Bottle carbonation

Have only been brewing since May. started with a good lager then did a cerveza, both turned out very well. then an octberfest/marzan which I have in bottles aging. and last month my 4th batch did a golden ale. The ale ended up cluody so I transferred it to a secondary fermenter and added superkleer. everthing settled out ok and was still cloudy but much better. didn't have the time so took 2 extra weeks until I bottled it. that was 1 week ago and for the heck of it tried one today and there is no carbonation at all. do I need to wait much longer for carbonation or did it possibly settle out and kill off the little yeast in suspension? the other bottles have no yeast layer in the bottom. if I did kill off the yeast any options as the ale is good but flat?

Welcome to the forum.

There is enough residual yeast in the clearest of beers to carbonate.
Most people wait 2-3 weeks for bottles to carb then leave them to condition.
What temperature is it at?

Glad to be here, learned a good bit the short time I have been logged on, thank you. The ale has been at a constant 72 degrees in my basement. the ale instruction sheet indicated a week should be adequate but will definitely wait the 3 weeks and see. was going to give it some time anyway as I have a case of Bass and Yuengling's Lager in the fridge. if there is no carbonation after 3 weeks any idea or way to salvage?

There are ways but give it another week and try one or two.
Brew another whilst you wait.

Already ordered. Thanks for the reply.

I had the same problem until someone in the forum suggested a gentle shake of the bottle to stir up the yeast and wait 2-3 more weeks. Surprisingly enough I had great carbonation. I'm pretty sure it was the wait but I've been inverting my bottles since then.

Welcome to HBT

I see bottling as a real chore .. I almost bottled today, but found an excuse to only rack my Haus Ale (the mild will wait for the bottles..)

Anyway, keeping carbonation consistent from bottle to bottle is a challenge. I suspect that the concentration of priming sugar isn't steady, despite gentle etirring in the bottling bucket every 10 bottles or so...

I am saving up for a keg operation, and bottles will probably be replaced with growlers to take to parties.

Take a read of this, and watch the video...3 weeks@70 Degrees is the minimum it takes for beer to carb and condition...longer for higher grave beers.

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

Took my first brew a full 3 weeks to carb.

I opened one at 7 days just for the heck of it and there was very very little in the way of carbonation. Popped another at 14 days and it was a bit better but still far from carbonated. On day 21 I knew as soon as I heard the hiss from the bottle that they were ready, and they turned out great.

give it some time.

kappclark said:

I see bottling as a real chore .. I almost bottled today, but found an excuse to only rack my Haus Ale (the mild will wait for the bottles..)

Anyway, keeping carbonation consistent from bottle to bottle is a challenge. I suspect that the concentration of priming sugar isn't steady, despite gentle etirring in the bottling bucket every 10 bottles or so...

Click to expand...

You can do primetabs or equivalent - one advantage of which is no bottling bucket, no additional chance for oxidation. Rack from secondary into your filler wand (ie, racking cane connected to filler wand with a hose) and fill bottles directly. Between that a bench capper, it's not so bad, really.

Prime tabs - do they make different sizes (i.e. 12 ox bottles vs 22 oz )?

I have wondered abt that - it would make it vert consistent, and would save time ... maybe use 2 12 oz per bomber ??

I will use them with my haus ale (which I hope to serve to fellow homebrewers on October 12th)

kappclark said:

Prime tabs - do they make different sizes (i.e. 12 ox bottles vs 22 oz )?

I have wondered abt that - it would make it vert consistent, and would save time ... maybe use 2 12 oz per bomber ??

I will use them with my haus ale (which I hope to serve to fellow homebrewers on October 12th)

Click to expand...

AFAIK you just use two for a large bottle. I'm cheap and technically oriented, which means I actually use "or equivalent" - I boil priming sugar and water, and calculate the amount per bottle to get the same as if I'd mixed in the batch, and measure that into each bottle before filling - but that method is not drop off a log easy, so I didn't get into it, since most people seem to want something they can go out and buy.

It's really not difficult if you have some basic lab-type skills.

Revvy said:

Take a read of this, and watch the video...3 weeks@70 Degrees is the minimum it takes for beer to carb and condition...longer for higher grave beers.

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

Click to expand...

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I have been searching for this vid for a while now and it seems that the link is no longer valid. Does anyone have a working link to the video.. I wanted to forward it to a new brewer friend of mine

Malintent said:

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I have been searching for this vid for a while now and it seems that the link is no longer valid. Does anyone have a working link to the video.. I wanted to forward it to a new brewer friend of mine

Click to expand...

That's because since this post the bottling thread became a sticky so the address is no longer valid in this post. But I've posted the video and the link to the blog all over the place (probably daily)

But here's the video

Thank you Revvy.. that was exactly it.