1st Bottled Batch Help

I need some help, advice, coaching, or whatever. I have read so much on here, but I just think posting this would help me in my situation.

I bottled my first batch 4 weeks and 3 days ago, and if I read some of the forums correctly, it tells me to wait three weeks. I did that plus, but I am not sure I am getting the results I was hoping for.

I put a couple in the fridge the other day and waited about 3 days to try them. I opened the first one Sunday night and had a very small head with very little carbonation. It had great taste, but lacked the carbonation. So yesterday I took one to my LHBS. The owner of the store opened the bottle, which had not been in the fridge, and the beer poured a two finger head and was properly carbonated. I was shocked! He then tasted it and pretty much drank the whole thing. He said it was great and encouraged me to save a couple for a contest he was having in June.

I then went home and opened another cold bottle and back to no head and lacking carbonation. I grabbed a warm bottle and BOOM, two finger head and very well carbonated.

I am confused!!! Can someone tell me what's going on?

What did you use for priming sugar, and what temp did you have the bottles at those four weeks? Was the one you brought to the HBS from the fridge, or where you have them stored? The yeast slow down in the fridge and stop working on the sugars.

I'm very new, but I do know that co2 dissolves much better in cold water than warm. Speculating that your co2 comes out easily in the warm beer, but is dissolved in. The cold. Warm up a cold one and see what happens. I would guess there isn't enough extra co2 in the cold ones to instantly come out and form a head.

Atonk said:

What did you use for priming sugar, and what temp did you have the bottles at those four weeks? Was the one you brought to the HBS from the fridge, or where you have them stored? The yeast slow down in the fridge and stop working on the sugars.

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I used O.75 cup of corn sugar for priming but I am not 100% sure of my temp. It may have been too cold where I had them. I actually moved them last night to a warmer place in the house, probably around 71 or 72.

Would being to around 64 or 65 have slowed the process down?

My gut tells me that it's at too low a serving temperature for the style. A lot of our home brews have much better taste, character and head retention when they're served at something higher than Coors Lite type temps - A beer which taste of watery ass when warm and is advertised encased in ice before serving.

Something in the mid 40 to 50 range might help.

The warmer temps should help - my neighbor had the same thing going on and he them sitting in a cold spot. Let us know if they carb up once warmed for bit.

You might be a bit undercarbed but I don't think it's anything to worry about. Just don't drink it ice cold.

What style of beer is it? I prefer my bigger beers warmer anyway. As someone else pointed out, taste and character are often more pronounced the closer a complex beer gets to room temperature. My favorite craft-brewed stouts, I usually drink at around 60-65 degrees. "Warm beer" being bad is a concept invented by the light beer-drinking fraternity crowd.

It is an amber ale, not a real big beer. I really believe it had a lot to do with the temp where they were sitting.

Yeah,cooler ferment temps don't work well for bottle carbing/conditioning. They need to be at 70F or a lil more to carb & condition in 3-4 weeks.