not carbing...

bottled an amber about 3 or 4 weeks ago (forgot to write the date in my brew log, so i'm guessing a little, but i know it a minimum of 3 weeks). Yesterday, as per usual for a month after bottling, i put 3 bottles in the fridge to check them out. Last night i cracked the first one, poured it, and it was flat. Great taste, body, and hop aroma, just flat. Drank a few sips, figured i had a bad cap, dumped it and cracked number 2... same thing, except i finished the beer.

I figured maybe had somethign to do with only being in the fridge for about 6 hours (i usually go for a full 24 hrs before drinking a bottle no matter how long it's been in the bottle.)

Today i cracked open #3.... and flat.

I primed with table sugar, which i've done on lots of brews with no probelm (including the 2 i bottled before this batch).

Any thoughts on what the deal is? Am i gonna have to open each bottle and put a carb tab in it or what?

What temp are you carbing them at? Just make sure it is above 70, and give it a couple more weeks, agitate each bottle to re-suspend the yeast and walk away for a bot longer. Gravity is the biggest thing to the length of time a beer needs, that and temp.

I have NEVER had a beer not carb, given enough time.

The only other thing I can think of is to make sure you stirred enough of the sugar in suspension. When I was bottle carbing, I had a couple batches turn out uneven (some bottles flat, some bottles overcarbed) due to not mixing the sugar properly. Making sure the sugar you use isn't too warm might be one element.

interesting... how would the warmer temperature of the sugar impact carbing if i stirred it in well? I do know i was in a hurry to get this batch bottled quickly, so there's a very good chance that i didn't let the sugar cool as much as i normally would, though i'm certain it was stirred in well.

BA_from_GA said:

interesting... how would the warmer temperature of the sugar impact carbing if i stirred it in well? I do know i was in a hurry to get this batch bottled quickly, so there's a very good chance that i didn't let the sugar cool as much as i normally would, though i'm certain it was stirred in well.

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I dump near boiling priming solution in my bucket all the time, and it doesn't "impact" bottlng. If you have any starsan in the bucket, it's already cooling on impact, plus even falling through the air into the bucket, and the minute you start the beer flowing, the temps gone down.

That like the idea that 2 cups of liquid won't evenly dillute into 5 gallons of beer, especially since the beer is flowing from the bottom of the bottling bucket upwards, carrying and dilluting the liquid as it moves, is another myth.

Unless you dumped dry sugar into your bucket, there really isn;t a way to screw up bottling.

The only temps that matter is the temp you are storing your beer at.

That along with the gravity of the beer determines how long it will take.

If your beer's not ready yet, you did nothing wrong, it will be ready when it is.

I had a scottish that refused to carb. I put the bottles in a little warmer area of the house (above 70) and agitated them 2 times a couple weeks apart. After 6 weeks they finally carbed up very nicely.