Carbonation Question

OK so a quick question, Ive read a few threads but havent really found the deffinitive answer so far and my internet is playing up so its easier just to ask.

Ive had a bitter (OG:1.048) bottled a month ago today and it has probably been sat too cold to carbonate and is still flat, the question is; will the yeast still be good to go now ive got them sat somewhere warmer?

Reading other theads Ive seen suggestions of adding more sugar but if I do that the beer is going to foam everywhere and Ill have bottle bombs if the yeast is going to make it, if not ill just have sweet, flat beer. The yeast was S-04 and the temps where around 15C (<60F)...

Also for anyone who finds this thread in the future how long would you expect an ale yeast such as this to lay dormant and still be able to carbonate when warmed up to room temps?

Cheers,

Warming it will wake up the yeast. You may want to give your bottles a gentle roll to suspend the yeast and help them find the sugar.

+1 for the gentle roll to rouse the yeast. Give 'um a stir and wait a little longer.

yeah I gave them a (gentle) shake last night so I am hoping the yeast was just having a nap and will give me carbonation in the next week or two.

Should be no problem, the yeast in essence will have just gone into 'hibernation', should be fine once the temp gets up.

anyone ever have this same issue and managed to carb up the bottles weeks/months later? As we all have said the yeast should be fine but should I expect things to go as normal now or will there be a difference to how the beer would normally turn out?

Pommy said:

anyone ever have this same issue and managed to carb up the bottles weeks/months later? As we all have said the yeast should be fine but should I expect things to go as normal now or will there be a difference to how the beer would normally turn out?

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The yeast will wake up from their slumber like nothing happened, eat the sugar and carbonate the beer just fine. In the winter, in my loft where the ambient temps are only in the low 60's the beer takes forever to carb, but the minute the temps rise come spring, even the longest dormant bottle just seems to "pop." And they come up to carb perfectly.

Unless you froze the beer and burst the yeast cells, there's nothing to worry about.

cheers for that Revvy, that was the reassurance I was hoping for Certainly didnt freeze the beer at any point or get below 50F at the most so it may just mean all my beer will be ready at once, when the weather warms up a bit.

How can I tell if there is actually any yeast in there, should I try culture up a some from the bottle? Its flat as a pancake and Im getting worried. I didn't realise it was only a week since the OP so ill give it another two at room temps then if its still flat I will start to seriously worry and see if I can make some bubbles through an airlock with the stuff off the bottom of the offending bottle. Until then, I know RDWHAHB. I know its only a week but I was expecting some bubbles this time

Just gotta have faith. The yeast are pros, they know what they are doing. If yeast can be harvested and beer brewed it's been encased in amber for 45 million years, then it can stand going from 60 to 70 degrees.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-08/ff_primordial_yeast?currentPage=all

This happens all the time. In the winter my loft stays in the low 60's, beers take forever to carb. But the minute my ambient temps go above 70, they wake up and the beer goes fizz just fine.

Ok, another week and another flat beer. Using 22oz bottles I noticed after pouring the beer that there was no sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Im starting to think Ive made the most stupid mistake of my amateur brewing career and totally forgot to add any priming sugar. Im thinking coopers carbonation drops...

Any advice? Ive had two other beers carb up sat next to this batch brewed a couple of weeks later so after a good deal of using the RDWHAHB method Ive entered the RWHAHB stage...

..... if you really did forget to add priming sugar, either the cooper drops or munton's carb tabs would work fine. I think I would try a few and wait a couple weeks and test again.

Its been two months in bottle now and although flat tastes really good. I might put one in the fridge for a week to see what settles out then if its no better Ill pick up some of the coopers drops in the supermarket shopping the next week.

I just got back from the LHBS. I thought Coopers drops were liquid drops. They look like gumdrops!

Yeah they dont look like something you would want to put in a bottle of beer but from my early brewing days I found them to work well.

Ok so four weeks after adding the carbonation drops im still getting pancakes. Im not too worried since the beer is great and its a good reason to try this one again. I still have no idea what happened. Im presuming it has to be the yeast, either its all fallen out of suspension (very unlikely after only 3 weeks or so) or something has killed my yeast. I know its impossible that it could be my caps or anything so im thinking maybe something Ive used has killed the yeast post fermentation. Anyone got any ideas what it could be so it wont happen again?

bump. I dont want this to happen again

OK so this beer just never carbonated, even after adding a carbonation tab it just seemed to eat it The beer is a bit sweet and im thinking that perhaps a cool fermentation and a lot of crystal has * it, ive notcies some of my other higher % crystal malt beers have been slow to carb up too. RDWHAHB didnt work