Undercarbonation: I think I'm right, but I'm uneasy and want reassurance

[ianhoopes]

I bottled a batch of aged porter about 2.5 weeks ago.

This beer is high gravity and was aged on bourbon-soaked oak, coffee and vanilla for about 3.5 months, give or take, before I bottled. I bottled with plain ol' corn sugar to the tune of about 2.5 volumes, and they've been sitting right around 70 degrees now.

I cracked a bottle last night and the hiss from the bottle was the saddest, wimpiest thing I have ever heard. The beer is totally flat. Tastes amazing, but flat. It would be so much better with more carbonation.

From what I've read, higher gravity beers will simply take longer to carbonate. Is this right? I don't want to go uncapping each beer and adding carb drops or sugar solution if that's not what I should do, but I'm not about to just let this beer be flat all its life. It's too good for that.

As always, thanks. I've been mostly RDWHAHB but I put a lot of time and work into this beer and I won't let it be a lost cause. Love this place.

 

[Golddiggie]

2.5 weeks is far too short a time for a big/high OG/high ABV beer to carbonate. You could be looking at several months before it's carbonated. Unless the brew was already above the ABV tolerance of the yeast used, it will carbonate... eventually. Just give it TIME. Give the bottles another month, then chill one for 1-2 weeks before pouring it. If not carbonated, give it another month and repeat.

 

[TheSmithsEra]

I've only done a few batches but the first couple I was batch priming by racking on top of the priming solution and the sugar was staying at the bottom.

Age did not help me. I talked to some of the guys at Austin homebrew and they told me to add the solution after racking to bottling bucket.. wait about 20 seconds and gently stir. That has worked so far for me... I no what it's like to have a Carb problem and it sucks...

 

[thughes]

High gravity and aged for 3.5 months before bottling? Normally I would add a bit of yeast at bottling time to speed things along but that being said, there is still sufficient yeast after 3.5 months it's just going to take time to carb......likely a loooong time. Nothing you can do but forget about them for now and check one every month (I think you'd be wasting a lot of them if you were to check weekly at this point).

 

[Jrod]

Should be fine just have to be patient with it. Check one every 2-3 weeks.

 

[ianhoopes]

Thanks everyone. Makes me feel good. I have some mead I'll be breaking into in a week or two (Bottled back in May) so I'll have something to work on instead.

I'll just let the bottles chill out! I only have 13 of them so I don't want to be ruining them by opening them up. I'll play it safe, maybe even wait until my birthday (March) to open another one to be safe. The ABV of this beer is estimated at 11 percent so I will be patient.

 

[Bricks41]

March sounds about right. I bottled a 10.6% barleywine back in early October. I opened a bottle a few weeks ago, totally flat. Opened one this past weekend, barely a wisp of what could be considered lacing, but the flavor changed dramatically. I figure it will be around mid-Jan before it can be upgraded from "flat" to "undercarbed", but at least the flavor should continue to improve. I do tilt the bottles around a bit once in a while to rouse the sediment. This helps keep the yeast in suspension and, from a few small tests, helps the beer along while carbing.

I have a 11.6 RIS I'm going to be bottling this weekend. I will be adding some yeast to the bucket before bottling, but conservatively don't think it will be hitting it's stride until well after May. Cheers!