Troubleshooting assistance is needed!

Three weeks ago, I bottled a great Chocolate Raspberry stout after going through the primary and secondary fermenters. I let the bottle sit for three weeks, per the recipe that I brewed it from.

Last night, I opened up a bottle and found that there was no carbonation at all! I primed the brew prior to bottling with priming sugar.

I am wondering if any one of you could provide some sort of insight as to why there is no carbonation. Do you think that it needs to sit longer in the bottle? Could it be that after bottling, the cases of beer did go into my storage until directly on the floor and it has been quite cold, thus slowing down the yeast?

Any help or advise would be great. Thank you.

 

At what temperature have you been storing the bottles?

 

The beer needs to be stored at about 70 to carbonate. No colder than 65 for sure. Also, big beers can take longer to carb up than lower OG beers. What was the OG?

 

^^ This, if nothing else was wrong, Just warmer and or longer..

 

I had a problem like this with an Imperial IPA. I stored it a little too cool, and it took a few months. It eventually got there,

 

OG was 1.098 & FG 1.025. the storage unit is about 60*... but since it is directly on the concrete floor, it may actually be lower in temperature.

 

That's probably the issue. more time at a higher temp and carbonation you will have.

 

That'll do it. Warm those puppies up. 3 weeks at 70F is the usually quoted time/temp .

Cooler will take longer. I usually start sampling after 1 week to see how it changes during carbing and conditioning.

 

1.098 is a big beer. I wouldn't be surprised to not see any carbonation at 3 weeks.

 

Nighthawk(I think) has a neat little trick to monitor your carbonation:
When you bottle fill one plastic soda bottle, squeeze the air out, and cap it. Store it with the rest of your bottles. When it is carbonated, the bottle will be turgid. Eliminates the guessing game.

 

3 weeks @ 70F
3 weeks @ 70F
3 weeks @ 70F
3 weeks @ 70F!

 

Thanks for the heads up on this. I have moved it out of our storage unit and back into our apartment.

Since this is a big beer, would you have a guess as to how long I should let it sit?

 

Out of curiosity, what yeast did you use when brewing, and did you add a different strain at bottling? Also, how long were your primary and secondary fermentations, and was there any difference in gravity between when you added it and removed it from your secondary?

 

I used London Ale Yeast White Labs WLP013 when I brewed. I did not add a different strain when bottling. The primary was 7 days and the secondary was 14 days. The gravity was decreasing from the original 1.098 og to the final of 1.025 fg.