Flat beer- Didn't add enough priming sugar

[ironchefcali]

I made a sweet stout about a 5 weeks ago. Bottled 2 weeks ago. Put a bottle in the fridge n tried it n it was pretty good, but it was pretty flat. Almost no head and lil to no lacing. I don't remember how much sugar I added, but was pretty conservative since it was a stout n was afraid of over carbonation for it's style. I don't think I added enough priming sugar when I bottled. Can I shake the bottles up a bit to resuspend the yeast? Or open them up n add a lil more sugar to each bottle? That would be a PITA. But if that's what I gotta do to get a decent brew I don't mind. Any thoughts from the veterans n pros?

TIA

 

[Cowbizzoy]

I'd wait 4 weeks before i did anything drastic...some beer takes time! What temperature is it at?

Tho....I might recommend measuring the sugar in the future...if you used 2 oz sugar, i doubt it'll get there...if you used 4...I'd keep waiting.

 

[jigidyjim]

Yah, you gotta know how much sugar you added, and then wait. I've had beers take months to fully carb under certain conditions.

In the future, this calculator really helps: http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html

 

[Krrazy]

I just ran into a similar situation with an ordinary bitter. The first time I made it I just primed by the general guidelines of 1oz/gallon, but this time I chose to do it to the mid-range of the style. Mine is more than flat, but unless you really aggressively pour it there isn't much head and it does take some getting used to. I did a 3g batch and ran it through one of the calculators and it came up with 0.3 oz for the batch and that really surprised me but I went with it anyway!

I agree with riding it out a bit more to see how it comes out though. Most folks recommend a minimum of 3 weeks in the bottle before it will be properly conditioned. Perhaps try keeping it at temperature up in the seventies too if you currently have it cooler.

Good luck!

 

[jigidyjim]

I would also add that no head does not mean undercarbonated. Lack of head can be caused by a variety of other things.

 

[cadarnell]

move them to a warmer spot for a couple more weeks and then try one .. I'll bet they are better then .. I wouldn't do anything to them other than that ... if they are under carbed, just enjoy them that way ... you could get some commercial beer or even another homebrew, close to that style and mix them half and half if you just cant drink them the way they come out .. I've done that a few times .. good luck .. cheers !!

 

[ironchefcali]

Beer us currently in closet about 68ish degrees F. It started out as a 5 gal batch then after some crazy n messy fermentation ended up w a lil less than 4.5 gal. I picked up a 4oz packet of corn sugar from my LHBS and didn't use all of it cuz I was advised not to use it all since I'm making a stout. I tried to adjust it figuring I lost some beer due to the wild fermentation. But I just eye balled the amount of corn sugar cuz I needed n didnt have a lil scale. My guess I used around 2-3 oz. I used about 2/3 -3/4 of a 4 oz bag.

So lesson learned. Buy a scale n measure. Be more patient n give it a couple more weeks. Thanks for the calculator I'll use it for my next batch. Prolly gonna brew this Monday for Memorial Day.

So I'll just leave it alone for now. But I don't think I might have used enough priming sugar. What are my options?

 

[ironchefcali]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm gonna try to move a couple bottles to a warmer area n see if that helps.

Well... Worse case scenario if this brew stays flat I'll just brew a lighter beer n mix it to make a black n tan. Haha.

 

[NWMushroom]

Well... Worse case scenario if this brew stays flat I'll just brew a lighter beer n mix it to make a black n tan. Haha.

I like the way you think!