No Carbonation/smells like bread yeast??

Well, after a 3 week wait, I was ready to crack into my brown ale, but when I opened two of them up I got the same thing..absolutely no bubbles (yes i used priming sugar), and the smell is something like bread yeast. Any ideas what this could be? It tasted decent when I was putting it into secondary so I'm really confused. I did have one major screw up on this batch, when I was putting yeast nutrient in, I sort of didn't read the directions and put the whole thing in there. Is it possible that I fermented all of my yeast out and after I bottled it, it's just gone bad? I'm super bummed, I thought this was going to be a good brew and now I'm looking at dumping a few cases. Any way of mixing up a yeast sugar slurry and recapping?

I wouldn't mess with them for a couple more weeks...IS your temp above 70? Even a few degrees less can slow down the process..(I'm having that issue in my apartment now)

Roll the bottles gently back and forth on a table to rerouse the yeast...make sure there is a warm place that is above 70, and put them away...check again in a week, and again a week later...I have had stouts and porters that have take 6-8 weeks before they suddenly went "woosh." (or should I say "pop."

Don't add anything or mess with them except to check for awhile longer.

If it hits 6 weeks, then we'll think about adding something, but more than likely, and based on experience that will not be an issue.

I had no idea how much a little temp change could hurt carbonating (hopefully). The only place I have in my house to store them is below 70. The carboy of cider next to them is reading 64. Not sure how I can bring the temp up. Will they ever carbonate at this low of a temp?

Hophead75 said:

I had no idea how much a little temp change could hurt carbonating (hopefully). The only place I have in my house to store them is below 70. The carboy of cider next to them is reading 64. Not sure how I can bring the temp up. Will they ever carbonate at this low of a temp?

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It's not "hurting" fermentation..it's just delaying it...it will get up to carbing fully eventually... Mine have, and my ambient temp is about 65...just takes awhile.....patience is your friend.

I always imagine that 1 or 2 degrees may mean nothing to us...but on the microscopic levels that the yeasties live in...1 degree could be a fifty or a hundred to us...so they could be really sluggish.

I have a sleeping bag that I stack my bottle cases in, and shove in the back of my closet....Another guy on here stacks his on top of the fridge this time of year....Other's use space heaters....someone else is trying an aquaium heater water bath...another person has the bottles in a sealed box wrapped in Christmas lights...it just takes ingenuity...

Or lacking that...patience.

I had the same problem with Ed's Haus Pale Ale a couple of months ago. The darn thing never carbed. My conclusion was that my house was too cold. The closet I had the bottles in was around 64F. After about 5 weeks of waiting, I gently shook/swirled the bottles and put them in a tub of water with an aquarium heater at around 73F. They were carbed in under two weeks. Lesson: my house is too cold to bottle-condition without supplementary heat.

I'm very impressed that the yeast were able to wake up and carb after so long. Those Nottingham guys are tough...

i am planning on doing the same thing that RunBikeBrew did. I will put my bottles in to an ice chest, and fill it up about 3/4th of the way up the bottles with water and put in a small (25-50watt) heater set at 72 or so. and hopefully this works.