Beer not carbing

Hey I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem? I brewed an Imperial Nut Brown Ale on 1/12/13 and it sat in the primary for one week 1/18/14 then in the secondary for about 2 weeks when I bottled on 2/3/13. Throughout the process the temperature was approximately 68% The beer has yet to carbonate well. It tastes great but hardly any carbonation , should I wait longer or any other suggestions? Thanks

Did you add priming sugar? ;-)

If yes, wait longer... Another 1-2 weeks... Might try ramping up temp 1-2 degrees

atreid said:

Did you add priming sugar? ;-)

If yes, wait longer... Another 1-2 weeks... Might try ramping up temp 1-2 degrees

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Yea I did. Thanks, I hope it works!

Just needs time is my guess, I'm new to brewing also, I've done 5 Batches so far and managed to only try one of them.

This weekend Ill be cracking my lager which has been conditioning for the last month.

BOL

Cheers Mark

99.999% of the time the brewer doesn't have a carbonation problem on here, they have a PATIENCE one. Just like you

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."

Lazy Llama came up with a handy dandy chart to determine how long something takes in brewing, whether it's fermentation, carbonation, bottle conditioning....



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

For high gravity beers I now always add fresh yeasts that I condition for high alcohol content prior to bottling.

The results are insane. I carbed my last 9.5% Tripel almost perfectly in less than 2 weeks (fully drinkable and delicious) and perfectly in less than 3 weeks...

If you don't add fresh yeast, patience is indeed your only ally...

atreid said:

For high gravity beers I now always add fresh yeasts that I condition for high alcohol content prior to bottling.

The results are insane. I carbed my last 9.5% Tripel almost perfectly in less than 2 weeks (fully drinkable and delicious) and perfectly in less than 3 weeks...

If you don't add fresh yeast, patience is indeed your only ally...

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For next time, what type of yeast do you use prior to bottling? The same strand as the first one used? How much? Do you add it to the bottling bucket or to individual bottles? Also do you change the priming sugar level? Thanks

duke123 said:

For next time, what type of yeast do you use prior to bottling? The same strand as the first one used? How much? Do you add it to the bottling bucket or to individual bottles? Also do you change the priming sugar level? Thanks

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To make sure it doesn't attenuate more than your actual yeast, it's better to use the same strain. Because bottling yeast doesn't impart flavor, it's ok to use Champagne yeast if you're planning a fairly dry beer, but I wouldn't personally use it for lower attenuation malty beers as I'd be afraid it would attenuate further (screwing the beer and creating bottle bombs).

What I do is keep a small part of the original starter I used for the beer, and make a very small starter out of it prior to bottling, just for revival. I decant the yeast, add a little cooled boiled water. I then add a little of the high alcohol beer for 20 minutes, then a little, then a little more, for conditioning against high alcohol.

After this process, I only pitch a small part into the bottling bucket AFTER I pitched the sugar and transferred the beer. Don't pour the yeast directly into the priminig sugar. Osmotic shock will probably kill the yeast even more than high alcohol will. Best way is probably to transfer a 2-3 gallons of beer, pour the priming sugar solution, then the yeast, then transfer the rest of the beer. Wait 15-30 minutes for optimal diffusion, then bottle.

Sanitation is the key. If you're not up to the task, don't do it, and be patient instead.

Good luck...

p.s. Don't pitch too much yeast, you don't need that much.... For example, I pitch about 1/3 of a champagne yeast dry pack... (Oh and I don't make Champagne yeast starters for bottling. I just alcohol condition)