Perhaps unsaveable? =(

[PoleyEire]

Hey folks, a quick question!

I've been brewing all grain belgian ales for about 2 years on and off now, and I've come up against one that might have stumped me a little.

I brewed a strong dark Belgian ale, OG 1.100 (hehe) and FG 1.010. The trouble is, I made the mistake of starting it as I was starting my masters project in uni, and so from brew to bottle took about 2 months. I made a brew fridge with a thermostat, so the fermentation was (reliably) at 16 deg C, and I kept it around that for the bottle conditioning. But I have no carbonation whatsoever in the bottles. Its been about a month since they went into the 330ml bottles, and I bulk primed the batch beforehand with what I now fear to have been too little sugar.

I put a little more sugar in a couple of the bottles to see if I'd get anything out of them, but no luck. The added sweetness remained, which leads me to believe that the extra long fermentation period may have allowed most of the yeast to drop out of suspension.

So my question is this, is it possible to add more yeast to the batch and re-bottle it? If so, what would be the best approach to do this?

 

[duboman]

Take the bottles out and let them warm up to 70F or so and let them sit for a couple weeks then sample, it's a little too cold in the fridge to carb up.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

With a gravity that high, it could take a few months at 70F to carb up in the bottles. I have a 1.070 OG beer that has been in bottles almost a month now at over 70F and has still not fully carbonated.

 

[kh54s10]

Take the bottles out and let them warm up to 70F or so and let them sit for a couple weeks then sample, it's a little too cold in the fridge to carb up.

+1

16° C = 60.8 F This is quite cold for bottle conditioning. They would carbonate, eventually, at this temperature but may take many months.

I agree let them warm up to 70°F/21.1°C for at least 3 weeks then try one. If it is not then carbed properly wait another week and try one again. This is a high gravity beer and may take up to a few months at 70°F/21.1°C

I would give them a several months before trying to add anything.

 

[Pie_Man]

As others have said, your beer probably needs a few months to carbonate. I have an old ale of similar gravity that has been carbonating for four months and still needs more time to properly carbonate. Part of the issue was I bottle conditioned too cold for the first few months as the temperature inside my house was between 58-68F initially. Now the temperature is in the low to mid 70s, so that should help.

 

[PoleyEire]

Wow, quick replies, thanks folks! Ok, fridge set to 21 deg, will report back with results!