Can carb times vary??

My brew partner says different, but I say on a day we bottled two batches that we forgot to prime one of the batches. We bottled a Belgium Strong and a (Dont laugh) a Tequiza clone. After 7 days, i tried one of the clones and it was flat as all get out. The Belgium on the other hand was full of carbonation. IF we did in fact prime the clone, well let me back up first. The clone fermented very aggresively. Almost blew the fermenter top off. After 2 weeks, I transerferred to secondary and added a mason jar with 1.5 oz of tequila, 11oz of agave nectar and 4 lime peels that had been marinating for a week. The secondary began fermenting again for about 36 hours then settled down. Is there a chance that the stronger alcohol of the tequila killed the yeast? Im new to brewing and suspect that the easiest explanationis that I just forgot to prime. I reprimed 6 bottles tonite and stored in the laundry room that averages 75-78 degrees to help stir up the yeast. Ill chill and open one this Sunday after 6 days and see what happens. What do yall think?

Patience grasshopper.

Rule of thumb is 3 weeks for carbing in bottles. Then chill the beer for a day or two before trying one so the extreme pressure in the head space has time to equalize into solution.

Quick chilling right after carbing will only waste the CO2 as it will be vented as soon as you pop the cap. It needs time at a lower temp to absorb all the CO2 produced at room temp.

The beer will change over time too after refrigeration and your patience will be rewarded.

Oh, dont get me wrong, I have patience now after the first 1 or 2 batch patience jitters. Im just wondering if carb times can vary. I dont wanna wait 3-6 weeks only to find out that my suspicion was correct, that I didnt prime the batch prior to bottling!!

Yes, definitely. There can be varying carb times for certain beers. If you cold crash and gelatin a beer, there will be much less yeast in suspension (there will still be some), so it'll take longer for carbonation. Higher alcohol beers generally take longer too.

I've had beers carb in a few days and I've had beers take 3 weeks. Revvy's had a high ABV beer that took months.

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.

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.


Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

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

Lazy Llama came up with a handy dandy chart to determine how long something takes in brewing, whether it's fermentation, carbonation, bottle conditioning....



If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

I hate to beat a dead horse, but Im just wondering if something happedn to the yeast in this batch. After looking at my notes, its been 16 days and I have absolutely no carbing in the bottles. I mean none. Ive popped a bottle after 5 days and had carbonation. definitely not done, but a head and bubles and everything. Ive checked one of the 6 test bottles that I recapped an reprimed and theyre no different. Not a single bubble. Granted, I know that its very early , but of the first 8 batches Ive made, from a Hefe to a stout, they all showed signs after 5 days of some form of carbonation. I guess Ill just leave em in the bottles for a few more weeks and if I still dont see any progress, Ill just have to dump the batch. No big loss, it was a clone test I was trying out and I really want to redo it. The recipe was far too strong for what the beer is supposed to taaste like. Thanx for yalls words of wisdom. I hate to sound so impatient, but Im just trying to get an idea of what this batch is gonna be like once its carbed. I want to do another batch to improve upon it.

Go back and read what I posted, especially the last paragraph.....

the only way that your bottle would refuse to carbonate at room temperature would be if the yeast was completely dead, or there was no sugar for them to eat... (or you had a leak in the top)

audger said:

the only way that your bottle would refuse to carbonate at room temperature would be if the yeast was completely dead, or there was no sugar for them to eat... (or you had a leak in the top)

Click to expand...

Yeast rarely dies....It's not like 30 years ago...

Try turning the bottles upside down then right side up. This fixed my carbonation problem