Question about carbonation

So I just got done bottling my first batch of beer and I'm pretty excited about it. Although, I have to say, that was a hell of a lot of work! The beer had a lot of flavor and I think it will be great once it carbonates. The only question I have is will my beer not carbonate if I don t store it at 72 degrees? I have the beer stored in the basement and I'm guessing the temp will be around 68 tops. I don't really have a place to store them upstairs. Any advice?

Sure they will carb at 68 just not as fast as they would at 72

It will be fine. 70 degrees for three weeks is the rule of thumb for a typical beer. Colder temps, higher gravities mean that it could take longer - but as long as you don't get below the yeast's bottom temp range, it WILL carb.

It will carb, but you just have to expect that it's going to take longer. If it normally would have taken 3 weeks above 70 degrees, it might instead take 4, or more. As long as the yeast isn't dormant in the low 50's it will carb, but just take longer the closer to that temp it gets. There's no precise way to know without testing them.

In your case I wouldn't bother til the beer were in the bottles for a month....just anticipating what I said.

I believe that should be fine. Remember to give it around 2-3 weeks to carbonate fully.

Thanks guys for the info, that kind of sucks, I thought I would be enjoying my beer in under two weeks!

james138 said:

Thanks guys for the info, that kind of sucks, I thought I would be enjoying my beer in under two weeks!

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Sorry to dissapoint you, but the 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out. You have green beer.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

I've carbed hundreds of gallons of beer, and never had a beer that wasn't carbed, or under carbed or anything of the sort (Except for a batch where I accidently mixed up lactose or Maltodextrine for priming sugar). Some took awhile, (as I said up to six months) but they ALL eventually carbed.

Kit instructions lead to false hopes on how fast a beer can be ready. In the meantime, brew as much as you can to build a pipeline and try a bunch of craft brews to build up your bottle supply. Making sure there is beer in the fridge will keep you from drinking your beer before it is ready. My first batch did not even taste decent due to some noob mistakes till about 2 months time and that was also unfortunately when I drank the last one. Try a surveilance beer in a few weeks and see how it is coming along, but don't freak if it doesn't taste great yet or doesn't have much carbonation.

Thanks you, I just wish I found your thread before I started my bottling process, that was an interesting read. I normally surf this forum on the mobile app, so I miss out on a lot of the stickies.

I think I've read here that some people tend to bottle their beer only after a couple weeks of it being in the primary. My kit said that my beer had to age in the secondary for three weeks and then to bottle it and drink 1-2 weeks l later. Can I shave a week off the aging time in the primary/secondary and just have my next batch condition in the bottles for three weeks? I hope that makes sense.

You can drink it straight out of the primary if you want but it's going to be flat and likely not taste all that great. A couple (2-3) weeks fermenting (secondary, no secondary, whatever), bottle and let it sit for another 2-3 weeks then start sampling. The best bottle is going to be the last one, I can guarantee that.

Revvy said:

I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.[/B]

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Mmmmmmm.. I'd LOVE to try that... my favorite type

Thanks everyone for their input!

james138 said:

Thanks guys for the info, that kind of sucks, I thought I would be enjoying my beer in under two weeks!

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I wouldn't even touch the beer until it's been in the bottle for about a month Though it's only anecdotal, I cracked a bottle of my first homebrew after about 2 weeks and it was terrible, I almost just opened all the bottles and dumped it but just left it in my basement, after another month it was pretty good, I gave it to friends and they didn't even know it was homebrewed.