Bottle condition progress

As noted in my "intro" thread, I recently got back to brewing and bottled my first brew in about 10 years. I brewed a simple extract "kit" and followed the recipe and method as spelled out on the package. The only variance is that instead of 3/4c of corn sugar, I reduced it to more like 5/8c. My experience in the past is that my brews always seemed to be a little too carbonated. So, instructions say to bottle and wait 14 days, but I got a little anxious and wanted to check the progress at 7 days........NO carbonation at all. Should I be concerned?

Thanks

I wouldn't worry about it yet. None of my 3 batches carbonated in 1 week. But, by week 3, they were carbonated.

TIFWIW, I am a noob. Maybe some others can give you better advice.

Definitely should be not concerned. Give it 3 weeks (total) and check again for carbonation.

Also, they might take a bit longer if it's cold in the area you store them. Mine take as long as 5-6 weeks sometimes in the winter.

One other thing that might help- I weigh my priming sugar, and that seems to work great. You may want to consider getting a cheap scale to weigh sugar and hops. I find that using 4 ounces of priming sugar (by weight) for 5 gallons gives me the perfect carbonation for most of my beers. You can also use a priming chart, and carb the beer according to style- lower for stouts, higher for hefes for example, and simply weigh out the sugar. I think that sometimes using cups measurements is much less accurate- maybe the sugar packed down, etc.

Thanks for all of the responses......Just what I was hoping to hear, although I will most probably still have to test one at 14 days. I wouldn't want to not follow the directions, right?

I actually did by a scale and was planning on following the priming chart that BYO Magazine discussed a couple of months ago. Then at the last minute I decided to go back to the instructions.

Looking at my next batch right now and if I can round up enough bottles by Saturday I may get started.....Got my eye on the "None More Black Vanilla Stout" right now.

Take a read of this

http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Of_Patience_and_Bottle_Conditioning/

There's several factors involed...temp, abv of the beer, even bottle size affects carbing and conditionig...3 weeks is just a rule of thumb...some may carb up earlier yet still be "green" tasting, some may not be ready in 6-8 weeks....some like barleywines require even longer.