Gluten Free Beer not carbonating

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ericb74

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Hi all,
I recently brewed a Gluten Free Beer for my wife. After fermentation and bottling, I let it sit for 1 week and no carbonation has happened. Obvioulsy I am waiting to see in another couple weeks if it kicks in, but wanted to post this and see if anyone has any feedback. Here is my recipe:
6.6 lbs of Sorghum Syrup from Midwest Supplies.
Boiled for 60 mins.
1oz. Tattingham German Hops for 60 mins
Added Two cut quarters of Orange in Wort at 30 minutes.
Added 1oz of Fuggles at 10 mins
Added .5 lbs of Honey at flame out.
Remove Oranges and Hops
Cooled to 80 degrees.
Initial Gravity was 1.050 at 78 degrees on Oct 24th.
Fermented in Primary for 1 week. Had some issues with temperature so moved to a warmer place. Started fermenting. Move to secondary at 10 days.
Sat in secondary for 1 week. Final Gravity showed 1.005 on Nov. 11th, so I moved ito bottles. Sat for a week and tried one. No Carbonation.

I plan on waiting 2 more weeks to see if it kicks in. Anything glaring that shows I made a mistake? The Final Gravity seems pretty low...
THanks!
 
Looks good, I'd just let it sit AT LEAST a week longer before worrying. If that doesn't work then try moving it somewhere where it is a degree or more warmer. My experience says that temperature is huge with carbonation, and with the weather turning colder your beer may have dropped a degree or two which is affecting carbonation.

Although I think waiting before worrying is best, I don't think you are off base checking after a week. Many of my beers are carbed after a week, but some aren't.
 
ericb74 said:
Hi all,
I recently brewed a Gluten Free Beer for my wife. After fermentation and bottling, I let it sit for 1 week and no carbonation has happened. Obvioulsy I am waiting to see in another couple weeks if it kicks in, but wanted to post this and see if anyone has any feedback. Here is my recipe:
6.6 lbs of Sorghum Syrup from Midwest Supplies.
Boiled for 60 mins.
1oz. Tattingham German Hops for 60 mins
Added Two cut quarters of Orange in Wort at 30 minutes.
Added 1oz of Fuggles at 10 mins
Added .5 lbs of Honey at flame out.
Remove Oranges and Hops
Cooled to 80 degrees.
Initial Gravity was 1.050 at 78 degrees on Oct 24th.
Fermented in Primary for 1 week. Had some issues with temperature so moved to a warmer place. Started fermenting. Move to secondary at 10 days.
Sat in secondary for 1 week. Final Gravity showed 1.005 on Nov. 11th, so I moved ito bottles. Sat for a week and tried one. No Carbonation.

I plan on waiting 2 more weeks to see if it kicks in. Anything glaring that shows I made a mistake? The Final Gravity seems pretty low...
THanks!
Click to expand...
Dumb question; you did add bottling sugar (corn sugar, honey, etc.) to the bottling bucket on bottling day?
 
Is this in a temperature controlled area? If so, I would say just give it more time. My first brew took a couple weeks to really carb and 3-4 to get a nice head.
 
I've only rarely had a batch carbonate in a week. Even at 3 weeks, the carbonation is often not fully adequate. Just be patient, mate.
 
rlbois1 said:
Dumb question; you did add bottling sugar (corn sugar, honey, etc.) to the bottling bucket on bottling day?
Click to expand...

I did. I used half a cup of cane sugar boiled in a cup of water. Let it cool down to room temp then added prior to bottling.
 
Cainepolo12 said:
Is this in a temperature controlled area? If so, I would say just give it more time. My first brew took a couple weeks to really carb and 3-4 to get a nice head.
Click to expand...

Its in a basement room which is staying around 70 degrees. The beer itself is probably at 66-70 degrees.
 
The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience." ;)

Carbonation is actually foolproof, you add sugar, the yeast eats it and farts co2 which carbs the beer. It's not a complex system, and there's very little that can go wrong...It just takes time.....
 
LOL, I had a feeling Revvy would weigh in on this! Spreading the gospel of "patience in bottle conditioning" as always!
 

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