carbonation help

Hey there folks, need some help with an Oktoberfest I made. Made from a True Brew kit, so made as an ale. It was my third batch, but the first one where everything went right, so I was excited about it.

It's been in the bottle eight weeks now, and it still tastes flat from the very first sip. It has about a quarter inch head, and has a nice little flavor to it. I assume that carbonation-wise it's not getting any better after this long.

So, any tips, or is this what I'm stuck with for 50 bottles?

How did you prime your beer, and at what temps have you been storing them at? If you have head, you can't really not have carbonation, they sort of go hand in hand.

Not knowing what you did, we really can't help you...I can suggest that you read my blog and see how much you veered off from stuff mentioned in there.

Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

But one thing you have been is patient if it's been 8 weeks.

Oh, sorry, should have mentioned that.

I used the priming sugar in the kit, which if I remember correctly was 5 oz. I boiled that in a cup of water for a few minutes until dissolved. That was poured directly into the bottling bucket. I read that the siphoning into the bottling bucket was enough to mix the priming mixture in pretty well, so that's what I did.

The beer was stored inside my house for the first six weeks, so pretty much right at 72 degrees. We've moved now and I have it in my garage storage, which is right at 65 degrees.

What are you bottling them in. You've done everything spot on so far..Usually folks are storing them too cold, and openning them after 1 week and complaining.

I agree that pouring the solution in the bucket and racking on top of it integrates it just fine...never had a problem with that...

So far I'm still at a loss...

Could it be a yeast health issue? Would anything have caused the yeast to peter out (low pitch rate, long ferment, etc.)?

I have a low carbonated beer on my hands now, and I think that might be the cause. Luckily it's a Scottish ale, so although it's not what I wanted, it's still in style.

Revvy: I bottled into regular ol' brown longnecks. One thing I'm pretty confident of is my sanitation, as these bottles were rinsed well, run through dishwasher (no soap or drying agent), then dunked into Iodophor. Same regimen as my first two batches, by the way.

jescholler: I suppose it could be, it's just that it baffles me that I did everything as far as pitching the yeast the same way for my first two batches, and they both turned out great. As for fermenting, my first batch sat for only one week. I learned (from Revvy) that I should actually wait three weeks, so my next two batches (a pale ale and then this oktoberfest) fermented for three.

If you guys are baffled, there may not be a good solution to it. I suppose I'll just keep them around and see if they happen to get any better, but I'm not too hopeful.

With my bottles, I generally leave more head space than that. I have found if you fill the bottle too much, the carbonation won't happen properly (I think Papazian suggests about an inch, I use Grolsch bottles and filly up to just below the swing mechanism).

What temp. was the beer when you bottled it? I'm pretty sure that is a factor when calculating how much priming sugar to use.