny itself before carefully transferring the beer from bottle into keg.
 
nealf said:
Correct me if I am incorrect; but, if the corny in question was purged of all O2 and flooded with CO2 wouldn't the risk for oxidation be decreased? I was actually planning on "unbottling" and force carbing but was going to make sure I got rid of every bit of O2 in the corny itself before carefully transferring the beer from bottle into keg.
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If you want to risk it, have at it...me I think no matter if you purge, you are still POURING out of bottles and you are bound to pick up some O2 molecules on they way down...

Seriously, would YOU try it? Especially just because you were too impatient to wait for your beer to possibly carbonate naturally?
 
revvy's already in the bag at six am? :mug:

if they're bottled, leave em be... but i doubt there's any yeast left in the barley wine to carbonate. next time, mix a half packet of dry yeast in with your priming sugar, and you should be good to go.

you can also pry the caps up gently, and put a few grains of yeast in each bottle, but it's hardly worth the effort. ;)
 
Revvy said:
Seriously, would YOU try it? Especially just because you were too impatient to wait for your beer to possibly carbonate naturally?
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Honestly, I was planning on it because the 999BW was my first BIG beer and I never knew they took longer to carb than regular strength beers. So, now I have changed my mind and will let them take as much time as they need.

I certainly am glad that I bottled a few of them into plastic bottles so I will be able to test for carbonation as the weeks and months go on!

Neal
 
How about decanting the bottles when wanted into a PET bottle an hour or two before you want to drink it, and force carbing with a tire valve/co2 cartridge arrangement? If the beer tastes good now, that would be one way to drink it without oxidising it?
 
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:
How about decanting the bottles when wanted into a PET bottle an hour or two before you want to drink it, and force carbing with a tire valve/co2 cartridge arrangement? If the beer tastes good now, that would be one way to drink it without oxidising it?
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WTF...Gnome, talking brewing????

Did someone steal his account? Or is this a "new year, new you" kinda thing?

:D
 
Revvy said:
WTF...Gnome, talking brewing????

Did someone steal his account? Or is this a "new year, new you" kinda thing?

:D
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LMAO! STFU man! was it a reasonable idea or not? :)

Edit: I have personally exploded 2 MrBeer plastic bottles, so I have experience in this! :eek:
 
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:
LMAO! STFU man! was it a reasonable idea or not? :)

Edit: I have personally exploded 3 MrBeer plastic bottles, so I have experience in this! :eek:
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To me...no...I wouldn't do it...Why? Becasue I don't impose my will or my timeframe on my beers, nor would I go out of my way to risk infection and/or oxydation, to drink something that since it is so big, would probably taste like crap, or at least be highly alcoholic...Carbonation may take a long time, but so will losing the green/hot taste in a big beer...These are natural processes...

Honestly, how would you "decant" your beer from a glass bottle into a pet bottle without if falling? Short of puncturing the bottle cap (like a nurse punctures the seal on a vial of antibiotics or other drugs) and drawing out out via suction and a having vacuum present, how would you not be pouring through oxygen?

And like I said, force carbing is NOT going to eliminate the need for CO2 based conditioning of some sort...
 
bull8042 said:
BWAAAHAAAHAAA! The Gnome has been called out..... TWICE in the same thread. OUCH!
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I was just looking through my old https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f19/warning-lable-fun-90815/ thread...This is one that Shecky made...:D

8623d1227991518-warning-lable-fun-warninglabel.jpg
 
I know that big beers take a long time to be ready, but I thought that was just referring to TASTE (conditioning) and not actually the time it took to carbonate. In my past experience, all of my beers have carbonated fully within 3 weeks, and I THEN let 'em condition for 2+ months.

I guess I'll just give 'em more time and I'll raise the temps. Right now they have been at 65 degrees, I haven't had problems at that temp. before but maybe that is it. I'll bump it to 70 and hope for the best.

Danke schönn
 
rph33 said:
I know that big beers take a long time to be ready, but I thought that was just referring to TASTE (conditioning) and not actually the time it took to carbonate. In my past experience, all of my beers have carbonated fully within 3 weeks, and I THEN let 'em condition for 2+ months.

I guess I'll just give 'em more time and I'll raise the temps. Right now they have been at 65 degrees, I haven't had problems at that temp. before but maybe that is it. I'll bump it to 70 and hope for the best.

Danke schönn
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Bottle conditioning is in some ways a BYPRODUCT of carbonation...meaning you need the co2 which gets reabsorbed into the solution after it maxes out the headspace (that's how a beer gets carbed, the co2 can't go anywhere else because of the bottle cap, so it takes the path of least resistance and goes back into the beer.)

The co2 along with the yeasties scrubs the beer of the byproducts and smooths things over...so you kinda need it to be carbed before you get the full benefit of conditioning...

AND since you are long conditioning, it would hurt to regitate the bottles every now and then to rerouse any yeast.
 
