First Brew low head and carbonation

I brewed a Brewers Best Irish Stout kit and let it sit in the primary for a week, gravity was pretty steady, so I transferred it to the secondary (and topped off maybe a quart of water) and let sit for a week and a half. Everything seemed steady and I have very little patience... so I went ahead and bottled it (last Wed. night). I used 3.2 ounces of priming sugar per tastybrew.com recommendations. So, it has been bottled now for a week and a day... and maybe its just my impatience, but I put one in the fridge, let it cool, and tried it out. It had very, very little carbonation and no head at all. Will this change over the next couple weeks, or has it done most of it's thing and not going to change much with regards to carbonation and head from here? Thanks for any help.

Not only does the Co2 need to be created by the yeast eating the priming sugar, it also need to be absorbed into the beer itself. The beer wants more time at room temp and then a few days in the fridge. The cooler temps after the Co2 has already been created helps the beer absorb the gas. Just cooling it down doesn't really allow for this to happen.

You need more time.

Also, I forgot to mention another thing that has me concerned... when transferring to the bottle bucket... I used a nylon fine mesh filter grain bag at the end of my siphon hose to keep all the trub out of the bucket. I'm wondering if that might have filtered the yeast as well?

You are correct about you be inpatient. After you brew the beer, let the yeast do its thing for a few weeks before thinking about bottling. Then after you bottle, let the yeast go to work again for another few weeks before thinking about cooling it.

I have a Belgian wit that I let ferment for 3 weeks and now it has been in the bottle for almost 4 weeks. The longer you wait, the better it will be.

Also read up on secondary fermenting. More and more home brewers are getting away from it unless adding fruit, coffee, and the like

Go buy a couple of 6 packs of your favorite brew to drink while you let your's sit for 2-3 more weeks.

Maybe once the pipeline gets going I can relax on being in a hurry ... however, any word on whether the nylon fine mesh straining bag possibly strained the yeast out as well?

Carbonation being present means there is yeast in there and it is active. Carbonation being low definitely means it is your impatience that is the root of the problem. Grab some commercial brews and let your homebrew sit for a couple of more weeks. I know, it is hard, but this is where a pipeline comes into play.

Rock on :rockin: Thanks for the help everyone! Now... if anyone knows the cure for patience, I could use it.

maffewl said:

Rock on :rockin: Thanks for the help everyone! Now... if anyone knows the cure for patience, I could use it.

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Your favorite commercial beer until you have enough homebrew to have a good pipeline going

maffewl said:

Maybe once the pipeline gets going I can relax on being in a hurry ... however, any word on whether the nylon fine mesh straining bag possibly strained the yeast out as well?

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The nylon mesh is fine. You just need to wait another couple of weeks. Make sure its at 70 degrees while bottle condition for 3 weeks. Then refridgerate a couple for a few days

3.2 oz of sugar in 5 gallons of stout isn't going to carb up all that much anyway. I would expect the carbonation to be very mild even when its at its best.

mixedbrewer said:

3.2 oz of sugar in 5 gallons of stout isn't going to carb up all that much anyway. I would expect the carbonation to be very mild even when its at its best.

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Yeah, I was kind of worried about that too... but figured I would stick to tastybrews recs. BTW... nice to see another middle Tennessean on here... I'll be heading through your town tomorrow on my way to see the Preds.

maffewl said:

Yeah, I was kind of worried about that too... but figured I would stick to tastybrews recs. BTW... nice to see another middle Tennessean on here... I'll be heading through your town tomorrow on my way to see the Preds.

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Tastybrew actually recommends less corn sugar than that (assuming the beer sat at 68f)

Sugar Type Weight
Glucose (dextrose or corn sugar) 2.5 oz