Bottled beer not carbonating?

[Scout]

Brewers Best beer kit, grapefruit IPA. I had about 3 weeks of fermentation in a chest freezer kept to about 68°. Up to now I've just set my fermenter in a cool spot in the attached garage. Now it's been at least a month of bottle conditioning/carbonation at room temperature and next to nothing has happened. Other than dumping it all in a keg and carbonating that way, is there anything I can do? Or just sit and wait some more while I brew another batch?

 

[Revvy]

If your "room temp" is below 70, then yeah it will peobably need a couple more weeks. One thing to do is to give them a little roll or shake to kick the yeast back up, and move them to an even warmer spot.

Carbonation, especially in "normal" beers is really a fool proof process... you add more sugar and the yeast do their job, it's really that simple, it just takes time... and that's usually a factor determined by temp, and yeast health, gravity of beer, even bottle size.

You really don't want to "just dump it all in a keg" unless you want 5 gallons of liquid cardboard. There's not way to carefully do that which won't more than likely oxydize the beer....

Just wait it out... it will carb eventually... Read my piece on bottle conditioning if you haven't already, here...

 

[Pappers_]

just double checking that you added priming solution, yes? If so, then what Revvy said - raise the temp and have patience.

 

[Brownalemikie]

Have you tasted it? Does taste sweet? Just curious.

 

[Scout]

I've drank a few, it's not sweet at all. I'll move them somewhere warmer and see what happens.

 

[Brownalemikie]

If not sweet, my guess is the yeast did its job. Me thinks your beer will be fine. Patience!!!!!!

 

[The_Bishop]

Did you add priming sugar before bottling?

 

[Revvy]

In over a decade of answering brewing questions, I've yet to actually have met anyone who posts on here who DIDN'T add priming sugar... it's in EVERY kit instruction and book... Just sayin. Especially since Brewers Best (and most) kits come with a little packet of sugar and instructions on what to do with it.

 

[yourlastchance89]

What kind of bottles did you use?

 

[xpops]

as everyone has mentioned, roust them up, get them a bit warmer, and let them ride.

i did have a batch once where i could not get the yeast to do their job AT all, or they were all dead...after 9-10 weeks i did pop all the caps, and add a bit of yeast. They were beautifully carbed 3 weeks after that!

WORST case scenario, you can do this. just make sure your sanitation is spot on.

 

[The_Bishop]

In over a decade of answering brewing questions, I've yet to actually have met anyone who posts on here who DIDN'T add priming sugar... it's in EVERY kit instruction and book... Just sayin. Especially since Brewers Best (and most) kits come with a little packet of sugar and instructions on what to do with it.

That being said, I *have* seen folks forget the priming sugar. Not often, but it does happen.

It's very, very odd that this beer isn't carbed after a month of being in the bottles at room temp. Something is amiss.

 

[65C]

Just wait it out... it will carb eventually... Read my piece on bottle conditioning if you haven't already

in that post you mention porters taking 6 weeks+ can you go in to more detail on that (I've a porter that barely got any carb after 2 weeks - but my normal ales are usually fine in that time)

thanks

 

[kh54s10]

in that post you mention porters taking 6 weeks+ can you go in to more detail on that (I've a porter that barely got any carb after 2 weeks - but my normal ales are usually fine in that time)

thanks

For me it is not that the porter won't carbonate, mine do in the three week period, it is aging. The complexity of the beer melds together best with some aging. At 3 weeks they are pretty good. At 6 weeks plus, the flavor is much better. Dark high alcohol beers sometimes take a long time. I did an Imperial Stout where the flavor peaked at about a year. I drank the last one at 1 year 10 months. I had another that I drank for 3 years.

 

[Scout]

What kind of bottles did you use?

Brown 12 oz pop tops. After bottling they go back in the cardboard case and sit at room temp.
3
Right now I set them in my ferm chamber with the temp set to 78 =/- 3, it usually hovers around 76. I also shook each one a couple weeks ago, and just yesterday I put one in the fridge to drink tonight after work or tomorrow.

I'll post back up and let you all know what happened.

I've got probably seven more cases of empties and two batches to brew, so I'm not worried about having bottles ready or not.

