Carbonation question

[Plinythelderphan]

Hi everyone, for batch #100...I went back to one of my old favorites, Russian Rivers' Hopfather IPA. This is the clone recipe's link from this site for those interested: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=163952 By the way, I've had the original of this beer...glorious, arguably better than its more famous cousin, Pliny the Elder.

I have had great luck with this recipe, I think I've done it 3-4 times and per my notes...it has never been less than exceptional! I just opened the last batch after it had bottle conditioned for about 3.5 weeks and was in the fridge for an additional 5 days. I knew the moment I opened it...nothing. No sound...I poured it, nothing, Dead Sea nothing. It poured like apple juice. I am 99/100 in getting carbonation. I've never had a beer not carbonate before, I'm completely stunned. All of my readings were close to previous attempts, my notes reflected no irregularity, it tastes and smells great (albeit as flat as can be).

I am completely stunned. I conducted the normal resources for an answer and I can't find anything. When it was in fermentation it was explosive and vigorous. It went to secondary fermentation for dry hopping for 10 days and there were no concerns. Anyone know what it could be? I'd obviously like to move past this and figure out what happened.

Thanks

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Two possibilities come to mind. First, and I apologize for asking, are you positive you added your priming sugar. I once got an entire batch bottled and then the next day found my priming sugar behind the toaster. Total spaceout. Had to open and prime the entire batch.

Second, what temp has it been conditioning at? At 70F most of my brews carb within 2 weeks. At 65F it's closer to 4 weeks. Not sure of your OG but high gravity can take even longer.

 

[GHBWNY]

Leaky caps? Capper worn out? Different type of cap? Different bottles? If everything went well up to bottling, and apart from not adding priming sugar, maybe something cap-related is the culprit. Have you opened only one? Maybe it was just that bottle.

 

[ncbrewer]

Not very likely, but you capper might have gotten out of whack. I had to replace my capper when I started getting random uncarbed bottles.

(Edit: GHBWNY beat me to it.)

 

[Plinythelderphan]

I primed the beer prior to bottling. The capper? They are tight, not leaking. Baffling isn't it. I did find one theory that is interesting in higher ABV beers like IIPAs that sometimes the yeast is not able to survive in an environment when the ABV is over 9%. Has anyone experienced that? I personally have gotten to the point where I really only brew IPAs and IIPAs and I have not seen this phenomenon.