under carbonated ale

[damogreg]

Hi,
I am relatively new to homebrewing and have been using kegs for my lager, I have bottled 1 batch of lager that came out lovely, so I decided to bottle a batch of ale. It was in primary fermentation for 3 weeks before bottling. I know ale shouldnt be too fizzy but mine is way too flat. I was wondering if I could open the bottle and put more sugar in before re-capping the bottles. I dont want to just do it and ruin a whole batch of ale, so I thought I would ask the people who know, i.e you.
Thankyou for your time.

 

[BierMuncher]

Welcome.

Make sure you have given those bottles at least 3 weeks at 70 degrees (F).

 

[damogreg]

Thanks for your speedy reply mate.
They were indoors for 2 weeks before being moved to the garage where it is very cold at the moment, should I bring them back in, shake the bottles and leave them indoors for another week, or another 3 weeks? i'm not in a rush to drink them, but I do like to test one every now and then.

 

[BierMuncher]

Thanks for your speedy reply mate.
They were indoors for 2 weeks before being moved to the garage where it is very cold at the moment, should I bring them back in, shake the bottles and leave them indoors for another week, or another 3 weeks? i'm not in a rush to drink them, but I do like to test one every now and then.

Get them to room temp...preferably at the 70 level. No need to shake...but giving them a gentle rocking to agitate the dormant yeast will do wonders.

Don't move them back to a cold area until you're satisfied they are fully carb'd.

 

[TipsyDragon]

first how much priming sugar did you add? what was the temperature of the beer when you bottled? how long did you wait before trying a bottle?


some batches of beer take longer to carb than others. some bottles take longer to carb than others.

 

[damogreg]

first how much priming sugar did you add? what was the temperature of the beer when you bottled? how long did you wait before trying a bottle?


some batches of beer take longer to carb than others. some bottles take longer to carb than others.

Hi mate, I am using coopers carb drops, when I done my lagers I used 2 drops per 500ml bottle, but as this one was an ale I only used 1 per bottle. The beer had been in my airing cupboard and i'm not sure on the temp when I bottled, im quite new to this game so am still picking up little tips, i'll take a temp on my next one. I waited about 2 weeks indoors and a week outside, so 3 weeks in all before trying, its been about 3 weeks outside now and they are drinkable, just flatter than I would like. Oh well, I will get it right next time.