bottles not carbonating

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gnuworldorder

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ive done about 10 batches before this started to happen but the last batch never really fully carbonated and this batch is still flat after a week. its spent 2 weeks in a primary and then 2 in a secondary. this is the first time ive done a hefeweizen and a red ale if that has anything to do with it. before we used bottles that were heat dried in the dishwasher now were using a hobart washer since its faster then just rinsing them out. i originally thought that would be the problem, but the first time we did this the beer carbonated. is there something that has to be done with dry yeast because we just switched to it since the liquid yeast was being a pain.
 
... this batch is still flat after a week....


That's your answer here. There is one simple reason why your beer's not ready after one week...

it's too soon.

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. Lower temperatures take longer.

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.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience." ;)

Read the above blog, and come back to the beer in a couple more weeks.

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them ore time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.
 
i guess i was blessed with summer heat because up until a month or so ago they were ready to go in a week to 2 weeks. mystery solved
 
Remember there is a difference between properly carbed and the beer having carbonation. It is possible for a brew to have carbonation after a week or two, but it is doubtful that it will be properly carbed. Like Revvy said the minimum is roughly 3 weeks, but I give most of my bottles a month before I crack them, waiting sucks, but it is what it is.
 
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