Bottles not carbed after over 3 weeks! help!

So I brewed a pumpkin ale back in September. I bottled it back on October 7 (almost 4 weeks ago). here's the summary of that.

http://charlottesvillehomebrew.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/back-to-the-basics-with-bottling-pumpkin-ale-2012/

The issue is that the beer is still pouring flat. I opened one after 2 weeks, because my beers are typically carbed after 2 weeks. I did use a new yeast, Denny's fav 50, which I havent used in the past. I also cold crashed the beer before bottling, so it was cold when racked into bottles.

Should I be concerned yet? Or is it a result of the cold crash or yeast strain? I keep going over the bottling day in my head, and I cant think of anything else.

If you cold crashed before bottling you may have much less yeast in solution. A batch I crashed for a week had that problem. It took a month to carb up. Now I crash for two days and don't worry so much about getting a little yeast in the bottles.

How much sediment do you see in the bottles? The ones that carb in two weeks for me have 1/8" or maybe a little more crawling up the sides. (not a 1/8" think layer. That would be a lot)

Do you have a recipie? or how about just the OG? The link is to a blog post that talks though the brew day.

Best thing to do is wait a couple more weeks. Cold crashing will definitely effect the amount of time it takes to carb, as can higher OGs. What was your OG?

There are a lot of variables you need to take into consideration, which you haven't given us. What was the OG and FG? What temperature are the bottles at? How much priming sugar did you use? It seems like you have had success carbing beer in the past. I would suggest warming up the beer, if possible, and give it more time.

OG was 1.064 FG 1.013. It has been kept in the basement, about 60-65F for almost 4 weeks, I recently moved them upstairs to a toastier 70F to see if that helps. I buy the priming sugar in a little packet, I think its 8oz corn sugar, same amount I've always used when bottling 5 gal.

http://charlottesvillehomebrew.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/2012-pumpkin-brewday-recap/

I did look for the yeast in the bottles, and I can see a very thin layer, probably less than I usually see if I don't cold crash. I actually think that this is the first time I've cold crashed then bottled, in the past I have only kegged cold crashed beer, and controlling the CO2 is a bit easier with kegged beer.

I really hope you are mistaken about the amount of priming sugar or this is a 10 gallon batch.

I really hope you are mistaken about the amount of priming sugar or this is a 10 gallon batch

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I think you're right, after looking at some notes, it was 4 oz. otherwise I think I'd be having the opposite problem...

Lol exactly. How long have they been warmer? Give one of them a try in 2 weeks. Even with a very small amount of yeast in the bottles, there should be enough to do the job.

Sometimes this happens and especially if you cold crashed. I have gotten in the habit of rehydrating and adding dry yeast into my beers before bottling to try to solve this problem. I usually use 1 pack of safale 04 because it's highly flocculant and won't make the ber more hazy. Leaving it in a warmer spot is good, you might try agitating it daily to get the yeast back into suspension. I would try another bottle in about 2 weeks.

ok, its been a little over 2 weeks now, I just threw one in the fridge, gonna try it out tonight or tomorrow. hoping they will be ready to take with me to Thanksgiving! Will update.

If the bottles were in a colder than 70 environment for the first several weeks then you can almost consider those wasted weeks as the yeast was pretty sleepy, now that they are warmer they should progress nicely

duboman said:

If the bottles were in a colder than 70 environment for the first several weeks then you can almost consider those wasted weeks as the yeast was pretty sleepy, now that they are warmer they should progress nicely

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This is exactly what happened to me....wasted weeks. After I got it above 70* it carbed right up. Now when I bottle I put all the bottles in a couple tupperware tubs and string some xmas lights around them leaving the lid off cause it gets to hot. They're usually ready in 2 weeks.

After 6 weeks the beer is finally carbed! Ill only cold crash now if kegging and force carbing or if I have the time to wait. At least its ready in time for Thanksgiving! Thanks for the advice.

congrads! enjoy in good health! bet that was a relief