Quick question?? I heard on one of the brewcasting experts say that one should pitch a second batch of yeast onto a barleywine because the high alcohol content kills off the first batch. Not sure if it's pitched into secondary, or when bottling though.

Any thoughts? I've got a batch transferred into secondary last night, and wonder if I should pitch again at some point, maybe using a different strain of yeast?
 
flyangler18 said:
Simple typo, I suspect. I think the good Reverend meant to type 're-agitate'. The technical term is 'riddle'. :D
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Sorry, I guess my sarcasm didn't come through so well. I suspected as much, but since I have been stalking Revvy on the site today (or he has been stalking me) I figured I would take advantage to throw in a quick poke.
twak.gif
 
bull8042 said:
Sorry, I guess my sarcasm didn't come through so well. I suspected as much, but since I have been stalking Revvy on the site today (or he has been stalking me) I figured I would take advantage to throw in a quick poke.
twak.gif
Click to expand...

I got it and LMAO. :D
 
Ive got a RIS that been in the bottles for 6 months without any carbonation. I am not worried. I trust my yeasties 100%. They'll get to work when they feel good & ready to.
 
I've got a 10% RIS that was in secondary for almost 6 months and been bottled for 2. It is just now starting to carb and i don't expect it to be decently carbed for at least another 3 to 4 months.
 
Also I don't think anyone else mentioned it so I will, 1/2 cup corn sugar is not going to produce much carbonation. If I remember right, browns are not supposed to have alot of carb so you are probably ok, but I just wanted you to realize what you did there.
 
Sager Brewing Co. said:
Also I don't think anyone else mentioned it so I will, 1/2 cup corn sugar is not going to produce much carbonation. If I remember right, browns are not supposed to have alot of carb so you are probably ok, but I just wanted you to realize what you did there.
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I bottled an English Brown a few weeks ago and it call for 2.9 volumes of co2 = 6.25 oz. That is well over a cup of sugar. Haven't tried yet but I hope that it will good to go in a week or three when I get around to trying it.
 
i didnt really know where to post this, but i had a question regarding growlers. if your keep half a growler or so,after originally opening it, in your fridge for a day or two, is it possible to add some sugar or carbonation drops so it wont be flat when i get around to drinking.
 
dogfishandi said:
i didnt really know where to post this, but i had a question regarding growlers. if your keep half a growler or so,after originally opening it, in your fridge for a day or two, is it possible to add some sugar or carbonation drops so it wont be flat when i get around to drinking.
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No. Growlers aren't made to withstand outward pressures. Sorry, you're going to have to drink it all up...:D
 
zac said:
Ive got a RIS that been in the bottles for 6 months without any carbonation. I am not worried. I trust my yeasties 100%. They'll get to work when they feel good & ready to.
Click to expand...

Christian said:
I've got a 10% RIS that was in secondary for almost 6 months and been bottled for 2. It is just now starting to carb and i don't expect it to be decently carbed for at least another 3 to 4 months.
Click to expand...


Wow... how have I been brewing for like a year and I have NEVER ever heard of this? Every single book I've ever read says carbonation takes between 7-21 days. They also say that a beer can take time to "mature", but that is never mentioned in any sections about "carbonation", I thought it just meant that the flavor profile took longer to mature, and I have DEFINITELY never heard of beers taking 2-6 months to simply CARBONATE.

I'm not saying you guys are wrong; I believe 100% that you are right, it's just that I have no clue how I didn't know this! :(

Okay, well, if I bottled my dubbel on Dec. 24th, 2008, when should I forget about it until?
 
Curiosity here. What's a growler, Sounds like a possum that adopted us asking for food. I could imagine putting it on the bar b but drinking it?
 
Terry08 said:
Curiosity here. What's a growler, Sounds like a possum that adopted us asking for food. I could imagine putting it on the bar b but drinking it?
Click to expand...

Opossum, now THAT is one ugly critter! They like to sleep in the road on their backs here...
Anyway, this is the "growler" that he is referring to:

growler.jpg
 
rph33 said:
Wow... how have I been brewing for like a year and I have NEVER ever heard of this? Every single book I've ever read says carbonation takes between 7-21 days. They also say that a beer can take time to "mature", but that is never mentioned in any sections about "carbonation", I thought it just meant that the flavor profile took longer to mature, and I have DEFINITELY never heard of beers taking 2-6 months to simply CARBONATE.

I'm not saying you guys are wrong; I believe 100% that you are right, it's just that I have no clue how I didn't know this! :(

Okay, well, if I bottled my dubbel on Dec. 24th, 2008, when should I forget about it until?
Click to expand...

IMO, a lot really depends on your definition of carbonation.

Most people worry about getting a nice head in the glass. Sodas for instance are carbonated, but have no head.

Me? I look for both.:D:mug:

As for your waiting time? Like all brews, the beer will be ready when it's ready. Any other input is just a guess, even a generalization if you want to call it that.
 

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