pavyaz19
Member
Hey guys,
Ive brewed 40+ batches over the years and have never run into this. Instead of experimenting, Id rather leave it in the hands of you experts!
My bottled beer isnt carbonated. I want to figure out why and I want to figure out if I can safely add carbonation now.
Heres the situation:
THE STORY:
Last summer, I brewed my first beer away from my house. It was at my familys cherished cottage in the heart of Michigans Upper Peninsula during our annual family vacation. I would have never brewed there but the place is super special to my family - seems like a great place for a beer to be born, right? To make matters even more unique, I live in California, so even the fermentation was unusual since I sent the beer home with my brother to Ohio. (Note: my brother is a craft beer freak and turned me on to good beer almost a decade ago but hes not a home brewer himself.)
RECIPE:
We brewed an Imperial Stout. Super small batch - only two gallons.
BREW DAY (7/13/2016):
Totally fine / normal. No hiccups. Cooled the wort. Pitched the yeast.
OG:1.121
PRIMARY:
It started picking up speed within a couple days then (I was told) really took off during my brothers 7 hour drive back south to Ohio.
SECONDARY:
There was no secondary I flew back to California and my brother put the beer in his basement. He was supposed to transfer it to the secondary with my help over FaceTime but life got in the way and it didnt happen.
BOTTLING:
When I was in Ohio for Christmas, I bottled the beer myself on 12/27/2016. So, it was in the primary for 5 1/2 months then straight to bottle. Of course I tasted it and it was delicious!
FG: 1.026 (~12.7% Alcohol)
I never do bottle drops, but for the sake of simplicity, thats how I did these. I filled a few 12oz bottles with one drop each and the rest were in 22oz bottles with two drops each.
CONDITIONING / AGING:
The bottles sat in my parents (Ohio) basement from then on. Being Ohio, Ill guess the basement stayed in the 60s the entire time.
FIRST TASTE:
A couple weeks ago (5/13/2017) I flew to Dark Lord Day at Three Floyds and met family there for the BEST FESTIVAL ON PLANET EARTH. My brother brought two bottles of our beer a 12oz and a 22oz. On hallowed ground at Three Floyds, we had our first taste of our 10 month old beer. It was absolutely delicious but no carbonation whatsoever.
WHAT NOW?:
Its so good, well certainly drink the rest but only me, my wife, and my brother are used to drinking cask beers. Id like the rest of the family to be excited about this beer too and make brewing it an annual tradition. But without carbonation, people arent going to understand it.
MY PLAN (until you tell me otherwise):
Since I added the bottle drops, I know theres residual sugar in there. Im assuming the remaining yeast is the problem. Either the yeast was too old (is that possible?) or it had died / become inactive with the high alcohol content, or it never activated because the Ohio basement was in the 60s.
I was thinking of opening each bottle, and adding more yeast. Possibly just dry yeast. Then capping the bottles and letting them sit for a few more weeks. I cant imagine sugar is the problem and I certainly dont want to risk over carbonating these by adding more sugar.
Thoughts? (Thanks so much in advance, all you beer saints!)
Ive brewed 40+ batches over the years and have never run into this. Instead of experimenting, Id rather leave it in the hands of you experts!
My bottled beer isnt carbonated. I want to figure out why and I want to figure out if I can safely add carbonation now.
Heres the situation:
THE STORY:
Last summer, I brewed my first beer away from my house. It was at my familys cherished cottage in the heart of Michigans Upper Peninsula during our annual family vacation. I would have never brewed there but the place is super special to my family - seems like a great place for a beer to be born, right? To make matters even more unique, I live in California, so even the fermentation was unusual since I sent the beer home with my brother to Ohio. (Note: my brother is a craft beer freak and turned me on to good beer almost a decade ago but hes not a home brewer himself.)
RECIPE:
We brewed an Imperial Stout. Super small batch - only two gallons.
BREW DAY (7/13/2016):
Totally fine / normal. No hiccups. Cooled the wort. Pitched the yeast.
OG:1.121
PRIMARY:
It started picking up speed within a couple days then (I was told) really took off during my brothers 7 hour drive back south to Ohio.
SECONDARY:
There was no secondary I flew back to California and my brother put the beer in his basement. He was supposed to transfer it to the secondary with my help over FaceTime but life got in the way and it didnt happen.
BOTTLING:
When I was in Ohio for Christmas, I bottled the beer myself on 12/27/2016. So, it was in the primary for 5 1/2 months then straight to bottle. Of course I tasted it and it was delicious!
FG: 1.026 (~12.7% Alcohol)
I never do bottle drops, but for the sake of simplicity, thats how I did these. I filled a few 12oz bottles with one drop each and the rest were in 22oz bottles with two drops each.
CONDITIONING / AGING:
The bottles sat in my parents (Ohio) basement from then on. Being Ohio, Ill guess the basement stayed in the 60s the entire time.
FIRST TASTE:
A couple weeks ago (5/13/2017) I flew to Dark Lord Day at Three Floyds and met family there for the BEST FESTIVAL ON PLANET EARTH. My brother brought two bottles of our beer a 12oz and a 22oz. On hallowed ground at Three Floyds, we had our first taste of our 10 month old beer. It was absolutely delicious but no carbonation whatsoever.
WHAT NOW?:
Its so good, well certainly drink the rest but only me, my wife, and my brother are used to drinking cask beers. Id like the rest of the family to be excited about this beer too and make brewing it an annual tradition. But without carbonation, people arent going to understand it.
MY PLAN (until you tell me otherwise):
Since I added the bottle drops, I know theres residual sugar in there. Im assuming the remaining yeast is the problem. Either the yeast was too old (is that possible?) or it had died / become inactive with the high alcohol content, or it never activated because the Ohio basement was in the 60s.
I was thinking of opening each bottle, and adding more yeast. Possibly just dry yeast. Then capping the bottles and letting them sit for a few more weeks. I cant imagine sugar is the problem and I certainly dont want to risk over carbonating these by adding more sugar.
Thoughts? (Thanks so much in advance, all you beer saints!)