Long carbonation time w/ IIPA

Hey gang,

I'm trying my third bottle of my Imperious IPA this afternoon, and while it has some carbonation, it could stand a little more, I think. The first two times I tried it, after one and two weeks, it was mostly flat. I had it in primary for almost three weeks, and in secondary for almost two weeks. It's been in bottles for three weeks now. My regular IPA also seems to be carbonating more slowly than I'm used to. I used dextrose for both.

Do IPAs generally take longer to carbonate than the average beer? Could the higher levels of hops have something to do with it? Or is this just some weird fluke/coincidence? Opinions and experience welcomed.

Ive had the same issues with beers that have been in the fermenter that long. Sometimes I will add some dry yeast (US-56 or Nottingham) a couple days before bottling.

Have patience, it will get where its going.

- magno

My 1st IPA took nearly 3 weeks to carb up, but my IIPA that I brewed on top of the IPA yeast cake carbed in a week. I just gave the flatish IPA more time, and all was good.

5gb

Tried another one last night, and although it's semi-carbonated, it's still not where it needs to be. It's been almost four weeks in bottles now. Every time I think I've mastered patience...

So sampling the IIPA I bottled last week would be a bad idea?

You might want to wait, yeah. My other IPA is still pretty much flat as well, after about two weeks. All my other beers are carbing up just fine. In fact, a beer I bottled up after the IIPA is already very well carbed, perfect, really. Can't figure it out.

eh... I can wait another week

but I'm dying to try one of them cold

Okay, almost three weeks since my last update, and I chilled one of the regular IPAs, which have been in bottles about five weeks now. It's soooo good! The carbonation has kicked in, and it's massively hoppy, with this amazing juicy quality. I think that must be from the dry-hopping. It's mouth-wateringly delicious, and totally worth the wait.

Awesome man. SOmetimes its real quick... I taste-tested a bottle of my belgian with 3 days after it was in the bottle and almost fully carbed.

Only spent about 2.5 weeks in fermenters though, so the yeast were probably still very rambunctious.

My Brown and Hoppy is pretty well carbed after and week at 62F, not exactly an IPA but more hops than most IPAs.
My previous batches took 2-4 weeks to carb at the same temps.
I always try my beer every week to see how it is going. I like to see how things change over time.

I guess the answer is, it depends. Now what it depends on I don't know. My first two batches were with Notingham yeast, one was a stout and the other a red. The last two including the hoppy beer was with WLP002. The hoppy beer was my largest, hoppiest beer and spent the most time in the fermenters. However it was also fermented on a yeast cake and dry hopped.

Craig

My IIPA is/was kind of flat two weeks ago before I went on vacation. I have two batches that I need to bottle this weekend and want to assure carbonation. I was thinking about adding some nottingham yeast to them before I bottled when I mixed in the corn sugar. Will that work? They were made with scottish yeast and a english yeast. Does nottingham ferment more sugars than other yeasts? Wouldn't want to start the fermentation of other than corn sugar in there and make bombs.

These have been in the secondary about a month for the scottish and about 3 weeks for the ESB. Vacation does that.

Rick, I've heard that a lot of people do that with big beers that spend a long time in primary and/or secondary, so I say go for it. I added a packet of Nottingham to my 1.090 OG belgian for that very reason.

Torchiest said:

Rick, I've heard that a lot of people do that with big beers that spend a long time in primary and/or secondary, so I say go for it. I added a packet of Nottingham to my 1.090 OG belgian for that very reason.

Click to expand...

Thanks Torchiest, I am thinking to do this with almost every beer for the forseeable future as I am very disappointed that this beer didn't carbonate. I'm considering opening each bottle and adding a small scoop of yeast to each. (?)
I have a scottish and ESB that I'm getting ready to bottle this weekend and I'm getting some nottingham for them as well. Bottling Appfelwine this weekend too. Since I'm going to the brewstore I might as well get another beer to start.

Torchiest said:

Rick, I've heard that a lot of people do that with big beers that spend a long time in primary and/or secondary, so I say go for it. I added a packet of Nottingham to my 1.090 OG belgian for that very reason.

Click to expand...

Thanks Torchiest, I am thinking to do this with almost every beer for the forseeable future as I am very disappointed that this beer didn't carbonate. I'm considering opening each bottle and adding a small scoop of yeast to each. (?)
I have a scottish and ESB that I'm getting ready to bottle this weekend and I'm getting some nottingham for them as well. Bottling Appfelwine this weekend too. Since I'm going to the brewstore I might as well get another beer to start.

dbl post. Oops.

Torch, from what I understand usually bigger OG beers tax the yeast more, and in addition because they are big beers they need more time which further taxes the yeast. Carbonation can eek out very slowly if you don't add a boost of dry Lager at bottling.

My Winter Warmer, which is now ready was started in November. It spent much of it's life in a secondary until January, when I bottled. It took until near the end of February to carbonate, and I even think it may still be working because each time I open one it seems a little more agressive on the pour. Not sure. Next time, I'll either start it really early or just toss in a little Lager yeast.

Temps are a huge factor as well, not to be overlooked. What I have been doing, quite successfully is post bottling, I set the two cases or whatever the case may be upstairs where it is around 70 °F for one week. That few degrees of boost seems to be more than sufficient to allow for proper carbonation, or at least get it enough momentum so that it can finish up the priming sugar quickly.

Down here in southeast Texas, we've already been in the 80s on and off. My apartment is usually around 75ºF, so the temp is plenty warm to get the yeast going, if they're able. I only put one bottle in the fridge at a time when I'm ready to check again.

Having said that, I am happy to report that my IIPA is finally decently carbonated, after just under seven weeks in the bottle. It's quite delicious. Between this and the regular IPA being carbed nicely, I have more than three cases of delicious hoppy beer to enjoy.

Overall, I'd have to chalk this up to another classic case of RDWHAHB, or alternately, patience is a virtue.

RickWG said:

Thanks Torchiest, I am thinking to do this with almost every beer for the forseeable future as I am very disappointed that this beer didn't carbonate. I'm considering opening each bottle and adding a small scoop of yeast to each. (?)
I have a scottish and ESB that I'm getting ready to bottle this weekend and I'm getting some nottingham for them as well. Bottling Appfelwine this weekend too. Since I'm going to the brewstore I might as well get another beer to start.

Click to expand...

I don't know if I'd open all the bottles and add yeast. First, you'd add to your risk of contamination. Second, it sounds like a HUGE pain in the ass. Third, you'll lose some of the carbonation you've already built up in the process. I think you should just wait it out, since I had to wait more than a month for both of my IPAs to carb properly.