3 weeks and still undercarbonated

[histo320]

So I bottled my Citra IPA 3 weeks ago and it is still very undercarbed.

I used 4.15 oz of Priming sugar (as stated in Beersmith) for just under 5 gallons. I did secondary due to the dry hop.

Do I just wait this one out for a few more weeks or is there any thing I can do to improve the carbonation.

 

[BigFloyd]

So I bottled my Citra IPA 3 weeks ago and it is still very undercarbed.

I used 4.15 oz of Priming sugar (as stated in Beersmith) for just under 5 gallons. I did secondary due to the dry hop.

Do I just wait this one out for a few more weeks or is there any thing I can do to improve the carbonation.

At what temp did you keep them? Just a few degrees lower than 70-71*F can make a difference. They probably just need more time.

I enjoyed a bottle of Munich Dunkel this evening that took about 6 weeks at 70-72*F to finish carbonating.

 

[histo320]

They are being stored at 65F - 70F.

I will just have to be patient with them not only to carb but to have the flavor mellow out a but. I have bottled two others and stored with the same method and they carbed up fine in 3 weeks.

 

[GrogNerd]

could try rousing the yeast...

turn upside down for 3 days, then back right side up again for 3 days, then chill

has worked for me

 

[Revvy]

There are no carbonation problems, only patience ones.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer. Beers stored cooler than 70, take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.


Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Carbing is foolprrof. You ad the right amount of sugar, leave it at the right temp, and it will carb.

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

 

[freisste]

I agree that a little more time is likely required.

Also, what is the ABV? Higher alcohol means the yeast move a little slower. (Alcohol makes me move a LOT slower, so I give the little yeasties a break.)

 

[histo320]

The ABV should be around 8 or 9% this was by accident not design. I accidently added 2 lbs of DME to make up for poor mash conversion when I should have just added .75 lb.

Thanks for all of the help. I figured it was just patience.

 

[thood6]

There are no carbonation problems, only patience ones.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer. Beers stored cooler than 70, take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Carbing is foolprrof. You ad the right amount of sugar, leave it at the right temp, and it will carb.

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

Revvy, do you have that saved in a word document somewhere so you can just copy and paste?

 

[tgmartin000]

The high ABV combined with the low temps will do it. Try to store them somewhere warmer. I also used to tip the bottles every couple days to rouse the yeast.

 

[freisste]

Revvy, do you have that saved in a word document somewhere so you can just copy and paste?

Probably copied and pasted from a VERY similar thread from yesterday (which was copied out of a VERY similar thread from the day before, etc.).

 

[tmoney645]

Did you measure the sugar by volume or by weight? I made that mistake when I first started. 4oz of volume is not nearly as much as 4oz of weight, at least when dealing with corn sugar.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Sounds like you just need to give them more time. How long are you leaving them in the fridge before opening? The only possible problem I see would be if you didn't mix in the priming sugar very well and some bottles got more sugar than others. I'd try leaving a bottle in the fridge for a few days so the CO2 goes into solution. If that doesn't help just give em more time and they will get there.

 

[Ridire]

Revvy - how long do you refrigerate after conditioning for a minimum of 3 weeks? My porter gained a great deal of carbonation between 24 hours in the fridge v. 72 hours in the fridge, after bottle conditioning 5-6 weeks.

 

[freisste]

This is purely anecdotal and should not be construed as "evidence," but I wanted to do a little experiment and share my results with this community. I put a stout in the fridge, waited a week, put another in, waited another week and put another in. Waited a day. (At this point I had a beer chilled 15 days, a beer chilled 8 days, and a beer chilled 1 day.) I planned on being as repeatable as possible and compare head, lacing, and carbonation. I found (and as a result, did NOT share) that the 15 day sample was almost identical to the 1 day sample. I was a little bummed.

Three weeks later, I drank the 8 day sample from the experiment (so it was probably about 30 days). It was WAY better than the other two were. Head lasted longer, lacing was fantastic, and carbonation was better.

Again, just my experience. But I would say that longer, in general, is better. Obviously this only goes so far and there are almost certainly decreasing gains.

In response to your question, I have heard that a couple days is usually sufficient.

 

[Ridire]

Also anecdotal, with that porter, I put a few in the fridge over the weekend and cracked one open at 24 hours. It was OK but had little head, which sank into the beer pretty quickly. The one I opened at 72 hours in the fridge had a lot of head, tight bubbles, and the head held on for the duration...a lot of lacing. The 72 hour beer also tasted much better than the 24 hour beer. There is one beer left that will be in the fridge 96 hours as of lunch time today. I am going to open that one when I get home and see if the really good bottle was some sort of fluke. I put all but a couple of bottles in the fridge last night after discovering this difference.

EDIT: I also have an IPA in bottles just over 2 weeks that tasted pretty rough. I put one bottle of that in the fridge last night and am going to let it sit until the weekend to see if the extra fridge time makes a difference. The rest of the batch will be bottled 3 weeks by then.

 

[histo320]

Great tips. Unfortunately I am not able at this time to bring the beer up to a warmer temp or else our gas bill will increase significantly. I did rouse the yeast and left in the fridge for a few days before trying and carbed up very nice.

I think my problem was that I just chilled the beer for a few hours before trying it which didn't allow the carbonation to sink down into the beer.

 

[GrogNerd]

glad to hear they carbed, hope they're tastyandgood

 

[BigFloyd]

I think my problem was that I just chilled the beer for a few hours before trying it which didn't allow the carbonation to sink down into the beer.

Glad you got it straightened out.

Most of the "lack of carbonation" discussion tends to (rightly so) center around brewers trying to shorten the time needed to carb/condition at 70* or not compensating for lower temps/high ABV/darker brew by allowing it even longer.

Like the anecdotal observations posted above, I do find a noticeable improvement when I give the bottles at least 3 days, preferably more, in the fridge before popping the top. Of course, 99.9% of the information shared on these forums is anecdotal in nature. That's what makes it interesting and the discussion sometimes heated.

I do wish I had a dollar for each time I've seen Revvy's "copy and paste" carbonation-conditioning response posted on several different threads each week. Too bad more new brewers don't read it (and heed it) before posting in a panic about their beer being flat.