Going Guerrilla on these fools...

Alright, well, neither of my effing wheat beers have carbonated worth a damn. I know it, it was that damn laaglander DME I used. Last time I mess with that stuff, you can be sure. I bottled them at the end of April, so it's been about 6 weeks now, and none of them are the least bit carbonated. A little hiss, but that's about it. This is the second time this has happened to me, and I'm not about to lose 10 gallons of quality summer wheat action. So here's my guerrilla game plan:

1. Open the bottles one by one.
2. Drop 4 Munton's Carb Tabs into each bottle.
3. Sprinkle a touch of Nottingham into the bottle.
4. Recap.
5. Pray to the Beer Gods.

Whatchoothink?

Evan! said:

Drop 4 Munton's Carb Tabs into each bottle.

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Good plan...if you're using big bottles. Isn't each carb tab supposed to be good for one 12 oz bottle?

Active yeast + too much sugar = BANG!

I think it's one per.
2 would be be the, "Man it up - overkill" solution.

4 is like getting Biblical on they asses.

Keg!

I've used a recipe from my lhbs that has worked very well. It might be worth a try.

5lbs Wheat Spray Extract
3 aau hops
(.5 oz Cascade)

5 oz priming sugar

White Labs Hefeweizn Ale Yeast

Boil hops 30 min
remove hop bag
add wheat spray extract
boil 5 minutes

move to ferminter
pitch yeast at 75

I think the Coopers tabs are one-per, but AHS is sold out till later this week, and I'm impatient, so the Munton's will have to do. Here's the Munton's prod description:

A 250 tab package.
Use in place of dextrose or sucrose for superior priming and heading properties. They allow for better control in carbonating your bottles, and are good for use with all bottle sizes. Store the bottles at room temperature for 1 week to carbonate. The tabs contain dextrose, dried malt extract, and heading powder.
Usage: 5 tabs per 12 ounce bottle for high carbonation, 4 tabs for a normal carbonation, or 3 tabs for a light carbonation.

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So you are certain you under-primed? (I assume that your thought process is that your DME didn't ferment well and didn't produce sufficient carbonation.) Under-priming is the ONLY reason to add more sugar to the bottles.

If you aren't certain, then it could also be a yeast problem, which of course means that you definitely DON'T want to add more sugar. If fermentation does ever take off again (e.g., bottles moved to a warmer spot), then those bottles are either going to be badly over-carbonated or they might explode from all the excess carbonation.

For the new brewers that have may be reading this thread, here is some advice:

Step 1: If you aren't sure what has caused the under-carbonation, it is always safest to assume first that it was a yeast problem. One easy solution to lack of carbonation is to gently agitate your bottles (swirl them around, or even gently roll them across a table top) to resuspend the yeast, then move to a warm place (75-80F is perfect). After a week, check the carbonation again.

Step 2: If that doesn't work, you will have to see if adding some new yeast will get the bottles to carbonate. Pop the tops off a few bottles and add a few grains of dry yeast to each bottle (be as absolutely sanitary as you can). Move to warm temps for a week and see if that improves the carbonation. If it does, then you have a yeast problem -- add yeast to all bottles and recap, then let carbonate for 2 - 3 weeks again.

Step 3: If you are now sure that it isn't a yeast problem, you must have under-primed. You can add new sugar to the bottle if you have access to carbonation tabs. The Muntons tabs are better because they are small and you can control your carbonation level by selecting the correct number of tabs. I don't like the Coopers drops because they are too big to allow good control over how much sugar goes into the bottle.

Before you add your carb drops, you MUST get rid of any existing CO2 in the bottles. Otherwise, when you place a carb drop in the bottle, it will cause a major gusher (you can guess how I discovered this). Make sure the bottles are at room temperature, then shake them gently to drive out some of the dissolved CO2. Pry open the cap just enough to vent the gas, and repeat (you may have to do this more than once). Before you take the cap right off, chill the beer down in the fridge overnight.

Once the beer is cold, it won't foam when you put the drops in. Working quickly, take the top off the beer, add your drops, and replace the top. A spray of StarSan on the mouth of the bottle would be a good idea, too.

Once the beer is capped, move to a warm spot for 2-3 weeks and enjoy!

Note: If you are certain that you didn't prime properly (e.g., I have forgotten to add priming sugar to my beer.... more than once in fact!), then you can skip right to Step 3.

FlyGuy said:

So you are certain you under-primed? (I assume that your thought process is that your DME didn't ferment well and didn't produce sufficient carbonation.) Under-priming is the ONLY reason to add more sugar to the bottles.

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Well, I'm fairly certain it's the laaglander DME I used to prime. My reason for this line of thinking is: these are two separate batches with two separate yeast strains. They both were bottled straight from primary after 3 weeks, and since they were wheat beers, I purposely racked a bit of the trub (meaning there was certainly no shortage of yeast in there). So, by my reasoning, the chances of two separate batches having yeast problems are vanishingly small; at the same time, this is the first time in a long time I've primed with laaglander, and I haven't had problems before now. The only variable that has changed is the priming sugar. I've swirled them, put them in a heated (80f+) room, swirled them again, waited 6 weeks...and still, almost nothing. Now, I do get a hiss and a very small amount of bubbles when I open them, but that's it. As such, I'm thinking that the laaglander provided the yeast with very little fermentable sugars to eat.

If you aren't certain, then it could also be a yeast problem, which of course means that you definitely DON'T want to add more sugar. If fermentation does ever take off again (e.g., bottles moved to a warmer spot), then those bottles are either going to be badly over-carbonated or they might explode from all the excess carbonation.

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Well, I'm pretty sure that after 6-7 weeks of bottle conditioning and repeated swirlings & temp increases, any fermentation that was going to happen in there has already happened.

Thanks for the input. I ordered my munton's tabs last night. I'm gonna toss in a few grains of nottingham just to be sure, in case the wheat yeasts have gone to bed for good.

Yes, from what you have said, it really appears that the problem is with the priming solution. That seems like a very safe assumption. But like you say, it couldn't hurt to add a bit of dry yeast to a couple/few bottles while you are waiting for the carb tabs to come in.

However, I am willing to be that the carb tabs (not the extra yeast) are going to fix things. Just remember to vent and cool those beers before you add them if you want to avoid a huge mess! Hope it all turns out fine (sure it will!).

I also have a wheat doppelback that I brewed like 9 months ago that never carbo'd. I believe it's the yeast---I aged it for a LONG time in secondary, and never re-pitched at bottling. I think I'm gonna try sprinkling some yeast in those bottles too, see what happens.

I would be curious to hear how that goes -- please let us know if you try adding yeast. Are you going to add a dry lager yeast, like Fermentis SafLager, or will you just add a neutral dry ale yeast?

FlyGuy said:

I would be curious to hear how that goes -- please let us know if you try adding yeast. Are you going to add a dry lager yeast, like Fermentis SafLager, or will you just add a neutral dry ale yeast?

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Wheat Doppelbocks are traditionally ales, fermented with wheat beer yeast - the "bock" is somewhat of a misnomer, though in the research I've done, the term "bock" is not absolutely lager-specific. I modeled this batch after Schneider's Aventinus, which is fermented with wheat (ale) yeast.

In the case of adding yeast to the bottles, I'm just going to toss some nottingham in there, because it ferments out pretty highly and cleanly. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Yes, precisely why I asked.

In the end it probably doesn't matter which you add -- neither are going to change the character of the beer (that was set at fermentation). It just depends on how you will store the beer (one yeast is better for cold storage, the other for warm). Personally, I would go with the ale yeast, too.