High gravity beer isn't carbonating

Hey yall.

I bottled an OG 1.090 IIPA on April 4th and I cracked one the other day and it's flat as hell. I used DME to prime it because my HBS was out of corn sugar. I have a priming calculator on my phone that tells you how much corn sugar, DME, or whatever else you're priming with, to use. So I think I used the correct amount. I think I was going for 1.9 vol of c02 but I'll have to check my notes to be 100% on that. I believe I used White labs 001 CA yeast. I think there's too much alcohol for the yeast to carbonate the beer.

Basically my question is should I pop each one and put in carbonation drops? Should I add a little bit of yeast to each one and see what happens? Will it carb up over a longer period of time? I don't really want to drink it flat. Any suggestions would be awesome.

Do not pop each one... that's just silly.


General rule:

Lower OG = shorter carb time
Higher OG = longer carb time


My barleywine took about 6 months to properly carbonate.

1.9 volumes of co2 is actually pretty flat, so maybe it did carb up to where you planned.

I would try another bottle. I've had a screw top bottle sneak into my bottles that didn't carb, I had a bottle with a hairline crack that didn't carb, and I've also forgotten to stir my priming sugar which led to some flat bottles and some gushers.

Thanks for all the responses.

The priming calc I used says IPA's are 1.5-2.3 so that's why I went for 1.9- towards the middle. I know IIPA's are usually higher in gravity than a regular IPA but I figured it would carb up a little more. Guess I should have gone for a higher c02 vol...

Do you think it will carb more if I leave it? Like Yooper said if 1.9 vol of c02 is flat maybe it's done.

I assume you are keeping these room temp for now. Too cold won't carb up. Also, the high alcohol might have stressed the yeast out, so they don't have the energy to restart a small fermentation to make the Co2.

I did this once too, and tried several things to get it to bubble. Also a IIPA, 10.2% ABV, can't remember the yeast. 4 months aging, no carb. Shook each bottle to stir up the yeast hoping to activate it again, another month, nothing. Popped each cap (it was only a half batch so it wasn't that big of a deal, and they were flip tops) and put in a few grains of dry yeast, another month, nothing. Finally I rehydrated some champagne yeast and using a dropper, put about 3 drops of yeast slurry into each bottle. Month again, but got the carbonation I needed. The champagne yeast did dry out the beer, but that was ok, it was a touch thick to start off with.

Yeah I had a IIPA that didn't carb up as well. I tried everything before rehdrating some dry yeast, and dropping that in with an eye droppers worth for each bottle before sealing up again. Left them for a week and my plastic test bottle had fully inflated so they were good to go.

Use it as a last resort though after waiting at least four months in the proper temp range and shaking slightly to stir up the yeast. There is a chance opening them to add yeast could introduce oxygen or bacteria and ruin your beer.

Yes, they are at 70-74 degrees in my pantry. I rotated the bottles to try and get the yeast going again about a month ago or so. I'm working on about 3 1/2 months in the bottle now. I'll wait another month and see how it's going. I'll probably end up waiting 6 months and then decide what I'm going to do if they're still not carbed. In the mean time I'll brew another IPA or something. Perhaps maybe gear up for a nice fall pumpkin ale.

Thanks for all the insight and ideas!

bobeer said:

Thanks for all the responses.

The priming calc I used says IPA's are 1.5-2.3 so that's why I went for 1.9- towards the middle. I know IIPA's are usually higher in gravity than a regular IPA but I figured it would carb up a little more. Guess I should have gone for a higher c02 vol...

Do you think it will carb more if I leave it? Like Yooper said if 1.9 vol of c02 is flat maybe it's done.

Click to expand...

I don't know why the calculator says the IPAs are 1.5-2.3. That may be traditionally so for "cask" IPAs, but I like mine more like 2.5-2.7 volumes. If it feels pretty flat, it really could be at 1.9 volumes. However, more time won't hurt, just in case it's only at 1.5 volumes or something right now.