Steam Beer No Carbonation In Bottle 2 Weeks

Still new to breweing. Have successfully brewed and bottle two batchs I have been very happy with. Tried a Steam Beer recently and am getting very little carbonation in bottle. It's been 3 weeks since I bottled. Had the beer in Primary 1 week and secondary 3 weeks. Left in secondary a bit longer than I wanted but did not have a chance to bottle after 3 weeks and have read that it shouldn't be a problem. Beer was very very clear going into botteling bucket.

When I look at the beer in the bottles I am seeing almost no sediment. I'm wondering if the yeast didn't settle out too much and after being very carful not to disturb the yeast when racking that I do not have enought yeast left over in the bottle to carbonate.

Am considering taking cracking 6 bottles open, adding a bit of yeast, and waiting a bit longer. I am a bit confused. The beer looked and tasted great just prior to bottling and I'm wondering if I don't have enought yeast in the bottles to carbonate?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Scott

what did you add at bottling?

There have been a number of recent threads on this exact topic. Do a quick search and you will find lots of useful information.

Usually, undercarbonation occurs because people don't leave their beers long enough in the bottle (3 weeks is the minimum) or they have their bottles at too cool a temp (bottles should be around 75 degrees for the first week or two). The other common problem is not sufficiently mixing your priming sugar into the beer.

Given the time you have had your beer in the bottles, it sounds like the second or third issue might be most relevant to you.

If you are worried that you don't have enough yeast or priming sugar in the bottles to carbonate them, it is possible to add more of one or the other or both. See here for some details:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=310490#post310490

Thank you. When I posted this question I was at work and didn't have a whole lot of time to search the board for this topic. My bottles are kept a pretty constant 73 degrees since they are on the first floor and that is what my thermostat is set to.

I have tried swirling the yeast around to try to jump start the process. Trouble is there is hardly any visible yeast in the bottles to swirl. I think what I'll do is wait another week and pop another bottle. If the results are the same I will try to add some yeast to a few sample bottles to see if that does the trick.

Thanks, and if this doesn't sound like a good plan to anyone...Please yell at me.

Its a lager yeast, give it time.

syankey said:

Thank you. When I posted this question I was at work and didn't have a whole lot of time to search the board for this topic.

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My pleasure -- glad to have helped. And when I suggested you search around, I wasn't chastising you for not doing so (sorry if I came across that way). I simply meant that there are lots of other folks here offering their own opinions, too, that you should have a look at.

And welcome to the board!

Thanks to all. I used White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast. It's what the guy at my local brewshop recommened. I think I will drop a bit of yeast into the bottles this weeks just as an experiment in the very least. Best way to learn. Thanks again.

I'm really enjoying this board and drooling over everyones DIY projects. Soon enought I'll post a few images.

DeathBrewer said:

what did you add at bottling?

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I don't think this was ever answered...

So, what kind of priming sugar did you use, and how much did you add?

Please excuse my non exact terms. I used the premeasured priming sugar that came with my kit. I think it's the corn sugar...probably 3/4 cup or so...small baggie. I did bottle almost every last drop of my beer and got excactly 54 bottles.

syankey said:

Please excuse my non exact terms. I used the premeasured priming sugar that came with my kit. I think it's the corn sugar...probably 3/4 cup or so...small baggie. I did bottle almost every last drop of my beer and got excactly 54 bottles.

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No problem - sounds like you did it right. For a while, it seemed as if you may have forgotten to prime at all. Give it some time. If after another week or two, you get no results, open the bottles, add a few granules of dry yeast, and re-cap.

Sounds like a plan....I'll be sure to post my results in another week or so.

syankey said:

Thanks to all. I used White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast. It's what the guy at my local brewshop recommened.

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They dont have SF/Cali Lager yeast?

syankey said:

It's been 3 weeks since I bottled. I'm wondering if I don't have enought yeast in the bottles to carbonate?

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I doubt that. There should be plenty of yeast n o matter how clear it looks.

I wouldnt do anything but wait.

Well two weeks after my original no carbonation post and cidery taste the beer has carbonated and the cidery taste is gone. I did ready in the back of Palmers book that the cidery taste probably came from the priming sugar not being completely used up by the yeast. Beer tastes good, but on the negative it's probably the ugliest beer I've ever brewed. While it is carbonated the head looks like big soap bubbles not a nice foamy head. One of my other posts deals with the carbonation of Guiness style beers that use nitrogen to produce the very fine head and cascading effect of settling out. Anyone know where this giant carbonation bubbles came from. Again the beer tastes good and that's what counts the carbonation bubbles and head are just for aspetics right? I have had no carbonation problems with any of my other beers and the head on those was great. Just wondering where I may have gone wrong.