Carb drops didn't work

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jagg

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About a month ago i ask about a flat beer, Flyguy and a few others suggested using the carb drops in the bottles, well, its been 3 weeks and still flat, Im assuming the yeast was all worked out, if thats possible, i primed with .75 cups Muntons DME, and now I know that wasn't enough, but has anyone else had this problem using Wyeast 1028 London ? the fg was 1.020 on this IIPA. It tastes real good but its just a bit flat, It was bottled back in March, conditioned at 70 f. Should I expect any more carbonation after 3 weeks? thanks brewers.
 
The only time I've had bottles that wouldn't carbonate, my problem was it tasted sweet so I knew there was enough sugar to carbonate with. I dropped in about a dozen grains of dry yeast and recapped. It finally carbonated after another month or so.

If you primed the beer with the DME at bottling time AND added carb tablets, you definitely have enough sugar in there to carb with, probably too much. You need to wake the yeast back up. Have you tried turning the bottles upside down for a few days and then right side up again? Or gently swirl the bottles to get the yeast cake back up into suspension. Also try storing them in about 75*F or so.

Hope that works for ya.
 
I've had beer take two months to fully carbonate. Yeah sure you might get some big bubbles and a thin layer of foam, but to get the carbonation that youre probably used to it takes a much longer conditioning time than most reciepes or instruction will let on.
 
The alchohol tolerence of 1028 is 10% by volume
Have you reached this value? With an FG of 1.020, you would have needed an OG of 1.095 which is definitely in the range for an IIPA.

-a.
 
ajf said:
The alchohol tolerence of 1028 is 10% by volume
Have you reached this value? With an FG of 1.020, you would have needed an OG of 1.095 which is definitely in the range for an IIPA.

-a.
I think the og was 1.090, dont have my notes with me, I secondaried this brew for 2 weeks before I bottled, it was extremely clear, is it possible all the yeast flocced out before I bottled?There is absolutley very little yeast if any in the bottom of the bottles.
 
With a gravity in the range of 1.090, you're certainly getting close to the alcohol tolerance of the yeast, but this isn't like a switch where it will ferment at full speed below the tolerance, and immediately stop when the tolerance is reached. It's more like a slowing down as the tolerance is approached.
As your yeast managed to reduce the gravity down to 1.020, I would find it hard to believe that it couldn't go that little bit further to carbonate.

Did the carbonation improve at all since adding the carb drops? If it did, I would definitely wait some more (possibly another month or two). I frequently have beers that take much longer than three weeks to carbonate.

If the carbonation hasn't improved at all since adding the carb drops, you may want to add some new yeast with a higher alcohol tolerance, or go to England for a few weeks to develop a taste for beers that are not over carbonated and over chilled. :p

If you decide you do need to add yeast, I can't help because I've always found that time has worked. I've heard of other people having stuck fermentations with highly flocculating yeast, but I believe they were just impatient. In over 30 years, I've had lots of slow fermentations, but never one that was truly stuck.

There is also no possibility that all the yeast had flocculated. Much of the yeast could settle, but there is still plenty left for the carbonation, although it could take a bit longer.

Hope this helps.

-a.
 
Thanks AJ, it did not carb any more after the drops, it has been several months now, and still very little carbonation, I only used the drops on a sixer to see if it would work, I have 5 more of the six left, Ill give them a few more weeks to see if they carb anymore, if not Ill drink them as is, I just cant figure why it didn't carb and it irritates the hell out me :) I have another 5 gallon batch that is the same way, a slightly different recipe it is a IIPA also, both using the 1028 London, I made a 2 quart starter for both batches, massive ferentation on both using the 1 inch blowoff tube, well thanks for the replies, and keep em coming if you have any suggestions :)
 
jagg said:
Thanks AJ, it did not carb any more after the drops, it has been several months now, and still very little carbonation, I only used the drops on a sixer to see if it would work, I have 5 more of the six left, Ill give them a few more weeks to see if they carb anymore, if not Ill drink them as is, I just cant figure why it didn't carb and it irritates the hell out me :) I have another 5 gallon batch that is the same way, a slightly different recipe it is a IIPA also, both using the 1028 London, I made a 2 quart starter for both batches, massive ferentation on both using the 1 inch blowoff tube, well thanks for the replies, and keep em coming if you have any suggestions :)

When I have bottled beers that are high alcohol and long fermentig, I do a form of "krausening".
I would have (in your case) boiled the DME in 2 cups of water, cooled it, added dry yeast(not a high gravity yeast) to the primer. I let this sit for 45 minutes or so until it gets a little foamy looking, then put it in the bottling bucket, rack into the bucket and bottle as usual.
I have had imperial stouts where I know that the yeast can't do another damn thing, and this method has produced perfect carbonation in a month or so.

P.S. for a stout I would not have used any more DME than you did. I do not know how much carbonation you like in your iipa's but unfortunately this is a trial and error kind of thing. I posted a similar question a few months ago and I got one response that "I must be too poor to keg or I would have just kegged it". This wasn't true, but evidently kegging does provide an easy solution to these kind of problems.
 
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