Beer not carbonating

I brewed a bock beer from an extract and this was the first batch that I put in a secondary fermenter. I left it in the secondary fermenter for 2 1/2 weeks before bottling it. After two weeks there is almost no carbonaton at all. This the first batch that I have had do this. I followed the instructions to the "T". Any suggestions as to what to do?

Assuming you used the proper amount of priming sugar and mixed things up properly, I would have to ask: what temperature are you conditioning the bottles at?

Ran into a guy at the LHBS yesterday who was asking the clerk the same question about his beers never carbing. I asked how long he was waiting (2-3 weeks was the reply) and then asked what temp he was storing them at. Turns out he was cellaring them at @ 55-60F (that's going to take months to fully carb).

When you added the priming sugar to the bottles, did you make sure the priming mixture had cooled to 60 degrees-ish? Putting it in too hot could have killed the yeast. Also, did you monitor your fermentation temp in the secondary and after bottling? What yeast were you using? Unfortunately, I dont really know a remedy, but I'd love to hear if anyone knows one.

If you put boiling hot sugar and water in the bottling bucket it would be hot enough to kill the yeast in the first couple of quarts of beer. After that the temp of the fluid in the bottling bucket will have fallen to a point somewhere below 140, after the first gallon the temp will be a few degrees above the temperature of the beer in the primary/secondary, by the 3 gallon mark the temperature difference will be a couple of degrees at most. Between the bucket absorbing some of the energy and the volume of beer involved, there is simply not enough heat in a a couple of cups of boiling simple syrup to kill all the yeast.

That said, I would cool the priming mixture to avoid off flavors from trashing the first couple of quarts of beer.

cb76 said:

I brewed a bock beer from an extract and this was the first batch that I put in a secondary fermenter. I left it in the secondary fermenter for 2 1/2 weeks before bottling it. After two weeks there is almost no carbonaton at all. This the first batch that I have had do this. I followed the instructions to the "T". Any suggestions as to what to do?

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wait 2 more weeks

cb76 said:

. After two weeks there is almost no carbonaton at all.

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That's ALL we needed to know. 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.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Revvy said:

That's ALL we needed to know. 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.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, I am going to leave the bottled beer in it storage area (which is in the basement around 74 degrees) for another 2 to 3 weeks before I try one a see what happens.

Revvy said:

That's ALL we needed to know. 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.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Click to expand...

Hey Revvy, do you get a nickel everytime you have to repost this? If so you must be a millionaire by now.

I had huge problems with beers being undercarbed. I went thru all the suggestions you're seeing here from other replies and still had issues. It turned out that I measuresd my sugar wrong. I kept reading 3/4 cup priming sugar for 5 gallon batches and that's what I did so I thought that couldn't be the issue. The priming sugar I bought came in small 5 oz bags from my LHBS. Since I put it in a 3/4 cup measuring cup I ended up having extra in the bag. That was my issue I needed to go by weight because I wasn't packing the sugar down in the measuring cup.