Absolutely no carbonation

I have a Hefe that has been in bottles for a week. I cracked one open when I got home from work today, it was room temp, and it was completely flat. There looks to be some yeast at the top and there is sediment in the bottom of all the bottles. I used the correct amount of priming sugar and I boiled it for a minute with 2 cups of water, let it cool to about 70, added it to the bottling bucket then siphoned the beer in. Bottles are in a closet with my fermenters so the temp is about 69-70. I bottled it after 2 weeks. Anything you guys and gals see wrong here? Did I miss something?

Yeah you missed waiting another 2 weeks in the bottle before sampling it...It takes more than a few days to carb and condition...

If there's yeast on top that means it's still krausening inside and hasn't eaten all the sugars to make CO2 to carb your beer.

Read this, and watch the video, then put your beer in a 70 degree place, brew another batch, and come back in AT LEAST 2 weeks to check on those bottles.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/558191-post101.html


Your beers will be fine

Rad. Thanks. I am bottling my 2nd batch tomorrow so all the igmo questions should slow dramatically after this first one is done!

Unkle Danky said:

Anything you guys and gals see wrong here? Did I miss something?

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I had a beer once that, after 2 weeks in bottle, had some carbonation, but it still sucked because it was so green.

Well luckily I only opened one so the rest will be hanging out for a couple weeks.

I used the correct amount of priming sugar and I boiled it for a minute with 2 cups of water

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Might this step have boiled out some of the priming sugar, resulting in Danky's slow carbonation? I'm used to just heating the water instead of boiling it for fear of that effect. Is my fear founded?

I believe Revvy when he says it just needs more time, but I'm coming from the point of view of my own experience, which really seems to be different from so many folks': the last 10 or so batches I've done all were very well carbonated (and didn't taste green) after 7 days TOPS in the bottle. I began to think that was a pattern to count on. Am I in store for a great disillusionment?

OrvilleOrdinary said:

Might this step have boiled out some of the priming sugar, resulting in Danky's slow carbonation? I'm used to just heating the water instead of boiling it for fear of that effect. Is my fear founded?

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Boiling out priming sugar? I'm not sure how that's possible. I always boil 3/4 cup corn sugar in 2 cups water for about 10 minutes with perfect carbonation every time.

I guess I was just worrying about evaporation. Nah, I guess I was just worrying.

OrvilleOrdinary said:

Might this step have boiled out some of the priming sugar, resulting in Danky's slow carbonation? I'm used to just heating the water instead of boiling it for fear of that effect. Is my fear founded?

I believe Revvy when he says it just needs more time, but I'm coming from the point of view of my own experience, which really seems to be different from so many folks': the last 10 or so batches I've done all were very well carbonated (and didn't taste green) after 7 days TOPS in the bottle. I began to think that was a pattern to count on. Am I in store for a great disillusionment?

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No your fear is not founded. Sugar cannot boil off.

As far as your experience you might not be in for a disappointment. Some people are unable to detect green beer off flavors. If the carbonation is there that alone can hide a good portion of the green beer flavor.

Unkle Danky said:

Rad. Thanks. I am bottling my 2nd batch tomorrow so all the igmo questions should slow dramatically after this first one is done!

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For one of the bottles, sub in a 20oz plastic soda bottle so you can feel it carb up. It'll probably carry a twinge of root beer or whatever over unless you get new bottles.

From personal experience: The root beer flavor in plastic bottles persists like you would not believe. Even after prolonged soaking.

This might be the blind leading the blind here, but I think carbonation goes like this....

First the yeast consume the priming sugar, thus producing bubbles.
Then, a lot of the CO2 rises to the head space.
Eventually, the pressure produced in the bottle will dissolve the majority of the CO2 back into solution, resulting in properly carbonated beer.

I'm not sure on the timeline of this within the three weeks, but let it happen before you sample too many.

The takeaway message is, just because there are bubbles, doesn't mean that the beer is properly carbonated/conditioned.

(My first batch has been in bottles for just over three weeks, I started sampling at about 10 days, having one every third day, and I have seen a big improvement in flavor, carbonation, etc.)

OrvilleOrdinary said:

Might this step have boiled out some of the priming sugar, resulting in Danky's slow carbonation? I'm used to just heating the water instead of boiling it for fear of that effect. Is my fear founded?

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You're supposed to boil your priming sugar....It doesn't boil off or evaportate...THE WATER DOES and the sugar liquid concentrates...just like when you are reducing your Wort from 7 gallons down to 5...

His slow carbonation is simply becuse he opened a bottle after a week..that's not slow carbonation, that's n00bish impatience...

you're saying somethings wrong with the beer, he has "slow carbonation"...He doesn't...opening a bottle after 7 days and not having any fizz, is perfectly normal and reasonable for one week...

You can't trouble shoot or declare somethings' wrong when you haven't waited out the MINIMUM 3 weeks....sometimes you gotta wait 6 before you declare it dead..beers funny that way..
that's like looking at your car on the driveway and declaring the battery's dead...without turning over the ignition.

We're not making koolaid...when you deal with living micro organisms, you are dealing with THEIR agenda based on their circumstances not yours...

We don't say 3 weeks at 70 to torture the new brewers on their first batch...that's just the minimum amount of time that it seems to take a 12 ounce bottle of a low to moderate grav beer at 70 degrees to carb up...Like I said in the post I linked to, I have had stouts, and porters and other higer grav beers take longer, just like pints and 22 ouncers seem to take longer than the same beer in a 12 ounce bottle (if I'm bottling beers in larger bottles, I ALWAYS bottle up at least one 12 ouncer 6 packs for competition entries) they are done before the pints and 22's are....