Flat beer?

Ok, so my gf and I brewed this GREAT batch of scotch ale and we have been wait for 2 weeks for it to carb up. Tonight we sit down, open a bottle AND...... 4 bubbles....

I added the prime sugar a bit late to the batch (sat about 4 days extra due to thanksgiving lol) and wondering if i waited too long or something like that...

any chance of waiting a few weeks and it will be a late bloomer?

sad part is, even flat it tastes good... not the best but drinkable lol...

Cheers

Four extra days means nothing, many of us don't bottle for a month and have no troubles. I just bottled a beer after 5.5 months in primary, and I had no troubles....

There is one simple reason why your beer's not ready after 2 weeks...

it's too soon.

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. Lower temperatures 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.

Revvy how many times have you answered this question for us noobes? :cross:

Probably a fourth of my post count is that one question. And right 99.98% of the time.

whew... ok...

Thanks a ton for the thread, was great info. Guys that sold me the kit the directions only say 2 weeks; gonna go have a talk with them tomorrow.... lol.

thanks again!

And when you answer it for one guy, you answer it for many others like me that have the same question. Thanks for answering.

My first extract brew back in May of this year I did the same thing. I opened up a bottle at the two week mark, the beer had great flavor but was flat. I called my LBC and asked what I did wrong, they said I didn't give it enough time to carb. They suggested waiting another week, I opened one up on week three and low and behold it made the psst sound when I opened it. Every week they got better and better tasting, I wished I could have had the restraint to wait about two months. The last beer was absolutely awesome!! I have learned in my young brewing career that to be patient is hard to do but it is worth the wait!

I'm confused about when you actually added the priming sugar? Right before you bottled or during fermentation? If you added it 4 days before you bottled it I would imagine it all got eaten before it got put in the bottle.

Wow. I never realized how lucky I've been to have carbbed beer in 4 days. I hope this one works out for ya. It doesn't look like you've done anything wrong. What has the temp been in your bottle storage area?

Johnny_Crunch said:

I'm confused about when you actually added the priming sugar? Right before you bottled or during fermentation? If you added it 4 days before you bottled it I would imagine it all got eaten before it got put in the bottle.

Click to expand...

I agree, this isn't exactly clear.

shooter said:

i agree, this isn't exactly clear.

Click to expand...

+1

No, what he is saying is that he bottled 4 days later than he planned/thought he needed to, i.e what his instruction said. Like all those other first batch brewers who's instruction said "bottle after one week" who don't bottle for 2 weeks and think they have the "dreaded autolysis" so they start a panic thread and we tell them to rdwhahb and how we leave out beers in primary for a month.

You clearly have all forgotten your "noob speak."

(Remember, "activity" means "airlock," "bottled late" means "bottled past when my instructions said." )