First brew: A failure

Hey everyone -- I made my first batch of homebrew a few months ago, and the results were not quite as expected. I was brewing a batch of mild brown ale from a B3 kit, modified slightly to increase the alcohol level. The brewing day process went well -- no major issues. Put the brew into my primary fermentation vessel and fermented for 3 weeks. I used a highly flocculating yeast so there was quite a nice trub.

Then came bottling day. I mixed 4oz of corn sugar with water, and put it in the bottom of my bottling bucket. Then I siphoned my flat beer, taking extreme care not to disturb the trub. Finally, I bottled my beer and let it sit for 3 more weeks at 70-72 deg F. Outside of some issues getting the siphon to start, no major issues here either.

Then came time to drink the beer. Here's where the problem is: I'd say 85% of the bottles are relatively flat. They hiss a little when opened, but they taste pretty flat and gross. The other 15% of the bottles appear to have carbonated properly and taste great. Also, the bottles appear to have no yeast in the bottom, which I assume they should based on everything I've read. I've rolled some bottles on the floor and given them another 3 weeks, but there's no change.

Given the inconsistency, the only thing I can think of that makes sense is that I was overly careful to not disturb the trub, and combined with the highly flocculating yeast, I simply didn't get enough yeast into most of the actual bottles to properly carbonate.

Does this sound reasonable? If this is the case, what is the best way to ensure I do get enough yeast into the bottling bucket to carbonate my brew for next time?

Any and all help appreciated. Thanks in advance!

You definitely have enough yeast in the bottles to carbonate. Aside from filtering, or brewing a really big beer, it is nearly impossible to not have enough yeast still in suspension.

When your bottles were sitting for three weeks, were they sitting at room temperature? If the temps were too cold, the beer would not carbonate.

It also seems to me that 4 oz of corn sugar is a bit low. When I did the conversions, it came out to a 1/2 cup. If I recall, it should be 3/4 of a cup.

I believe a with 3 week fermentation you shouldn't knock the yeast, its still in there. I think when you use 4oz of corn sugar it takes longer to carbonate. I used 4oz on a porter and its somewhat flat, but still a decent beer. Wait a while longer before having all your homebrew. Aging them can help the taste with most styles and carb too.

Did you let the bottles sit at room temp to carb for three weeks? The yeast won't do it cold.

Stir your siphoned beer in the bottling bucket with the priming sugar (not vigorously of course) to mix it well.

If you have any left, wait a month to drink'em.

I would agree. Keep them warm and roll the bottles around to get the yeast back into suspension.

After bottling, the beers sat for 3 weeks at 70-72 deg F. I rolled a few and waited another 3 weeks, but they're still flat. Also, there's no visible yeast in the bottom of the bottles. Isn't there supposed to be?

yeah, should be some yeast down there.

Let me ask how the fermentation was. Did you hit your target gravity? If you didn't, and the gravity was way higher maybe you had a stuck fermentation.

I'm asking cause I want to make sure the yeast was viable. How much yeast was pitched and what was the OG/Target FG?

I would have to believe that you didn't get the sugar mixture mixed well enough with the Beer. That would explain why some bottles carbed, and others didn't. As far as the amount of sugar used, that sounds about right for a Brown Ale, as they are not supposed to be as carbed as other styles. If you don't have any carbonation in the flat bottles after a few more weeks, you can add some carb tabs to them.

doubleb said:

yeah, should be some yeast down there.

Let me ask how the fermentation was. Did you hit your target gravity? If you didn't, and the gravity was way higher maybe you had a stuck fermentation.

I'm asking cause I want to make sure the yeast was viable. How much yeast was pitched and what was the OG/Target FG?

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The yeast was a packet of Safale S04 dry yeast. Fermentation went exactly as expected -- Started at expected OG, finished at exactly the expected FG. I seem to have lost my recipe for the moment, but if I'm not mistaken, OG was 1.049 and FG was 1.012ish. So the yeast seems to have been fine -- at least through the primary fermentation stage.

I'm not sure why the yeast wouldn't have kicked in when transfered to the bottles, esp since I was so careful about the temperatures throughout the process.

Reno Homebrewer said:

I would have to believe that you didn't get the sugar mixture mixed well enough with the Beer.

