6 Weeks and still no carbonation

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MisterGreen

MisterGreen

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This is bizarre. I brewed NB's Shining Star Pale Ale back in May, pitched a Wyeast 1056 starter, fermented at 64 for 2 weeks, bottled with 4.5 oz priming sugar, conditioned in my 71F basement and 6 weeks this past Sunday still no carbonation. I've never seen an ale like this take so long. Obviously I'm going to give it a bit longer but I'm getting a bit concerned. Any thoughts?

:confused:
 
something is wrong

did you boil the priming sugar with water before you added it to the bottling bucket?

are you sure you used priming sugar and not a similar-looking bag of something like malto-dextrine?

how many bottles have you opened? you might think about which bottles were filled first and which middle and which later so that you don't test two bottles that were bottled right after each other.
 
progmac said:
something is wrong

did you boil the priming sugar with water before you added it to the bottling bucket?

are you sure you used priming sugar and not a similar-looking bag of something like malto-dextrine?

how many bottles have you opened? you might think about which bottles were filled first and which middle and which later so that you don't test two bottles that were bottled right after each other.
Click to expand...

I did boil it.

It was definitely priming sugar (at least that's what the package from the LHBS said)

I've opened 4 so far. The first 2 were the last I bottled. The 2 after that were random.
 
MisterGreen said:
I did boil it.

It was definitely priming sugar (at least that's what the package from the LHBS said)

I've opened 4 so far. The first 2 were the last I bottled. The 2 after that were random.
Click to expand...
Have you successfully bottled other beers?
 
Hmmmmm, it's always possible that it wasn't corn sugar in the packet ??..........uncap a few, drop 3 or 4 carbonation drops in each one and recap. See if they carb up in a week or so...
 
MisterGreen said:
This is bizarre. I brewed NB's Shining Star Pale Ale back in May, pitched a Wyeast 1056 starter, fermented at 64 for 2 weeks, bottled with 4.5 oz priming sugar, conditioned in my 71F basement and 6 weeks this past Sunday still no carbonation. I've never seen an ale like this take so long. Obviously I'm going to give it a bit longer but I'm getting a bit concerned. Any thoughts?

:confused:
Click to expand...

Do you mean no CO2 release when a bottle is opened or the beer itself is not carbonated? If there is no CO2 release when a bottle is opened, the caps you used may have had poor seals.
 
dstranger99 said:
Hmmmmm, it's always possible that it wasn't corn sugar in the packet ??..........uncap a few, drop 3 or 4 carbonation drops in each one and recap. See if they carb up in a week or so...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. That's the only logical answer. I'll give my LHBS a call to see if they had any other complaints and I'll try the drops. I'll let you know what happens.
 
flars said:
Do you mean no CO2 release when a bottle is opened or the beer itself is not carbonated? If there is no CO2 release when a bottle is opened the caps you used may have had poor seals.
Click to expand...

There is a hiss when I open them. It's small but it's definitely there.
 
MisterGreen said:
There is a hiss when I open them. It's small but it's definitely there.
Click to expand...

I had a couple of batches which I carbonated with corn sugar to 2.8 volumes. I wasn't getting the head I expected from the first bottled or the last bottled. I refrigerated for about 10 days instead of 3 days and then the beer finally carbonated. Unlike yours I did get a pretty good release of CO2 on opening after 3 days of chilling.
 
If you got a hiss and the beer has some bubbles to it then it seems like it did carbonate. That seems like the case. You could have bad seals, you also may have simply not added enough sugar to properly carb the beer.
 
reed1911 said:
If you got a hiss and the beer has some bubbles to it then it seems like it did carbonate. That seems like the case. You could have bad seals, you also may have simply not added enough sugar to properly carb the beer.
Click to expand...

I would have to rule out bad seals since I used some of them on my last batch and had no problems. As for quantity, the TastyBrew calculator called for 4.3 oz so I should have been fine there.
 
I would only do recommended carb drops as I did 3 in a 22oz and the bottles turned into grenades so be careful....If that were me...I'd go drastic empty the beer out into a bucket resanitize bottles and apply diff caps and add 5 oz of boiled corn sugar swirl it around in the bucket ....if you really think it could be a yeast issue then add dry yeast to the bucket let it sit for a week and reapply the corn sugar before bottling again.
 
boysbrew2012 said:
I would only do recommended carb drops as I did 3 in a 22oz and the bottles turned into grenades so be careful....If that were me...I'd go drastic empty the beer out into a bucket resanitize bottles and apply diff caps and add 5 oz of boiled corn sugar swirl it around in the bucket ....if you really think it could be a yeast issue then add dry yeast to the bucket let it sit for a week and reapply the corn sugar before bottling again.
Click to expand...

I'm going to try the drops in one as a test. I can't imagine how it could be the yeast. It had a very active fermentation.
 
if everything is as described, unevenly distributed priming sugar is the only answer i can think of.

i like racking to the BB with 1/2" tubing because it tends to mix things up a little better.
 
progmac said:
if everything is as described, unevenly distributed priming sugar is the only answer i can think of.

i like racking to the BB with 1/2" tubing because it tends to mix things up a little better.
Click to expand...

I always put the solution in the BB first then using 1/2" tubing I rack into the bucket creating a whirlpool effect.
 
Update: I had moved a few bottles up to my bedroom closet which gets a bit warm to see if the increased temperature would do anything. Lo and behold when opened one over the weekend I got a huge hiss. I poured it into a glass and it had a nice head. So I went and moved all of the bottles upstairs.

So it looks like it was a temperature issue after all.
 
MisterGreen said:
I would have to rule out bad seals since I used some of them on my last batch and had no problems. As for quantity, the TastyBrew calculator called for 4.3 oz so I should have been fine there.
Click to expand...
Congrats on perhaps finding the issue. I just bolded the above because it caught my eye. Do you mean to say you are re-using caps from a previous batch?
 
Malty_Dog said:
Congrats on perhaps finding the issue. I just bolded the above because it caught my eye. Do you mean to say you are re-using caps from a previous batch?
Click to expand...

Not reusing. I bought a gross of them I've used them on more than one batch. If it was a defective lot I would have noticed it on previous batches as well.
 

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