I don't think my beer is carbing right

Good day everyone. My last two batches (scotch ale and boddingtons pub clone) haven't seem to carb correctly even after sitting in a 70 degree box for about 2 weeks, and then mid 60's for another two weeks. It tastes carbed, but I have zero head, no lacing, and no bubbles flying up. I used 5oz. of priming sugar mixed in 2 cups of water to prime the beer.

Help!

Thanks,
Cris P.

I found that to be the case with some of my first beers too. It's possible that they'll get a little closer to proper carbonation over time.

Have you left the beers in the fridge for 48+ hours before cracking them? The longer they stay at fridge temperatures, the more time the beer will have to absorb all the CO2. Try putting one in the fridge for a week, if you haven't already.

I also thought that low carbonation could be to caramelization of the priming sugar when I boiled it to sanitize. Perhaps try a 10 minute, low boil. Add, and stir the sugar once the water is nicely boiling.

agreed with storunner put it in the fridge and let some that co2 absorb, unless you have a nice cool area where you can let them get aged nicely

I put it into an online computer and 5 oz of sugar should equal about 6/10 of a cup. I always bottle with 3/4 cup of dextrose when bottling. As you can see this shouldnt be that off. I have a batch that ive jumped the gun on and have been drinking off since 10 days of bottling. From day 10 to today, day 17, the carbonation (head) increased alot. maybe your not mixing in the priming sugar well enough when bottling and its not getting to all the beers and allowing them to carb right? That is if your bottling, not kegging. You didnt specify...

Why are you dropping them from the 70's to the low 60's after 2 weeks???? Leave the beer at above 70 until the beer is carbed. Why are you moving it out of the ideal temp zone before they are finished carbing and in effect retarding the processs?

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.

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."

Read the above blog, and come back to the beer in a couple more weeks.

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them ore 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.

If you give it nice hard pour down the center of the glass does it foam up ?

5 oz of priming sugar is enough for carbonation. I would say your issue could be related to not enough time at 70 degrees. Can you just keep them at 70 instead of moving to 60 F? Take notice as time goes by, the longer you wait the more it should seem carbonated.
Also make sure you let your beer chill in the fridge before you drink them.
Beer at room temperature holds almost NO carbonation unless it's forced under pressure. There will be more residual carbonation in a bottle that has been chilled for a couple days rather than and hour. It takes time for beer to absorb the CO2, so let it sit for another week at 70 and then throw them in the fridge for a few days.

Oh and head/lacing isn't the best way to measure carbonation. I had a coffee stout that doesn't have any head at all. It's just a recipe thing. Where do you get your ingredients?

Thanks for the help everyone. When I pour my beer, I pour down the side of the glass nice and smooth so it doesn't foam up too bad.

I purchased my ingredients from my LHBS (The weekend brewer)

About the temperature thing, there is a story behind it. When I first bottled these things, the house temp. was b/t 62-65 depending on the programmed thermostat. After two weeks in that range I tried one and noticed it wasn't carbed very well. So I then put the beer in a box, strung some xmas lights around the bottles and left the lights on a timer to cut on and off every 2 hours or so. Then the heat breaks so the house temp dropped to 54-58. Then I installed a thermostat set at 72 on the xmas lights in the box to keep the box at a steady temp. And now they still seem under carbed.

Do I just need to let them sit in that box longer to carb up? I also flipped them easily to mix the yeast up again and get it going.

Thanks!

If your brew has no head or kick but has carbonation this may not be just a carbing issue, it may be yeast issue. What was the yeast you used and what temperature did you pitch it at? When you do natural carbonation what you are doing is restarting fermentation by waking up the yeast to eat the sugar, it releases co2 which is sealed in the bottle. It may carb yes but if the yeast has not completed its job in the fermentation process you may pick up the no body issue

I pithced around 68-70 using "ale yeast" according to the instruction sheet. I let it ferment for about 3 weeks then bottled it up.

s2cmpugh said:

Thanks for the help everyone. When I pour my beer, I pour down the side of the glass nice and smooth so it doesn't foam up too bad.
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Well try pouring it not so nice and smooth and see what happens
I would guess if you leave them sit longer the head might improve.
A beer can be carbed fine but still have little to no foam.
here is some info
http://***********/stories/article/indices/35-head-retention/625-fabulous-foam
It might be time to brew another batch.

This past Saturday I popped open one of my boddington pub clones after being in the fridge for about 24 hours. I poured it into a red solo cup and low and behold, there was good head and lacing.

SOOOO, last night I popped open another BP clone (48 hours in the fridge) using a tall clean glass. This time NO head or lacing, but the beer tasted carbed. What gives!?!?