I have this friend...

[tackucack]

Well that part is true, my friend actually made a double IPA a while back. After primary he racked in secondary for 3 weeks then bottled. I just saw him last night and he said it has been over 2 weeks and there is 0 carbonation. He's opened three just to make sure. What could have happened? Is there any way to rescue?

Which brings me to my predicament. I tried a clone for Delirium Nocturnum and I am currently at the 6 week mark for my secondary. Am I good to just go with that? The recipe I have (actually the Tremens recipe, modified) says to pitch some fresh yeast 3 days before bottling. Should I do that or would I be okay? Is there such a thing as too long in a secondary? I've put so much time into this Belgium I don't want anything to go wrong...

(As you can tell, I'm still new to brewing)

 

[Revvy]

Tell your friend to walk away from the beer for awhile. The only problem is impatience. 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.

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.

Lazy Llama came up with a handy dandy chart to determine how long something takes in brewing, whether it's fermentation, carbonation, bottle conditioning....

A double IPA is a BIG beer...Big beers often translate to months not weeks.

Make sure they are above 70 degrees and give them some more time and they will be fine.

I don't worry about there not being enough yeast until a beer has sat in secondary for over 6 months...but if you want to add some add some...But that won't necessarily speed up the time a beer needs to carb...A beer needs to carb up exactly as long as it needs too, and not a minute less.

 

[tackucack]

Very cool, thanks! I might add some more yeast only because the recipe calls for it (along with the clear candy sugar along with the priming sugar).

I have been patient with the Belgium, and I will continue to!

 

[Malticulous]

It not too difficult to add yeast when you bottle. I know someone will tell you it's not necessary but It does absolutely no harm. Now after the fact just wait for the few and the tired, and the old yeast that are still going.

 

[smellysell]

It not too difficult to add yeast when you bottle. I know someone will tell you it's not necessary but It does absolutely no harm. Now after the fact just wait for the few and the tired, and the old yeast that are still going.

I listened to all the people saying you don't need to re-pitch yeast and ended up with a wheatwine that was still flat over a year later. I always pitch half a pack of dry yeast with anything that's been bulk aging form more than a couple months now just to be safe.

 

[Malticulous]

You only need .5-1 gram of dry yeast. More is fine but it isn't any faster. Another good trick is to use lager yeast if you can't condition over 70F.