Belgian strong: why does it take so long?

I just bottled my first batch of Belgian strong about 2 weeks ago. With an OG greater than 1.08 and a FG of 1.006, it's pretty strong. I just opened a bottle and it's pretty flat.

Do stronger beers take longer to condition? It's been about 2 weeks so far.

As well, do stronger beers generally require more priming sugar? With a 5 gallon batch, I added 3/4 cup corn sugar.

Besides the flatness, it's quite strong and tastes pretty damn good.

Thanks for the replies.

Yes. Due to the higher alcohol levels the yeast takes a little longer to work its magic, up to 8 weeks to get your beer up to carb. Usually it is recommended to add fresh yeast at bottling time because of the added stress of the high alcohol environment. I would be patient and check again in another 2-3 weeks. These things take a little while.

As far as priming sugar, you want to aim for a certain volume of CO2. For your style anywhere from 2-3.5 volumes is common. Based on your volume and beer style and bottling at 65 deg F, you should optimally need a minimum of 4oz of corn sugar. 3/4 cup is about 6oz so you will be a little over 3 volumes of CO2 which I think is fine for your brew.

Cheers

Yes, the hint should be the word strong..bigger beers take longer.

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.

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 ore 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.

Lazy Llama came up with a handy dandy chart to determine how long something takes in brewing, whether it's fermentation, carbonation, bottle conditioning....

Haha Revvy I knew it was a matter of time before you would come in here with that graphic. Gold!

Revy, thanks a lot bro. You're the best!

you got 93% attenuation? curious as to how much sugar you had... (assuming you had some)

2 lbs. of candi sugar. I let it ferment for roughly 10 weeks. I didn't (and don't) use a secondary.

My belgian golden strong was brewed in September, bottled at the end of October, and is just now getting good!

I kept opening them to "check" on progress.

I wish I'd left them alone. I would have more now.

Oh, and to be perfectly clear, my FG may be a bit higher then 1.006. As i always do, I stick in the turkey baster turned beer thief into the carboy to measure the gravity of the beer. Being that the turkey baster only reaches into the uppermost echelons of the carboy (and hence the least dense portions of same) the 1.006 reading would theoretically be the reading of the least dense portions of the beer.

I love Belgians for this reason: high OG, low FG. Love that Belgian yeast!!

Plus you're SUPPOSED to put sugar in there, and hardly any hops. Low cost, high value beer FTW

Heres a simple rule of thumb:

SG1.070 and above or 4 or more weeks in primary/secondary

Add fresh yeast at bottling, a couple grams of dry yeast is all it takes- I like Nottingham 5grams for 5 gals. Others use even less - 2grams/5gals
Store @ 70F or higher till carbed ->75F is perfect
After that store cool or in the beer fridge.

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fresh yeast & warm temps will carb the beer in a few weeks. NO beer should take months to carb, thats a classic sign of weak-or-not enough-yeast or too cold.

carbonation is not the same as Conditioning.