Flat beer

Well - I just tried my first homebrew and it tastes okay, but it's really flat. Granted, I haven't given it a full 3 weeks in bottles yet, but it's been two and I would have expected a little more carbonation by now.

It had a really low OG reading of 1.032 when the recipe said it should have been 1.042-1.045. I think that is because I left too much wort in the brewpot trying to avoid the crud in the bottom and topped it off with too much water. It was supposed to be a 3 gal boil with a 2 gal top off, but I think it ended up more like 2.5 and 2.5. My FG, when I bottled was 1.007 (recipe said it should be 1.010 - 1.014). Could the low gravity be the reason for lack of carbonation? Any suggestions on fixing it?

You need to give it more time. the low gravity should have nothing to do with the lack of carbonation. I don't bottle anymore, but when I did, I had a batch that was flat after almost 3 weeks. gave it 1 more week and they were perfect. Sometimes just a week makes a world of difference.. Relax and be patient..:rockin:

Also if you bulk primed and didn't mix the solution well you might have had a bottle that never got much priming sugar in it. Give it a little more time.

I thought the overall response would be to give it more time. I used a 5 oz pre-measured bag of priming sugar, boiled two cups of water, added the sugar, poured into bottling bucket, siphoned on top of it and gave it a little swirl with the racking cane (I think). I'm just gonna try one every Friday to gauge the progress. I couldn't even drink the whole beer last Friday becuase it was so flat and really cidery. This one was still flat, but was better (drinkable). I'll check it again next week...

Thanks for the input!