Low Carbonation/When is your beer ready

Alright so my second batch of beer was ready today and it came out delicious. One problem though is it seems to have a low head low carbonation. This occurred on my first batch of beer as well but the beer had a bit better carbonation as it got older. For both batches I left 1 week primary 2 weeks secondary 3 weeks in the bottle.

My first batch was a brown ale and I used 5 oz of dextrose in about 5.5 gallons of beer. (58 beers). This batch I yielded less 4.9 gallons (52 beers) because it was pumpkin but I still increased the dextrose to 5.4 oz.

My question is, is this problem purely a dextrose addition problem or is it a signal that I need to let my beers condition longer in the bottle. What makes a beer "ready" out of the bottle? I know that they can/will continue to improve in flavor for up to 3 months in the bottle but can anyone provide more insight? Maybe things I can look for when pouring/tasting the beer.

Thanks for the help

If you are adding 5 ounces of corn sugar, and are getting SOME carbonation at 3 weeks, with improving carbonation over time, then it sounds like you are experiencing the typical bottle conditioning timeline. Many posters here will support the MINIMUM of 3 weeks bottle contitioning for proper carbonation. Some recipes will take longer. Some really low-alcohol recipes may be done sooner. I have found that most of my recipes are carbonated at 3 weeks, but are not really beginning to get "good" until 4-5 weeks in the bottle.

I suspect that it is just a time/patience issue. Brew a few more beers, get a good pipeline going, and it becomes much easier to let beer age/bottle condition long enough for maximium flavor/carbonation.

If you're beer's not fully carbed, then it's NOT ready.....The 3 weeks at 70 we talk about, is often just a minimum time....some beers need more time.