Flat IPA after 22 days of being bottled

So im not totatlly new to the HBing and what not, but my latest brew, a Big Ben IPA from Midwest supplies is flat. It was in primary for about 2-3 weeks and has been bottled for 22 days now. Didnt do anything additional compared to other brews I have done... just figure something went wrong during this process... any help or others having same probs im all ears. Thanks

A couple of questions to get some good answers:

what did you prime with? edit: and how much in how big of a batch?
how have the bottles been stored?

What kind of beer? What yeast? What OG and FG?

When you say no carbonation, do you mean zero (no noise whatsoever when opening) or just really low carbonation (little pfft when opened, weak head)?

Three weeks at a good temp is the minimum before you start to be worried. If temp was a little low, yeast was groggy from long aging, etc., things could certainly take longer.

the beer was an IPA from midwest brewing supplies... I used a Wyeast smack pack which did activate properly as far as I know. It was a 5 gal batch, and I used the corn sugar that it came with as a primer. the bottles were stored in a dark closet with the temp around 70-75.
When I say no carbonation I had ZERO head when pouring the beer... and maybe a very feint (pfft) sound when cracking them open....

Did you boil the sugar first? If you added it dry, you'll have some overcarbed bottles and some that are totally flat.

Three weeks @ 70 degrees F is the baseline for normal gravity beers. Higher gravity or lower temps can take longer.

If you added the priming sugar properly and mixed it properly (typically, the whirlpool from the siphon will do this just fine), then the beer WILL carb... just give it time.

If you heard a slight pfft then it is working and just needs more time.

Yah I boil the priming sugar with about 2 cups of water and auto siphon from primary to the bottling bucket... thanks guys for all the help... i guess ill have to go buy a six pack from the local alcohol monopoly store

cheers

Sure you got good seal on the bottles? If so, more time should do it.

Time will do it... if after two total months in the bottle it's not any further along, sprinkle a couple champagne yeasties in each bottle and re-cap.

Another possibility is uneven distribution of the priming sugar. How many bottles did you try? How did you add the priming sugar? I normally give my beer a good swirl (without splashing) in the bottling bucket to ensure even distribution. Uneven distribution can result in flat bottles while others are over carbed.

The bottles have a good seal and I let the priming sugar mix its self as I siphoned the primary into the bottling bucket. I'll check a beer in another week or so and see

mms2884 said:

The bottles have a good seal and I let the priming sugar mix its self as I siphoned the primary into the bottling bucket. I'll check a beer in another week or so and see

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I used to use the whirlpool method like you and sometimes I would have bottles with very low carbonation and others would be gushers. If you give the beer a gentle swirl with a large spoon in the bottling bucket you shouldn't have any issues.

I had that happen to my first ipa. It tasted good but was just flat. It has now been bottled for 5 months. I moved it from the basement to the main floor where it is warmer. The beer is completely different from looks to taste. Just be patient and wait. It will get better with time!

I've had the same problems with almost all of my batches. With my latest batch, on advice from the LHBS, I racked on top of my sugar solution, carefully stirred with santized spoon, and the carefully re-stirred after each six-pack was bottled. After only 1 week, my fist beer had an audible hiss on opening and poured a beautiful head and has great carbonation already.

As other posters have pointed out, time will correct it. On my previous flat batches, I just left them in the closed for 2, or 3 weeks longer (even a month or more sometimes!) and eventually the carbonation would be fine.