Will it Carb? Please pray for my beer...

According to Evan, God has better things to do than help teams win championships and carbonate beer ....but its going to take a miracle. I bottled my 20-21% ABV beer today and I'm just very skeptical its going to carb. When I was moving the carboy the airlock did bubble a few times, but that was probably just dissolved C02 coming out of suspension.
I do keg, but I have never bottled force-carbed beer from one of my kegs. I guess that's the the only alternative if it doesn't carbonate. I can't picture enjoying this beer without carbonation.
BTW, sause informed me that it comes to 1000 calories per pint

Not...sure...I...follow...you there.

If you keg, why not keg it and hook up the gas?

chillHayze said:

Not...sure...I...follow...you there.

If you keg, why not keg it and hook up the gas?

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Well, two reasons mainly. First, I only have two taps and don't want one of them to be a 21% ABV beer. Secondly, I don't have that many kegs at this point and I think this beer will be best after a year or so, so I don't want to tie a keg up that long.

landhoney said:

Well, two reasons mainly. First, I only have two taps and don't want one of them to be a 21% ABV beer. Secondly, I don't have that many kegs at this point and I think this beer will be best after a year or so, so I don't want to tie a keg up that long.

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That's why I'm bottling my belgian dark strong ale and my tripel. Forget kegs, these need to be stowed away and opened 1 bottle at a time

Tough call, because you would probably want this to sit a while before trying it and it would suck to find out 6 months to a year later that it didn't carbonate. Personally, I would keg, force carbonate, and dispense to bottles using a beer gun or homemade device (cobra tap with trimmed racking cane is what I read that some people around here are using). Someone else may be able to confirm, but I don't think high gravity beers need a ton of carbonation, so even if you lose some carbonation in the transfer to bottles, it should still be enough - just chill the bottles first to minimize foaming.

The other option would be reintroducing some yeast that can tolerate high alcohol.

EDIT: As requested, I will pray for your beer. I also think a contribution of a few bottles to my collection plate would help your prayers get answered.

damn thats a big beer.

good luck! i'm sure it will carbonate...the yeast will find those sugars over time. just let it sit for a lllooooonnnnggg time

Bearcat Brewmeister said:

Tough call, because you would probably want this to sit a while before trying it and it would suck to find out 6 months to a year later that it didn't carbonate. Personally, I would keg, force carbonate, and dispense to bottles using a beer gun or homemade device (cobra tap with trimmed racking cane is what I read that some people around here are using). Someone else may be able to confirm, but I don't think high gravity beers need a ton of carbonation, so even if you lose some carbonation in the transfer to bottles, it should still be enough - just chill the bottles first to minimize foaming.
EDIT: As requested, I will pray for your beer. I also think a contribution of a few bottles to my collection plate would help your prayers get answered.

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I will definitely open a bottle in 3 weeks to see if there is any carbonation. Even though the batch was only 3 gallons, I think I have more than enough of this stuff to "waste" a green bottle checking the carb - I'm not going to be pounding this stuff. I did mix in some of our most ABV tolerant wine yeast(DV10) but packaging says it only goes to 18-19% so it may just die. I'm hoping Lavlin is being a bit conservative and the yeast will do a little work before dying. Its true bigger beers don't need as much carbonation, if they don't carb my only recourse is to force carb and bottle.
Also, Deathbrewer brings up an interesting point, if its not carbed at all in month - could it carb in 6 months? To me it seems if there are viable yeast in there, then they're going to eat those simple sugars fairly quickly. Maybe not carb in a session beer timeframe, but at one month I would think if there's no sign of carbonation there never is going to be.

The mephistopheles is only 15%, and it's very slightly carb'd after a month in bottle.

I'm trying to shake the bottles up every once in awhile to make sure the yeasties don't go to sleep before they're done with the priming sugars.

I shall pray for your beer. That is one really big beer!

landhoney said:

Well, two reasons mainly. First, I only have two taps and don't want one of them to be a 21% ABV beer. Secondly, I don't have that many kegs at this point and I think this beer will be best after a year or so, so I don't want to tie a keg up that long.

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Don't pay any attention to me, i'm an idiot. But if i had 3 gal of 20% beer, i'd get another corney and a tee fitting and not bother God about it. After it's carbed, put it in bottles and forget about it for at least a year. Oh, yeah, you din't ask me....... sorry,,,,,,,

landhoney said:

Also, Deathbrewer brings up an interesting point, if its not carbed at all in month - could it carb in 6 months? To me it seems if there are viable yeast in there, then they're going to eat those simple sugars fairly quickly. Maybe not carb in a session beer timeframe, but at one month I would think if there's no sign of carbonation there never is going to be.

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Deathbrewer and I both agree on this one. That is why I said it would suck to find out after 6 months to a year that it is not carbonated. I don't think checking it any earlier than 6 months down the road will tell you if it will get good carbonation.

That said, adding the yeast you did will help, even if viable only to 19%. Follow the other advice on rousing the yeast every once in a while.

Bearcat Brewmeister said:

Deathbrewer and I both agree on this one. That is why I said it would suck to find out after 6 months to a year that it is not carbonated. I don't think checking it any earlier than 6 months down the road will tell you if it will get good carbonation. That said, adding the yeast you did will help, even if viable only to 19%. Follow the other advice on rousing the yeast every once in a while.

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I just don't recall ever reading about anyone with an experience where their high-grav beer was not carbonated at 1 month, and then carbonated at 6 months. Again, seems like it either carbs or people post about what to do when it doesn't.

Evan's beer would be an interesting test/parallel, both high-grav brews with wlp099. Its not carbonated much now, he'll have to update if the carbonation level increases.

We're kind of putting the cart b/f the horse(it may carb fine), but this may be useful for others. Do you or anyone else have any experiences where a beer showed no signs of carbonation at 1 month, but at 6 months showed good signs of carbonation?
I have never heard of this happening. But I'm certainly open to the possibility that it can. Might give me some hope if its not carbed in a month.

1000 calories! That seems kinda high.....?

ScubaSteve said:

1000 calories! That seems kinda high.....?

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I'm just the messenger. I've never calculated/considered the calories in my beer, just thought that it was funny. Talk to sause about that, or if you have Berliner Weisse questions.....

Seriously though, don't do that.