Flat Beer

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HardBrew

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Just opened a nut brown ale and its Flat. Had in primary for 1 week, secondary for 2 weeks, bottled and conditioned for 3 weeks. Put a couple in the fridge for 24 hours and tasted. Is there a way to get back the bubbles?

Looking back I don't think I cooled the priming sugar when I bottled, could this cause the flat beer.

It tastes great, just flat.

Help!
 
Patience...

Seriously, there are only a few things you can do wrong, so most likely its just not done yet. Why? Because the yeast said so. Thats why.

Rack the beer on top of the sugar to mix it thoroughly. Might not hurt to gently stir.

Make sure the temp is right around 70.

As long as the bottles are airtight, you will have eventually have carbed beer. Maybe not on your ideal timeline though.

Some beers take more than 3 weeks. 3 is just a rule of thumb, some take longer, some are perfect in 2.5. My experience (although limited) is 4 weeks till good carbonation.
 
What temps are your bottles at? If it's less than 70 degrees it will take longer for them to carbonate. The temperature of the sugar when you add it to the bottling bucket has no bearing on whether it's fermentable or not. I usually boil the sugar into a cup of water then dump the boiling mixture right into the bucket onto the beer.
 
Thanks. Yes my bottles are kept in my dark basement and the temp is more around 65 - 66F. I'll give more time and maybe move to a warmer room.
 
HardBrew said:
Thanks. Yes my bottles are kept in my dark basement and the temp is more around 65 - 66F. I'll give more time and maybe move to a warmer room.
Click to expand...

Bingo. The three week rule requires 70+ degrees. You'll need 4 weeks minimum at that temp. Brown ale gets better with time anyway.
 
With only 1 batch under my belt (just brewed my 2nd today), I am far from an expert. However, my first batch, the English bitter kit from Midwest, was flat after 2 weeks, just barely carbonated at 3 weeks, and now seems ok after 4 weeks of storage at 68 - 70 degrees.


Drinking: English bitter
Primary: Blue Moon clone
 
I'm glad to see this thread. I just tried a bottle of my first batch after being in the bottle for only a week. Taste was as expected (not bad but not great, but I was forced to use corn sugar) but it was fairly flat & no head. I was worried that I screwed it up because it fermented at 75-80 F but after I bottled it I put it in a room at about 70F. After last night's first bottle I'm letting the temp of this room go up a few degrees and will see what another couple of weeks do.

Could moving the bottles to a colder room right after bottling have a negative impact on the yeast?
 
FSBrewer said:
I'm glad to see this thread. I just tried a bottle of my first batch after being in the bottle for only a week. Taste was as expected (not bad but not great, but I was forced to use corn sugar) but it was fairly flat & no head. I was worried that I screwed it up because it fermented at 75-80 F but after I bottled it I put it in a room at about 70F. After last night's first bottle I'm letting the temp of this room go up a few degrees and will see what another couple of weeks do.

Could moving the bottles to a colder room right after bottling have a negative impact on the yeast?
Click to expand...

I think you should have moved it to a colder room before bottling. 75-80 is on the warm side for most ale yeasts. 70 degrees is great for fermenting and bottle conditioning.
 
Funny, I JUST got done fixing the same problem with my first ever batch. Since we put it in the basement after bottling, the yeast wasn't active enough. Take it all out of the fridge, flip it one full time to gently stir it, and put it in a closet upstairs at about 70 degrees. I did this and went from flat to carbonated in 5 days. I was so happy my test bottle had carbonation, I drank it warm.

Take Care

Lyle
Dead Money Brewing
Traverse City, MI
 

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