Need help with non carbonating beer

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cfrazier77

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I need emergency help with a flat bottled porter. I made it for a friend of mine who's business just burnt down. Here is the recipe I used, it is for 10 gallons.
12 lbs dark liquid extract
1 lb Carapils
1 lb Black malt specialty grains
2 oz. Willamette bittering hops
2 oz. Fuggle pellet aroma hops
1 lb lactose
Irish Moss
Gelatin finnings when transferring to secondary

Primary was at 68 degrees for 1 week
Secondary was at 68 for 2 weeks
I cold crashed it at 50 for three days before bottling

I primed with 7.5 ounces of corn sugar for a carbonation volume of 2.2 (Beer Smith)

After bottling I let them sit, brown bottles in a box, for 2 weeks at 75 degrees.

Problem, almost zero carbonation! I have not had this problem before.

So what can I do? I have plenty of corn sugar, bottle caps, and S-04.

Thanks, I want to get this to my friend as soon as possible, he needs some cheering up.
 
Cold crashing before bottling killed off the yeast would be my guess.

*facepalm*

COLD CRASHING DOES NOT KILL YEAST IT JUST MAKES IT DORMANT!!!! It dropped out of suspension, but it didn't die.

When the beer warmed back up the yeast woke up and went back to work. ;rolleyes:

Back to the regularly scheduled program...

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." ;)

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.

Did you really use 7.5 ounces or priming sugar...that is WAY over the norm. I'm afraid that when it does carb it will be bottle bombs.

But if that was a misprint, I predict your porter will be perfectly fine in about 4 more weeks.
 
Revvy,
The OG was 1.056 and the FG was 1.015. I did use 7.5 ounces but it was for 10 gallons. I added 3.8 ounces per 5 gallons to the bottling bucket.

I agree that the yeast did not die out, what would be the chance that the yeast dropped out of suspension in the secondary and there is not enough left currently in the bottles?

Normally my beers of similar OG have been carbed in two weeks.
 
*facepalm*

COLD CRASHING DOES NOT KILL YEAST IT JUST MAKES IT DORMANT!!!! It dropped out of suspension, but it didn't die.

When the beer warmed back up the yeast woke up and went back to work. ;rolleyes:

Back to the regularly scheduled program...

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." ;)

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.

Did you really use 7.5 ounces or priming sugar...that is WAY over the norm. I'm afraid that when it does carb it will be bottle bombs.

But if that was a misprint, I predict your porter will be perfectly fine in about 4 more weeks.


OK, SO THE YEAST ISN'T DEAD. GOT IT!!!

It was just a guess and now I know more about brewing.
 
Yeah, the 7.5 ounces of dextrose actually sounds right for 10 gallons.

Also, I wouldn't consider 50°F to be "cold crashing", considering there are plenty of yeastie beasties that actually enjoy life at 50°F. For a true, yeast-dropping crash you really want to get down to the low thirties.

At this point I would take the time to rouse the bottles by inverting them a few times then leaving them be for a couple/few more weeks. It certainly won't hurt, and doing nothing seems like...well...doing nothing ;)

Cheers!
 
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