Problem......????? - (carbonation)

I made a pumpkin ale recently (or at least I used pumpkin in my mash). But here is the deal:

It had an original gravity of 1.084. I had it in a primary for a little over 2 weeks and a secondary for 2 weeks. It has been bottled for 2 weeks and I chilled and cracked one open tonight and there is no carbonation. When I bottled I actually used quite a bit of corn sugar (ie 2 oz per the 1.7 gallons I got out of it; it started out a half batch). I was originally worried I would end up with bottle bombs once I realized how little actually made it to the bottling bucket. I don't know what could have happened. I used WLP001 so it should of handled the alcohol content. Could I have used too much irish moss? Where did my yeast go? There was zero sediment in the bottle.

Now that said. This stuff is pretty awesome. I'm not sure what it tastes like exactly. It reminds me of an imperial oktoberfest I had once except with pumpkin spices or maybe a barley wine. SWMBO seems to love it, anyway. I'm not sure if it would be better carbonated or worse....

So, besides not knowing what happened, should I be concerned about how long they will keep if they didn't carbonate/pressurize in the bottle? I originally thought maybe I should try to add yeast to the bottles, but if they taste great maybe I should just let them be.?.?.?

A beer that big will need some time to carb up.

2 weeks in & no carb? I woulndt worry too much about it. Give it time, grasshopper.

It'll keep without the carbonation. Imagine how a wine feels without carbonation.

Keep SWMBO happy, shes the one who controls the brewing sechdule.

Thanks. I will try again in a week or two.

Yes Master... Patience.... Patience.... Patience... Got it... Is it ready now... Dope

SWMBO described it as the "best thing she has ever tasted", so not all is lost even if it doesn't carb up. She will definitely let me brew again in the near future.

I have a RIS (Russian Imperial Stout) that has been in the bottles for 4 months now that hasn't carbed.

I think I could call it a massive port wine if it never carbs.

The second beer I ever did was a pumpkin for SWMBO. She loved it, thats why I'm still brewing.

Give your pumpkin 2 more weeks, if no phft, then tell SWMBO you'll have to have a keg system to make sure things carb up.

I do like the way you think, sir.

There is now only 17 left of this pumpkin experiment (which interestingly enough was my second beer as well), so maybe I will wait another month before I try it again. Well, if I can keep SWMBO out of them.

Let me know if that RIS ever carbs up.

Thanks again for the advice.

no worries.

Where in the world are you from?

Born and raised in Kansas. My wife and I are currently going to graduate school in Wichita, KS. You?

Also, don't drink and then play with picture frames.... broken glass..... Think my sister will notice if her Christmas present is a picture in a frame with no glass?

Yahoo for Kansas! While you're waiting for the pumpkin beer to carb, go buy some Tallgrass beer somewhere down there in Wichita. I'm in Manhattan and work for them.

Where are you storing the beer for carbing? Keep it at room temperature. If it is too cold, the yeast will go dormant and not do anything. (You won't kill them, but they will be "asleep".) Warming it up will wake them up.

Odd, I just bottled my Imperial Pumpkin Ale on Friday and just opened it today...no carbinattion (OG 1.1, FG 1.008). I guess I'll just follow the advice on this post and wait....sigh...and I really wanted some homebrew this week. Guess I'll just have to brew some more while I wait.

Warming it up is a great idea......

I believe there is a thread somewhere on this forum where a guy did a 31 day experiment with a light lager. Each couple of days the carbonation improves, and although it's hard to wait, drinking carbonated beer is pretty cool!

Patience......

That's it, I'm moving the beers out of the basement.

Eastside Brewer said:

drinking carbonated beer is pretty cool!

Click to expand...

LOL.

Yahoo for Kansas! While you're waiting for the pumpkin beer to carb, go buy some Tallgrass beer somewhere down there in Wichita. I'm in Manhattan and work for them.

Where are you storing the beer for carbing? Keep it at room temperature. If it is too cold, the yeast will go dormant and not do anything. (You won't kill them, but they will be "asleep".) Warming it up will wake them up.

Click to expand...

Ya my brother and sister in law live in Manhattan and are always bragging about Tallgrass. We've had the ale and need to try the wheat . Those are the two that I have seen around here anyways.

I'm storing the bottles at my fermenting temperature (ie apartment temp) of 67-68.

Not to throw a monkey wrench in the waiting for Carb thread, I bottled an IPA some months ago and, alas, I'm still waiting for carbonation. It seems I didn't stir my priming solution into the bucket thoroughly. A few beers overcarb'd and the rest, well, I can wait I suppose but, it's been a while, ya know?

Latest batch of Edwort's carbed up grand when I gave a few stirs to the primed wort in the bucket before bottling.

Champurrado said:

Not to throw a monkey wrench in the waiting for Carb thread, I bottled an IPA some months ago and, alas, I'm still waiting for carbonation. It seems I didn't stir my priming solution into the bucket thoroughly. A few beers overcarb'd and the rest, well, I can wait I suppose but, it's been a while, ya know?

Latest batch of Edwort's carbed up grand when I gave a few stirs to the primed wort in the bucket before bottling.

Click to expand...

I definitly made sure to stir the wort.

physfarm said:

Ya my brother and sister in law live in Manhattan and are always bragging about Tallgrass. We've had the ale and need to try the wheat . Those are the two that I have seen around here anyways.

I'm storing the bottles at my fermenting temperature (ie apartment temp) of 67-68.

Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear that they like our beer! We just released Tallgrass IPA, so start looking for that in bottles and on tap too. (And, will release a seasonal Winter Stout on tap only in late Jan/Feb-Marchish.)

Commercial over...

That should be warm enough to carb them up, and a week to 10 days is usually long enough for a beer at that temps to at least get carbonation (if not aged properly).

What kind of sugar did you use? Or how otherwise did you prime them? Some are better than others.

When I go to bottle homebrew, I boil my sugar in a bit of water, and put it in the bottling bucket first. Then I start the flow out of the fermenter and have never had problems with it not mixing properly.

My wife and I love IPA, so we will be sure to get a hold of some of the Tallgrass, even if we need to make a trip to Manhattan .

That is exactly how I have been priming my beers. I boil corn sugar in about a cup of water for 10-15 min, then put it into the bottling bucket, and siphon the beer on top. I don't do any additional stirring, and haven't had a problem with the others I have done. I guess time will tell.

Is there any chance that with a large amount of Irish moss and use of a secondary with a relatively high OG beer, that I settled too much yeast out? I had a lot of trub left between the primary and secondary. I started with a little over 2.5 gallons and ended up with 1.7.

I'm having the same problem with my high gravity beer (1.091). Granted it's only been a little over 1 week in the bottle, but it hasn't carbed up much at all. I typically use at least one plastic PET bottle so I can gauge carbonation level by giving it a squeeze. They're sitting pretty at 70F so I'll be patient and give them about 4 weeks.