 

[mike_harr]

Brewers Best beer kit, grapefruit IPA. I had about 3 weeks of fermentation in a chest freezer kept to about 68°. Up to now I've just set my fermenter in a cool spot in the attached garage. Now it's been at least a month of bottle conditioning/carbonation at room temperature and next to nothing has happened. Other than dumping it all in a keg and carbonating that way, is there anything I can do? Or just sit and wait some more while I brew another batch?

Strangely enough I'm having the same problem with the exact same Brrewers Best Grapefruit IPA kit. I did do the transfer from the 5-gal plastic pale to the 5-gal glass jug as they recommend, which surely kept much yeast out of the bottled product. I've read the other responses and don't believe they are correct (move to warm place & wait). I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the grapefruit oil the kit had me add at bottling time. I'm planning to make up a pint or two of sugar water and fresh yeast and uncap, add some to each bottle & recap.

 

[kh54s10]

Well Scout never reported on whether any actions taken fixed it. The flip top bottles might have had something to do with it.

I would suggest that you skip the secondary. Yes, the directions in a lot of kits still suggest doing one but current thinking is that the risk of oxidation and/or infection far outweigh any benefit which is really only a very small increase in clarity.

There is plenty of yeast still in suspension, even if you did a long secondary, to bottle condition your beer.

What did you use for your grapefruit? Could be that if there were preservatives in the juice they could kill the yeast.

Edited to add some commas to make the sentence read correctly.

 

[ncbrewer]

I'm planning to make up a pint or two of sugar water and fresh yeast and uncap, add some to each bottle & recap.

If it's just slow getting started and kicks in later, you would have too much sugar, and possible bottle bombs. That could be really dangerous.

 

[MikeCo]

How long has the beer been bottled? If only 4 weeks or so, just wait. Don't add any more sugar if you've already added a sufficient amount. Here's a recent thread where someone else had a similar situation and just waited and the beer carbonated.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/adding-yeast-to-carbonate-beer.673894/#post-8761505

Be patient. Give it another 2 weeks and try one. If after a few more weeks you think it's not going to carbonate, add yeast, but don't add any more sugar unless you are certain you didn't add enough to begin with.

 

[jpfeser]

So...I have the exact same Brewers Best kit “Grapefruit IPA” and the same problem (Im on week 6 now. I’ve shaken the bottles, put them in a warmer room, but nothing). Im a very experienced brewer and this sort of thing would be very unusual for me. I have a different theory. Im thinking that the concentrate that they provided either lowers the pH to a level that the yeast cant handle, or simply kills them. My next move is to open up every cap and put a trace amount of bew yeast in there. The question is, what type of yeast can tolerate a very low pH.

 

[ejanoff]

Same kit, same problem. Dry hopped in primary with high attenuation. 2 weeks bottle conditioning at upper 70's temp, and result is just some minor bubbling and no head - like an opened bottle of soda that's been in the fridge for a few weeks. The fact that there are any bubbles at all is encouraging so I'll let it sit for two more weeks and see where we're at. Too bad because the flavor is pretty solid

 

[Scout]

Well Scout never reported on whether any actions taken fixed it. The flip top bottles might have had something to do with it.

I would suggest that you skip the secondary. Yes, the directions in a lot of kits still suggest doing one but current thinking is that the risk of oxidation and/or infection far outweigh any benefit which is really only a very small increase in clarity.

There is plenty of yeast still in suspension, even if you did a long secondary, to bottle condition your beer.

What did you use for your grapefruit? Could be that if there were preservatives in the juice they could kill the yeast.

Edited to add some commas to make the sentence read correctly.

Nothing ever happened. It took several months to drink it all, and I never had a bottle carbonated worth noting. I did notice there was something like a sediment that had floated up on the "shoulder" of the bottle.

I may have used the wrong terminology, my bottles are all regular crown caps, and I've never had a carb problem before.

 

[ejanoff]

I’m at six weeks now and carbing remains paltry. Been going over in my head what could have gone wrong to weaken the yeast - Jet Dry in the bottles? I’ve never had this happen before so I can’t shake the feeling it has something to do with the kit

 

[ejanoff]

Update: I checked again at 11 weeks after bottling and I’m finally getting enough carbonation for this grapefruit IPA to be drinkable, although not a full head yet. Not sure what so stunted the yeast in the bottle conditioning process but FWIW I let Brewer’s Best know about the problem and they said they are looking into it and also comped me a replacement kit. Cheers!