How long to carbonate?

Good morning! This is my first post on this forum. It has been about 10 years since I have home brewed any beer. I bottled a Pete's wicked Strawberry blonde clone seven days ago. I have been checking the bottles for clarity and signs of carbonation. I opened one bottle last night after chilling to see where it stood and noticed that there was not much carbonation at all. I plan on letting the beer sit about 3 weeks from bottling before I drink it. Should there have been more carbonation by now, or does it take a little longer than seven days?
PS It was a five gallon batch. I added 3/4 cup bottling sugar to exactly five gallons before I bottled.
Thanks for your help!

Toddster

toddster, they need to sit at room temp for at leas two weeks, 3 to 4 is even better if you can stand it! you did it right as far as amount of sugar.

cheers!
DeRoux's Broux

Thanks! Just needed some re-assurance I guess.

hey, well all do that! sometimes i get major vapor-lock, and think, "what the hell was i doing?". enjoy the forum, ask away, post away, and enjoy! if you learn one thing, it's worth it.

did you use real fruit, fruit puree? my wife has been nagging me about brewing a bluebery ale, wheat, or something. never brewed with fruit?????

cheers!
DeRoux's Broux

I used 2oz of strawberry extract at bottling only. I have seen other recipes call for using alot more. I wanted more of the Pete's wicked strawberry blonde flavor. The strawberry is very faint, mostly in the aroma and a slight hint in the taste. I really didn't want a fruity beer, just a summertime brew.

How did the Strawberry work out? I've never really had any luck with those flavorings. They always taste off to me.

I have only one more flavor to go - Cherry - before giving up on the entire liquid flavoring in lieu of plain old real fruit.

As for your carbonation level, you will probably want it a bit on the high side because of the fruit flavoring.

someone mentioned in another thread, perhaps it was you homebrewer99, that you should condition in teh bottles almost an equal time as you let it ferment out in the secondary...

i've found this to be rather true... i brewed some bitters (only about a week in the secondary) that i turned over rather quick, and they were ready in about 7-10 days. they did improve even more so after more than a week, but i've been hard pressed to keep anything over a month once they get into the bottles...

i always let 'em sit for ten to 15 days before cracking one open when i bottled. that was the problem when i bottled though. to many batches of bottles, not enough fridge space, so many of them went past their prime, waiting for "chill" time in the fridge. hence another reason for kegging! 15 gallons of beer in a fridge will do wonders for the soul!!!!!!

t1master said:

someone mentioned in another thread, perhaps it was you homebrewer99, that you should condition in teh bottles almost an equal time as you let it ferment out in the secondary...

i've found this to be rather true... i brewed some bitters (only about a week in the secondary) that i turned over rather quick, and they were ready in about 7-10 days. they did improve even more so after more than a week, but i've been hard pressed to keep anything over a month once they get into the bottles...

Click to expand...

I wasn't me, but it sounds right.

Actually, it (conditioning) depends a lot on the ambient temperature. But letting it sit until it's ready is an exercise in patience.

I always recommend to not try to hurry the process, but I too am guilty of having only 1 case left by time the beer is truly ready.