bottles not carbonated

I brewed my first big beer a few months ago (10% abv) and it has been in the bottle for over a month. I crashed cooled before bottling but did not add any extra yeast. I checked a bottle again today and I still do not have much carbonation. There are some visual bubbles and a hiss when I pop the top, but the beer tastes flat and has no head. Are there any suggestions on what to do? Should I wait it out a little longer to see how things turn out? Or should I consider adding sugar or carb tabs to the bottles? I'm not in too much of a hurry, but I was hoping this beer could be ready by Christmas for presents!

keep it warm (like 75) for a month, and roll the bottles around on their sides to get the yeast back in suspension. Big beers take a while to carb.

Another month? Its been in the bottle for over a month. I did shake them up a week ago, but haven't notice any change in carbonation the last 2 weeks. I will definitely wait a while longer before I start to panic, but I just wanted to know my options .

The bigger the beer, the longer it takes to carb. Revvy has a very high-tech diagram he can post if he's around that demonstrates how it works.

In the future, I would not cold crash such a big beer. I have good luck carbing big beers in the summer when the basement temp is 74 or so, and crap for luck in the winter when the temp is 66. In the winter, I bring them upstairs and put them in the same room as the woodstove, and it still takes a while. I think the cooler fermentation temps makes more yeast drop out.

I opened a 12% tripel and added a little dry yeast to each bottle, and it helped, but still not carbed to style. I probably should have added a carb tab too. The bad thing is that there was a variance in the carb levels of each bottle, so if I added sugar, i would be risking bombs in the ones that were the most flat.

Patience, warm, roll... It will work.

Thanks.

The decision to cold crash the beer was my biggest fear. Since they are going to be presents, I wanted them to be clear as possible. I just wasn't thinking of the high abv.

Ill try finding a warmer spot to place them in. The weather has been cool the last few weeks and the wife likes to keep the windows open, so that might be a problem. I just wish I could know for sure that they will be carbed by Christmas! hehe

i have had a similar problem with not carbonating, I also had fermented and bottled in a lower temperature range

it could also be not enough yeast, during fermentation, i transferred from beer botling bucket to carb, most of the yeast sediment did not make it to carb, so a lower amount of yeast present in the bottles along with colder temperatures could have majorly slowed the carbonation.

hopefully warmer temps will kick things back up, last resort will be popping and adding dry yeast

any one else have suggestions

Does anyone have anything to add to this? I bottled a big Quad.. It's been 6 weeks and are all still flat.

BoltsFan704 said:

Does anyone have anything to add to this? I bottled a big Quad.. It's been 6 weeks and are all still flat.

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Wow, a 2 year old revived thread!

Big beers can take longer. Period.
I've got a 9. % Belgian Blonde going on 2.5 months and its just about ready. Just be patient assuming you primed properly.