Flat beer??

Just made a fresh batch of double IPA and it turned out flat. Call and asked about it but no one knew why it would of turned out that way. Anyone have any suggestions??

Gotta post details buddy, how did you carb it?

How long has it been in the bottles, and at what temp have they been carbing at? The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Temp and gravity are the two most important factors as to how long it will take.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Carbonation is actually foolproof, you add sugar, the yeast eats it and farts co2 which carbs the beer. It's not a complex system, and there's very little that can go wrong...It just takes time.....

There really is no other answer than patience, because there really isn't a problem. It really is a simply and fool proof process. The problem arises that we try to govern the behavior based on our timeframe, and not the yeast's. They don't read calendars or instruction sheets, they just do their own thing in however long it takes them.

I've been doing this for years, and bottled nearly a thousand gallons of beer, and have never had one that didn't carb eventually. And I don't do anything special to them at bottling day, that isn't explained in my bottling sticky. You just gotta wait.

And who'd you call? Beerbusters?

We had the beer in the primary fermenter for two weeks and then three weeks in the secondary fermenter and then bottled for about 4 weeks bottled. We have kept it at room temp which at our place is low 70. We called Austin homebrew where we originally bought out batch.

Any idea what your ABV is currently? As Revvy met ironed, higher gravity beers can take longer.

Couple questions (don't take offense):

-Did you remember priming sugar?
-How did you cap the bottles?
-Glass or plastic bottles?
-Does it make ANY noise when you open the bottle?
-Did you cold crash or do anything else to clear the beer? Shouldn't matter, but I guess it could slow things down a little.

No offense, I appreciate the responses! We did use priming sugar before bottling, and all bottles were glass. About ten of our bottles had the pop corks and the rest were regular caps that we used the capper that came with our home brew kit. I do admit to using soap to clean out the secondary fermenter after our first batch of beet and rinsed it out and then sanitized it after wards. Could of that been a reason?

FrankensteinsBrew said:

No offense, I appreciate the responses! We did use priming sugar before bottling, and all bottles were glass. About ten of our bottles had the pop corks and the rest were regular caps that we used the capper that came with our home brew kit. I do admit to using soap to clean out the secondary fermenter after our first batch of beet and rinsed it out and then sanitized it after wards. Could of that been a reason?

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No....

When yous ay no carbonation is there literally zero? Like if what happens if you shake a bottle and then pop the top? Does it explode foam out?

If nothing happens, the only explanation is that you didnt put any priming sugar in...even if you put in not enough shaking a cold bottle should foam up a bit after a month.

You wouldnt be the first person to forget to put priming sugar in.

FrankensteinsBrew said:

I do admit to using soap to clean out the secondary fermenter after our first batch of beet and rinsed it out and then sanitized it after wards. Could of that been a reason?

Click to expand...

soap and detergents can have an effect on carbonation however this is typically only when barware is cleaned with them. Also the problem is usually not a lack of carbonation but a reduction in the foam head once the beer is poured into the glass. It is highly unlikely that a soapy residue in the carboy would have killed your carbonation.
How did you add your priming sugar? Did you boil it in two cups of water and add it to the bottling bucket? My first batch I just poured the dry sugar in the bottom of the bottling bucket and the result was a few bottle bombs and the rest of the bottles had little to no carbonation unless I shook them before opening. Live and learn I guess.
Good luck on future brews
Ryan.

Thanks for the responses! Much appreciated!