Flat Beer

This is my 4th batch of beer and it's flat. Made a dark ale and followed directions to a "T". I took my time and racked it three times before I bottled. It's been about 3 weeks since I bottled and still flat as a 2x4. Worst part is that I spent $50 on this kit.

Conditioning temps? Also you racked 3 times?!?!

If u didnt ferment longer than 6 months and added priming sugar it will carb, give it more time, put it in warmer place if it below 60

why would you rack 3 times, also, give it time, it will carb up eventually.

In before Revvy!

I've always rushed my beer in the past and wanted this to be more clear with less sediment. It's sitting in a 73* temp room, so should be warm enough. It spent a week in the bucket then two in carboys before I bottled it.

If its 3 weeks at 73 and it's still completely flat then I think u forgot priming sugar

Seriously; next time follow the 3/3 rule: There is no need to rack your beer!

Three weeks in the PRIMARY only; then three weeks in the bottle.

Can you reopen the bottles and add a carb tablet and recap them?

I'm fairly new to this but I think with all that racking you might not have enough yeast left to carb.

How about investing in a kegging setup. You can get a 5lb tank and regulator for $100 and a used corney keg for $40. The best part is that even if you don't want to keg, you can make a carbonator cap for cheap and carb up a liter plastic bottle with a little shaky shake. You'll have a perfectly carbonated beer in 5 minutes and all for $110 bucks.

BPhad said:

I'm fairly new to this but I think with all that racking you might not have enough yeast left to carb.

Click to expand...

It's possible; I've never heard of all that racking?

How long are you chilling the test bottle(s) before pouring into glass? Set one into the fridge (give it a few more days first, so a solid month since you bottled it) and then leave it there for at least 4-5 days. Pour into a room temp glass and see if its carbonated.

What was the OG and FG of the batch? What yeast did you use? How much sugar did you prime it with??

If you're having issues with getting clear brew into the glass, I would look to improve your processes and not rack to a secondary for only that reason. IMO, racking to get an ale to clear shouldn't be necessary IF you select a good yeast, and brew it up right. NOT rushing your brew at any point in the process will get you much better beer into your glass.

Personally, depending on the OG, I go at least 3 weeks in primary (I've gone up to 8 weeks so far) before either bottling (while I still did that), kegging (which is what I do now), or racking in order to bulk age it on a flavor element (first, and sometimes rack it again off of that flavor element if it's not going to keg/bottle).

tknice said:

How about investing in a kegging setup. You can get a 5lb tank and regulator for $100 and a used corney keg for $40. The best part is that even if you don't want to keg, you can make a carbonator cap for cheap and carb up a liter plastic bottle with a little shaky shake. You'll have a perfectly carbonated beer in 5 minutes and all for $110 bucks.

Click to expand...

Ooooo this is so faking helpful

Polboy said:

Ooooo this is so faking helpful

Click to expand...

Are you serious?

I didn't forget the sugar.

ClydeWigg3 said:

I didn't forget the sugar.

Click to expand...

Just your manners.....

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.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out. You have green beer.

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 more 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.

I've carbed hundreds of gallons of beer, and never had a beer that wasn't carbed, or under carbed or anything of the sort (Except for a batch where I accidently mixed up lactose or Maltodextrine for priming sugar). Some took awhile, (as I said up to six months) but they ALL eventually carbed.

tknice said:

How about investing in a kegging setup. You can get a 5lb tank and regulator for $100 and a used corney keg for $40. The best part is that even if you don't want to keg, you can make a carbonator cap for cheap and carb up a liter plastic bottle with a little shaky shake. You'll have a perfectly carbonated beer in 5 minutes and all for $110 bucks.

Click to expand...

It is annoying when were dealing with a BOTTLING issue for someone to think it humorous or helpful to bring up kegging. Not everyone kegs, nor does everyone choose to keg. And nor do folks who are talking about bottling usually appreciate the "keg" comment every freaking time we're talking about bottling. Most folks by now, know kegs exist, it's in the title of this section after all, so we don't need to have someone "help" us by talking about them, contrary to what you might think, the word "keg" is usually not the answer to a bottling question.....

And it really isn't helpful to the situation at hand anyway...you think the answer would be to dump the bottles into a keg and carb it? They'd be liquid cardboard before the keg got kicked......

ClydeWigg3 said:

I didn't forget the sugar.

Click to expand...

Nobody's trying to get fighty with you, Clyde, but his question was valid. Yeah, I know, you said you followed the directions "to a 'T'," and that'd include priming sugar. But unless your instructions were written by a maniac I doubt they said to rack three times either!

