No carb in barley wine

[kbradford]

Well, I was worried about this. I made a barley wine, OG of 1.090, FG of 1.020. It sat in primary for 2 weeks, secondary for 3 months, and has been in the bottle for 6 weeks. There is zero carbonation... absolutely none. And no, I didn't forget the priming sugar. I'm not really surprised since it was in secondary for so long.

So the question is what do I do now? Should I get some dry yeast and drop a few specs in each bottle then recap? If so, what kind of yeast? I used Wyeast 1056 for the fermentation.

On the bright side, it is DELICIOUS, even if it's not carbed.

 

[JLem]

Never made a barley wine, but that sounds like a bad idea to me. I'd say let it sit longer. The yeast are still there.

Since you say it's DELICIOUS, mind sharing the recipe?

 

[kbradford]

If it were only a couple weeks I'd agree. But after 6 weeks, and ZERO carbonation? I'm pretty sure whatever yeast was in there is long gone by this time.

And the recipe is Austin Homebrew's American Barleywine. Highly recommended, but maybe don't let it sit in secondary as long as me.

 

[velotech]

Force carb in a keg. Or drink as is if it's delicious!

 

[KingBrianI]

I say pop a grain of yeast in each one and recap. Six weeks and no carbonation sounds like the yeast in there won't be getting anything done. US-05 would be perfect for the purpose.

 

[JLem]

I'm not sure that 3 months in secondary is really all that long - especially for a barley wine. I have a cider sitting in secondary for 2 months now and I'm not planning on bottling for at least a couple more. Based on all the feedback I've gotten on this forum, I'm going to bottle as normal.

I suppose the higher alcohol content could have done your yeast in, but adding a little yeast to each bottle seems like more pain than it is probably worth. I'd let it sit and enjoy it still. Maybe in a couple of months, you'll have the right carbonation level.

 

[justbrewit]

usually the barleywines kill the yeast off after a while. next time, try adding a bit more yeast at bottling time. those yeasties get tired after a while when your doing barley wines. also you could try using a champagne(sp?) yeast to finish the beer off, thats what i have done with mine. either way you go, that should help for the next batch. as for right now, i'm thinking like most on here, just drink flat and enjoy, use a scotch glass LOL

 

[davesrose]

What's your recipe? Haven't done an AG barley wine myself yet, but one thing I've noticed about most barley wines is that they rely on a lot of regular malt. One thing I've noticed about head retention is specialty grains....the more flaked oats or crystal malt the better the head retention (IE...even with plenty of carbonation, I've had some beer lose its head pretty quickly if the grain bill doesn't have much specialty grain). Some of the AG barley wine's I've seen are almost all 2 row malts, so I wouldn't doubt head retention would suffer. Your attenuation seems pretty decent for a high gravity beer, so I really think it's more to do with your recipe when it comes head.

 

[double_e5]

First thing, head retention has nothing to do with no carbonation.

To the OP: 6 weeks in you should have some carbonation. I would add a couple grains of US-05 to each bottle. I have never done it, but have read on hear people having success doing this.

 

[kbradford]

Thanks for the help everyone! I'll pick up some US-05 and recarb. I'll post my results in another 6 weeks.

 

[conpewter]

What temp are they sitting at?

 

[Saccharomyces]

Riddle the bottles (tip them back and forth) every few days to speed up carbonation.

Three months is a long time in secondary so I would agree adding yeast and recapping should help...

 

[davesrose]

First thing, head retention has nothing to do with no carbonation.

Well I wouldn't say that....they are not the same thing, but they are not mutually exclusive: you need a grain bill that has head retention qualities if you are looking for a beer that can keep a head and retain carbonation. You can force carb any beer, but I've noticed my grainbill does effect the ease of carbonating along with head retention. IMO, recipes that don't have a lot of specialty grains do need more effort for carbonation: once carbed, they also go flat quicker. Assuming the OP had enough yeast cells, a barley wine still would not be a particularly fizzy beer if you stuck with a common recipe of no specialty grain.

Anyway, I brought up thoughts about the particular recipe for seeing if the OP was looking for a different profile in their barley wine recipe. If you are just looking for just more carbonation, then I would agree with repitching more yeast or artifically force carbing would be the best way to go.

 

[kbradford]

Well I started cracking open bottles and dropping in a bit of yeast. No hiss/extremely small hiss on the first 4 bottles. Then I opened the 5th and it got a nice big hiss. I poured it, and it had perfect carbonation and it tasted divine. I continued on, and most of them had zero carbonation. Eventually I found another one that had good carb and I decided to stop. So why would 2 out of 20 be carbonated? Should I give the rest more time?

 

[kbradford]

Oh, and they are sitting in a closet in the upstairs of my house. Probably around a constant 70 degrees.

 

[Revvy]

My 1.091 Belgian Ale is JUST now starting to carb up, at over 3 months, so I wouldn't worry...or do anything personally.

Besides most old ales and barleywines I have had, haven't had much "carbonation." They are not heady and fizzy like lower grav ales....

 

[user 22118]

With so many folks having trouble with barley wines carbonating, seems to me that historically speaking you aren't going to have to worry about slightly low carbonating. I hear that you are supposed to pitch a slurry when you bottle to make sure that the yeast is happily going along with the sugar, then you know that you are going to have active yeast that can add some carbonation.

I kegged my Belgian Barleywine and will be carbing it in the next couple of weeks to get a taste and see what we are looking at.