Conditioning A Big Beer

How long does it take for a big beer to condition ? I bottled my very first high ABV (About 10%) over a month ago, and I'm getting very little head when I pour. I first opened a 22 oz. bottle for myself and a couple of friends to try after a month, and got NO head. I waited a couple more weeks, and opened a 12 oz., and got MAYBE a 1/4 inch of head.
I had it in the secondary for 4-5 months, and I'm starting to think that may have been to long, and the yeasties may have all died. But, I've read about people leaving their big beers in secondary even longer, so I don't know what to do.

With a High ABV beer it may take 2-3 months for it to even begin carb up, especially since it's in a 22 ounce bottle...for the next month or 2 you might wanna roll the bottles back and forth on a table every 2 weeks or so to keep the yeasties in suspension, then stick them back in your closet... WIth big beers people just usually walk away for at least 6 months on them, some even a year...

Because even if they carb, they will probably be hot as heck with alcohol burn taste for awhile.

I'd just not worry about them for a couple more months.

What temperature do you have them conditioning at? If it is in the low 60s, it will take awhile. When bottle conditioning a batch, I leave them in the cabinet above the fridge for 2 weeks. The ambient temp above there is near 70. This allows them to carb up nice and quickly. I then store them in the bottom of my pantry which is anywhere from 55-60 for long term conditioning. If it is anything below 6% it is usually ready to drink after 3 weeks in the bottle. If it is anything above, a month is about the minimum I will wait to toss any in the fridge.

Just as Rev said, a big beer is going to take awhile. As we often say, your last bottle will be your best with this batch.

I bottled my 888 RIS back in August & it hasnt even though of carbing up yet. No hot alcohol, smooth as can be, but no bubbly.

I can wait. I have faith in my yeasties. They do good work.

It seems others here have had different experiences, but in my experience, if it does not carb after a month, your yeast is dead. My first attempt at making a big beer did this because I left it in secondary too long, and I was told by a fairly reliable source that this was the problem. I used to work with a guy in a lab who has a PhD in brewing science, previously taught brewing science courses at a university in New Zealand, and after that had worked at a lab in Belgium creating yeast strains for several breweries there. He also has been homebrewing for about 30 years. He told me the only thing you can do in that situation is to open the bottles up and inject new yeast into each one, then recap. Of course it's only one person saying this, but he ended up being right about my batch.

Thanks for the input. I took Revvy's advice and rolled the bottles around, and will do so every couple of weeks for at least another month.
I have it in my basement, with temps in the high 50's to low 60's, so I will give it more time. While I'm cooking Christmas dinner, I'll pop another 12 oz., and see where I am at that point. That will be almost two months in the bottles. As long as I'm getting at least a little more head (from the bottles, that is), I'll just leave it alone for a while, and leave it for a spring tasting.
I noticed that when I sampled it before, I did notice very little alchohol bite, but it was very sweet, and kind of syrupy.

kjung said:

I have it in my basement, with temps in the high 50's to low 60's, so I will give it more time.

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Bring 'em upstairs and let them warm up. That'll give the yeast a better chance to do their job.

Moonpile said:

Bring 'em upstairs and let them warm up. That'll give the yeast a better chance to do their job.

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Yeah, moonpile's right....That's going to be your biggest issue as to why it is sluggish. At that temp range the yeasts very close to dormancy. But if you want to cold condition them for awhile, leave them there and then bring them up into the 70's range.