Dark ales are often high ABV, so if that's the case (and even if it isn't) I suggest you listen to Revvy and give it some more time. Hypothetically speaking, even if you did rack it off most of the yeast, there's no way you left ZERO yeast cells in every bottle. Even a few yeast cells will eventually multiply, eat the priming sugar, and carb the beer up. You just gotta be patient. And hey, brew something else in the meantime to stay busy!

Revvy said:

It is annoying when were dealing with a BOTTLING issue for someone to think it humorous or helpful to bring up kegging. Not everyone kegs, nor does everyone choose to keg. And nor do folks who are talking about bottling usually appreciate the "keg" comment every freaking time we're talking about bottling. Most folks by now, know kegs exist, it's in the title of this section after all, so we don't need to have someone "help" us by talking about them, contrary to what you might think, the word "keg" is usually not the answer to a bottling question.....

And it really isn't helpful to the situation at hand anyway...you think the answer would be to dump the bottles into a keg and carb it? They'd be liquid cardboard before the keg got kicked......

Click to expand...

Plus it is more expensive than just 150 dollars. You would be very lucky to get in under 300 dollars for a full keg setup. (I know. I just bought one and went as cheap as I could)

Revvy said:

It is annoying when were dealing with a BOTTLING issue for someone to think it humorous or helpful to bring up kegging. Not everyone kegs, nor does everyone choose to keg. And nor do folks who are talking about bottling usually appreciate the "keg" comment every freaking time we're talking about bottling. Most folks by now, know kegs exist, it's in the title of this section after all, so we don't need to have someone "help" us by talking about them, contrary to what you might think, the word "keg" is usually not the answer to a bottling question.....

And it really isn't helpful to the situation at hand anyway...you think the answer would be to dump the bottles into a keg and carb it? They'd be liquid cardboard before the keg got kicked......

Click to expand...

I was offering a suggestion for someone having a hard time. That is all, nothing else. I'm sorry you took that to mean some kind of attack on bottling.

I bottle as well. Not sure why you are so fired up...

-TK

mxpx5678 said:

Plus it is more expensive than just 150 dollars. You would be very lucky to get in under 300 dollars for a full keg setup. (I know. I just bought one and went as cheap as I could)

Click to expand...

I can post links if you want.

tknice said:

I can post links if you want.

Click to expand...

That would be great. I spent 50 on regulator. 100 on full co2 tank. 20 for two corny kegs. 75 for used chest freezer. 30 for eBay temp controller. Then about 30 for various connections and parts.

mxpx5678 said:

That would be great. I spent 50 on regulator. 100 on full co2 tank. 20 for two corny kegs. 75 for used chest freezer. 30 for eBay temp controller. Then about 30 for various connections and parts.

Click to expand...

Sure mxpx.. this is the 5 gal setup I bought.

5 lb. Aluminum CO2 Cylinder
Double Gauge Regulator

Those together are $98.90. Then you have the carbonator cap for a DIY price of around $10-15 as well as the few parts and tubing. I don't know what the total price is, but I feel like anyone bottling should have this as well. Why not do both.

Btw, I didn't think he would pour all of the beer in the keg, I was referring to the next brew session.

IF you go with all used hardware, you might be able to get the kegging part of the configuration for under $150. But, that won't include anything to keep the kegs cold.

Setting up a kegging system isn't cheap in the short term. But, there are other benefits that offset the costs associated with the setup. Things like precision control of the carbonation level of the brew, including the ability to change the carbonation level to be what YOU want. Not something you can do when bottling, once the brew is bottled. Then there's filling whatever size glass you want. Anything from a few ounces, on up. If you want to pour a half glass of a brew, you can and not need to worry about the balance of the bottle. You can also store far more brew in the same amount of space in kegs. Then there's the fact that you don't need to worry about light getting into the kegs, which can be a concern with bottles (even the brown bottles should be kept in the dark, or out of sunlight/light). There are more plus sides to kegging, IF you want to go that route. But if not, then bottling is where you go. Of course, you can bottle from the kegs, but that's a different thread.

Please do post up the brew details including what it is/was, OG, FG, and whatever else has been requested. It could just be that you need to give it more time. Chances are, as long as the yeast was still viable in the brew, it will eventually carbonate. My brew-buddy had a stout take about 5 months to carbonate, but eventually it did.

So just put one bottle into the fridge once a month, let it chill for 5-7 days and pour it into a glass to check it's progress.

tknice said:

Sure mxpx.. this is the 5 gal setup I bought.

5 lb. Aluminum CO2 Cylinder
Double Gauge Regulator

Those together are $98.90. Then you have the carbonator cap for a DIY price of around $10-15 as well as the few parts and tubing. I don't know what the total price is, but I feel like anyone bottling should have this as well. Why not do both.

Btw, I didn't think he would pour all of the beer in the keg, I was referring to the next brew session.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the site. I got my stuff from more beer. My tank was a little more but they also sold me a filled one. I will remember that site though shipping seems reasonable.

