Coffee Stout - slow to carbonate

[Architect-Dave]

I made an all-grain coffee stout with a little molasses. Used S-04 yeast. When I bottled it, I filled all the requirements for priming sugar - this is my 20th plus batch of beer. I tried a bottle after a week and there was no sign of carbonation at all. Usually, it is either ready or there is partial carbonation. Do stouts usually take a while to carbonate? My OG was 1.061 and F.G. At bottling was a steady 1.010 for four days.

 

[hotbeer]

I haven't been all too happy with the carbonation level of the 3 stouts I just did. They didn't seem to be quite what they should be, but I'm not a stout connoisseur.

This time of year, I'll be doing pale ales and such which I've never had carbonation issues. So I'll have to wait and see what happens this winter when I try a few more stouts.

I sort of wonder if the pH or something was wrong with the water chemistry as I didn't quite get down to the expected FG. But I don't have a pH meter yet and the beer was too dark to get a there abouts measure from pH test strips.

 

[tracer bullet]

Any chance that it's carbed but it's a perception issue? I can have kegs of Pale Ale and Imperial Stout side by side in the same frig, carbed the same way, on the same regulator, both for a good amount of time, and get totally different perceptions form them. The Pale Ale seems perfect, the Stout feels flat.

Something about the body or ABV I am guessing.

 

[bike2brew]

My bottle conditioned stouts always require 3 weeks to reach my expectations for carbonation.