No Carb

Been extract brewing for about four years now and never had carbonation issues. Bottled four cases, two three weeks ago, and two, two weeks ago and they have no carb. Did everything the same as I always do, 2/3 cup of dextrose in 2 cups of water in the bucket. Could it have been bad fermentation? Anyone have any ideas? I bottled two IPA's, a Scottish Wee Heavy and a Winter Ale.

Were they high gravity beers? Did you cold crash at all? What temps are you storing it at? What yeast did you use? if you had fermentation and hit your gravity numbers, its just a matter of time.

There's no such thing as "bad fermentation." They're not carbed yet, because they're not ready yet.

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.

Temp and gravity are the two most important factors as to how long it will take.

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."

Carbonation is actually foolproof, you add sugar, the yeast eats it and farts co2 which carbs the beer. It's not a complex system, and there's very little that can go wrong...It just takes time.....

IF ALL 5 of these apply:

1. You added carbonation tabs or sugar to the beer before you bottled it.
2. The beer has sat for at least 3 weeks. If it hasn't sat for 3 weeks let it sit one more and see what happens.
3. The beer was sitting at room temp for the whole time. it needs to be sitting in the low 70s. If not, it may have to sit for a bit longer.
4. You open the beer and there is barely anything or almost no head.
5. you have read, understand and can recite Revvy's Bottling Sticky from memory

then...
rouse the yeast: place all your beer bottles upside down, so they are resting on the cap. After 3 days rotate them, so they are sitting back up right. Wait another 3 days, refrigerate, then open them up!

I did this to my undercarbed Belgian and it worked like a champ

Revvy said:

There's no such thing as "bad fermentation." They're not carbed yet, because they're not ready yet.

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.

Temp and gravity are the two most important factors as to how long it will take.

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."

Carbonation is actually foolproof, you add sugar, the yeast eats it and farts co2 which carbs the beer. It's not a complex system, and there's very little that can go wrong...It just takes time.....

Click to expand...

Hey, by the way... I now you repeat it a lot around here lol. I adopted the method, and everything goes right now, but I have a question for you. (sorry to deviate the thread...)

I bottle a Black barley wine/Imperial Porter last week. It fermented for 3 or 4 months, going through 3 fermentation (primaire, secondary on oak chips and tertiary... (what ever the word is in english)).

It is 10.3%, fermented with WL530 Abbey Ale, I carbed with 5g/L (0.67oz/gal). It is now around 23°C (73°F). the tricky part is... I only have 7 big bottles of it, and I plan to age it really long (wait at least 6 months, and only drink one every 2-3 months after that, for great occasions). So, I can't really open a bottle each week to see carbanation evolution.

What do you suggest? How long should I leave it at 73F before bring it down in the cave at 50F?

Thanks1

I'd wait 6 months even before "caving" it. If you want to make sure.

Revvy said:

I'd wait 6 months even before "caving" it. If you want to make sure.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I was thinking 2 or 3 months at least. I'll go with 6, it will help be not to open one before. ''high'' temp doesn't affect the conservation?

Nope. Many folks don't have caves, and leave their bottles at room temp til the chill a few to drink.

Lately my beer is taking twice as long to carb up than what I was used to. I'm not really sure why, but that's just how it goes. Patience is the name of the game!

In my experience carbonation can happen quite suddenly also, like over the course of a weekend or maybe even just a day. I have bottled beers before and waited two weeks to try it out opened one on a friday and there was no carbonation opened one saturday and it had low levels of carb and by sunday or monday they were ready to drink...

Beer is weird just be patient!

Steber - two were high gravity, the wee heavy and winter. I double pitched those. Temp is around 70º - 72º. Seems I just need a little more patience. Thanks for the info eveyone.

Stauffbier said:

Lately my beer is taking twice as long to carb up than what I was used to. I'm not really sure why, but that's just how it goes. Patience is the name of the game!

Click to expand...

Has your temp changed? My beers always take longer in the fall/winter than it does in the spring/summer simply because the abient temp is lower in my place in the winter. Especially when I'm going during the day, I turn the thermostat down to the low 60's, so that contribute to how the yeast acts.

msinning, there really is no other answer than patience, because there really isn't a problem. It really is a simply and fool proof process. The problem arises that we try to govern the behavior based on our timeframe, and not the yeast's. They don't read calendars or instruction sheets, they just do their own thing in however long it takes them.

I've been doing this for years, and bottled nearly a thousand gallons of beer, and have never had one that didn't carb eventually. And I don't do anything special to them at bottling day, that isn't explained in my bottling sticky. You just gotta wait.

Revvy said:

Has your temp changed? My beers always take longer in the fall/winter than it does in the spring/summer simply because the abient temp is lower in my place in the winter. Especially when I'm going during the day, I turn the thermostat down to the low 60's, so that contribute to how the yeast acts..

Click to expand...

It is normal for my bottles to carb more slowly when temps get lower, but I noticed this while it was still the tail end of summer. Aside from that, the only thing that has changed in my process is the fact I started using a priming calculator about mid-summer instead of using the default 4.5oz in every batch. I'm not sure that would really change anything, though...

Not a big deal. The pipeline is very full, so I have no problem being patient.

Stauffbier said:

I started using a priming calculator about mid-summer instead of using the default 4.5oz in every batch. I'm not sure that would really change anything, though...

Click to expand...

Sugar ratio = carbonation level...
How can someone can not think its doesnt change something?
How can someone use a ''default'' amount of sugar for a unknown volume?

Tiroux said:

Sugar ratio = carbonation level...
How can someone can not think its doesnt change something?
How can someone use a ''default'' amount of sugar for a unknown volume?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the smart a$$ed, snarky comment.

I'm well aware that sugar ratio determines carb level, which is why I started using the calculator. When I started brewing I was taught that you could just use 4.5oz of corn sugar to prime any 5 gallon batch, but I didn't like the fact that some of my beers were over carbonated for that style.

We aren't discussing carb level! We're discussing carb times! When I said I didn't think it would change anything, I was referring to how long it takes to carb not CO2 volumes!

Now go troll on someone else!

msinning said:

two were high gravity, the wee heavy and winter..

Click to expand...

Higher gravity beers can definitely take longer to carb. In that case the yeast have been through a lot with the higher alcohol level, so the yeast work a little slower. Kind of like humans when they get drunk!