I'm also relatively new to the brewing process, but if the dark ale you're brewing is indeed going to be a high ABV, the yeast used would have to be able to support that environment. It may be that the yeast have died off from the higher ABV?

In which case, the OG, FG; etc. would be beneficial.

mxpx5678 said:

Thanks for the site. I got my stuff from more beer. My tank was a little more but they also sold me a filled one. I will remember that site though shipping seems reasonable.

Click to expand...

You're welcome Mxpx

Sorry to derail the thread.

Happy brewing.

ClydeWigg3 said:

I didn't forget the sugar.

Click to expand...

what was the OG, FG, fermentation temp and how much and what type of priming sugar did you use?

Dang ~ Such a Simple Question; Why is my Beer Flat; and the thread turns into a Politcal Convention on Kegging?

Such a simple word.. "Row, Row, Row"

Really sorry if anyone took offense to my "I didn't forget the sugar" statement, in no way did I mean to sound flippant. I just meant that I didn't forget to add the sugar.

I bought this kit called Double Vision Imperial IPA from the HomeBrew Den here. The OG was 1.092 and the final was 1.022. Thinking back now I only racked it once while it was fermenting and that was from the bucket to the carboy. Then I racked it again the day I bottled it to get it away from the sediment. The sugar I used was dextrose and it came in a pre-measured package.

Being new at this I didn't realize a higher ABV could cause it to take longer. The other ales I've made were ready to drink two weeks after bottling.

I just read through the instructions that came with the kit again, and I've followed them exactly.

So should I just set these aside and let them go a few months?

Thanks for all the responses.

ClydeWigg3 said:

So should I just set these aside and let them go a few months?

Thanks for all the responses.

Click to expand...

Just try one in a week or two, then another. You don't have to wait months.

You didn't say a barleywine, so I'm assuming your beer isn't all that big....Like I said it's really foolproof.

Just brew another batch of beer to tale your mind off of this one.

ClydeWigg3 said:

...The OG was 1.092 and the final was 1.022...

Click to expand...

Get this man the LazyLlama bottle carbing graphic, stat. 1.092 is quite big, youre most certainly going to need more time than 3 weeks.

Also the suggestion for a DIY carbonator cap isnt a bad one. I use a CO2 cornie charger with the 16g cartridges ($2) instead of a CO2 tank / regulator and enjoy using it on hydrometer samples and those initial beers that aren't quite conditioned.

Think of it as insurance for the pipeline challenged bottler.

I missed the grav post...Yeah check one a month until you get there.

ClydeWigg3 said:

Really sorry if anyone took offense to my "I didn't forget the sugar" statement, in no way did I mean to sound flippant. I just meant that I didn't forget to add the sugar.

I bought this kit called Double Vision Imperial IPA from the HomeBrew Den here. The OG was 1.092 and the final was 1.022. Thinking back now I only racked it once while it was fermenting and that was from the bucket to the carboy. Then I racked it again the day I bottled it to get it away from the sediment. The sugar I used was dextrose and it came in a pre-measured package.

Being new at this I didn't realize a higher ABV could cause it to take longer. The other ales I've made were ready to drink two weeks after bottling.

I just read through the instructions that came with the kit again, and I've followed them exactly.

So should I just set these aside and let them go a few months?

Thanks for all the responses.

Click to expand...

For that gravity I would say at least a month before it carbs, maybe closer to 6 weeks. Time is always your friend, the more you give your beer the better it'll be in most cases (except for the few styles that are meant to be drank young).

ClydeWigg3 said:

Really sorry if anyone took offense to my "I didn't forget the sugar" statement, in no way did I mean to sound flippant. I just meant that I didn't forget to add the sugar.

Click to expand...

That was exactly how I read your statement, so no worries. I'm not sure how people saw it as rude.

Thanks all. I was starting to sweat, but I feel better about it now. I need to find something that carbs up really quick now to get me through the wait. Any suggestions for a good quick brew ale?

gMonkey said:

That was exactly how I read your statement, so no worries. I'm not sure how people saw it as rude.

Click to expand...

Because we're from the Internet, and we're dicks.

But seriously, if you didn't mean it that way, my bad! No hard feelings. Brew yourself a nice APA to keep you busy until your big, boisterous Big Beer carbs up.

Kerin said:

Because we're from the Internet, and we're dicks.

But seriously, if you didn't mean it that way, my bad! No hard feelings. Brew yourself a nice APA to keep you busy until your big, boisterous Big Beer carbs up.

Click to expand...

So by "big boisterous Big Beer" I take it that this should be a good brew when done?

With an OG of 1093 or whatever it was, you're gonna have something boozy. I happen to like big, dark ales, so you're on the right track in my book. Had the Stone Self-Righteous? Stuff's awesome.