I've got a beginner brewer question along these lines - I brewed a DIPA and bottled almost a month ago using Cooper's drops. The recipe says it'll be best at six weeks so I pulled a bottle yesterday just to see where the carb process was at. I got an incredibly flat beer last night.
I know there's at least two more weeks of recommended time, but should I be worried? I figured there would be some hint of carbonation by now. Could my caps be a problem? The bottle I pulled had a cap that looked fine to me...
Never "figure" anything in terms of time or beer behavior and then you won't be concerned, and also ignore any kit instructions that may tell you when something will be ready, 99% of the time it is wrong, and just causes worry like it is now for you. It's a big beer, it may take 6-8 weeks MINIMUM before it carbs, it make take 6 MONTHS (though that's really rare.)
If you added sugar, which you did, a beer will be carbed,
when it's ready. It's a fool proof process, but it is bound by several factors, including gravity of the beer, temp the beer is stored at, relative tiredness of the yeast, type of sugar used (like we have said, drops, being harder to "chew" by the yeast take longer.)
The big factors for you, are that it's a big beer, and you used drops...which means it's going to take awhile....how long? There never is a real way to tell, EVERYTHING is just a guestimate, or an average.
But there's no point in worrying. It's a yeast's nature to eat sugar...So if you did, eventually it will be consumed.
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.
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. If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more 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've carbed hundreds of gallons of beer, and never had a beer that wasn't carbed, or under carbed or anything of the sort (Except for a batch where I accidently mixed up lactose or Maltodextrine for priming sugar). Some took awhile, (as I said up to six months) but they ALL eventually carbed.
Just make sure it is above 70 and walk away......