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Hmmm. I put the sugar mixture in the bottom of my bottling bucket first then siphoned my beer on top of it. I've read the swirling action is enough to get it all mixed without aeration. Maybe next time I should gently stir it?

Did you boil the corn syrup/water for a few minutes before you dumped it in the bucket? If not, your sugar may have settled out to the bottom of the bucket. Also, +1 to stirring the bucket before bottling- I use my racking cane, since it's already in there.

elkdog said:

Did you boil the corn syrup/water for a few minutes before you dumped it in the bucket? If not, your sugar may have settled out to the bottom of the bucket. Also, +1 to stirring the bucket before bottling- I use my racking cane, since it's already in there.

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Yup, I boiled it in order to ensure no contamination and then cooled it before adding to the bottling bucket. Will definitely try stirring gently with racking cane next time.

For those of you who do a 1-step fermentation, when you siphon your brew out of the primary, how much liquid do you leave above the trub?

I've read the swirling action is enough to get it all mixed without aeration. Maybe next time I should gently stir it?

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I don't stir and mine always carbonate fine. I was going to ask the boil question elkdog asked as well; if you didn't boil the sugar/water to dissolve the sugar it possibly settled out and only the last few from the bottling bucket had any appreciable sugar.

Rick

Tarindel said:

Hey everyone -- I made my first batch of homebrew a few months ago, and the results were not quite as expected. I was brewing a batch of mild brown ale from a B3 kit,

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Also remember that mild is a low-carbonation beer.

Your statement that about 15% of the bottles taste fine leads me to believe there might be something going on with your bottles, i.e. sanitization and cleaning of your bottles. Are you sure the bottles sealed properly? Did you use twist off bottles? How did you clean the bottles did you use bleach or one step? If the beer tasted fine coming out of primary (you did taste it right) then the problem is somewhere in your bottling setup. If some of the bottles taste ok, then it is probably something to do with the individual bottles or the process through which you filled them.

My hypothesis from what I have heard so far is that you mixed whatever sanitizing solution you were using in to strong of a concentration, didn't rinse it out of all the bottles properly and the sanitizing solution killed your yeast and contributed an off flavor. This happens quite often when people use bleach, you didn't by any chance taste a medicinal or band aid like flavor in the beer did you?

I didn't read the other responses, but 4 oz of priming sugar is low - usually it's more like 6. I'd dump out the bottles into a sterile container, add a little more corn sugar, rebottle, and see whats' what. Something like this happened to us and this worked.

Donasay said:

Your statement that about 15% of the bottles taste fine leads me to believe there might be something going on with your bottles, i.e. sanitization and cleaning of your bottles.

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I figured maybe he just didn't mix up the priming sugar well enough into the beer.

BrewWench said:

I didn't read the other responses, but 4 oz of priming sugar is low - usually it's more like 6. I'd dump out the bottles into a sterile container, add a little more corn sugar, rebottle, and see whats' what. Something like this happened to us and this worked.

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I wouldn't "dump" - you'll likly oxidize the hell out of the beer.

Honestly, give it another week. I've had beers that were fine at two weeks, others that took closer to four before there was much of anything. It's not uncommon at all for bottle conditioning to take a little while longer than expected, it doesn't always happen as smoothly as you would expect. Make sure they're a little on the warm side (75° isn't going to do them any harm at this stage) and give them another week.

how are you pouring your bottles? The first few homebrews I poured, I was so worried about the yeast in the bottom that I poured so slowly with an almost 90 degree tilt on the glass. And of course, VERY little head. After a couple of pours, I just pour straight down the middle and the same batch that had very little head had the perfect amount.

Also I'm going to bring this up. What method did you use for capping? I noticed with my first capping experience that some caps didn't get capped directly straight on. I took some off and redid them but others I'm doing a trial and error and seeing how much of an impact not perfectly centered caps have. Possibly if the caps are not exactly centered, there could be a very small leak and therefore you might not be building up adequate pressure to ensure carbonation. This would also explain why some bottles are carbonated and some are not.

I always shake mine up gently from time to time and make sure they are warm enough. I bet everything is fine.

if his bottles were too cold after bottling would he still benefit from raising the temp now even though it's been 3 weeks?