Carbonation Dud?

I bottled some of my imperial stout around 4 weeks ago. I had drank one around one week in, it tasted great. Then a few days ago I pulled out another one and chilled it down, then popped it open, but there was no pop and no carbonation. The first one I had was super carbonated, so this is what gets me confused. Then the next day I opened up another two and the same from each.

I was having some trouble bottling this because the hops I used for dry-hopping weren't in a bag and kept clogging the racking cane.

I guess my major question is have you experienced this as well. And what would normally cause this, just not waiting long enough between adding the priming sugar and bottling or not enough mixing after adding it?

The flavors of the carbonated and uncarbonated beers were distinctly different and should be getting better with age right? This is not the case as it seemed to be getting worse with age.

Anyone else ever get licorice flavors in any of their beers?

I think the answer lies in the word "Imperial." It's a big beer you have going there. The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that 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.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

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



Make sure it's in a warm place. It wouldn't hurt to give them a swiirl to rouse the yeast, and then sit it out. It will carb up eventually.

You hop issue really wouldn't affect your carbonation.