Carbonation question?

I just openend a Brown IPA that I bottled about 3 weeks ago. It was very carbonated when I first opened it. I poured it in to a glass, the first few drinks were nicely carbonated but then it seemed to become somewhat flat after that. Anyone got any thoughts?

Try chilling some for a week or two. Like I just posted in another thread, my beers tend to have a much nicer carbonation after the chill haze has settled out. It also takes a few days for the CO2 to dissolve into the beer after a temperature change. The gas in the headspace will dissolve into the beer more readily when it's colder, and it takes awhile for that to happen. I try to avoid throwing a beer into the freezer when it's warm and then opening it a half hour later for that reason. It might be cold, but the carbonation just isn't right.

You could leave it a while longer. Sounds like maybe the CO2 hasn't had enough time to go back into solution. Some of my beers, particularly the big ones, take longer. It looks like they're carbonated well at first, but they fizzle out pretty quickly. Some more conditioning time may very well take care of it.

Your beer may not yet be quite fully carbed. It may not have fully pulled the co2 into into solution yet. So you have an initlal release of co2 upon pouring but there's not enough there to stick around. I'd give it another week or two at 70 degrees and check back, I bet it will be perfect then.

I write about the carbonation/conditioning process here;

Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

I've found that 3 weeks to carb is a guideline at best and is really more like the minimum carb time. It's hard to be patient but my best results came when I was able to wait more like 8 to 12 weeks. Even then, I still crack one open along the way to be certain that they are carbing at all.

You can try gently lying the bottles on their side and rolling them a bit to rouse the yeast a little. That should get a little more carbing action. Try your best to wait several more weeks...you'll get better carbing and your flavors will have more time to meld.

-Tripod