Aaaarrrrgggg No Carb!!

[Morganrich2]

For the second time in a row my bottles sound like a cat fart when I open them! Don't get it, i follow the recipe, give it a solid 5 weeks in the fermenter, disolve the called for amount of corn sugar, mix well and bottle as quickly as possible. Once was a kit from the LHBS and the other was from a clone brew book. I thought I was good to go on this last batch as about 1/8th of an inch of yeast is on the bottom of the bottle.

Bad capper? Some kind of residue in the bottles? thoughts?

 

[Shaneoco1981]

How long have they been bottled?

 

[Revvy]

How long have they been bottled?

Yup...most import question that you didn't answer, followed by the temp they are stored at......

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.

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."

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.

 

[Morganrich2]

6 or 7 weeks at this point. The last batch got to about the same level of carb and stayed that way, months in the bottle. Eventually i drank it all, but man half flat beer is really for an emergency buzz only.

 

[Morganrich2]

Also, at room temp. Prob more like 62 - 68 though.

 

[heferly]

What was you OG, style, sugar amounts, bottling process? We can try and track the problem down...

 

[heferly]

Dbl post, but how long in the fridge, too?

 

[joetothemo]

Tell you what brother, use something like tastybrew to calculate your priming sugar ratio...then hedge toward the upper end of the style. I have had to make that same adjustment.

 

[Morganrich2]

Uhh i honestly don't remember, feel free to deliver a ration of ****. I did three or four decent kits from the LHBS, all carbed out just fine. Those kits didn't seem to require much, just be clean and follow the recipe and temps. This led to a a little confidence so i took a shot at a recipe from a book - bad carb. So i say ok, go back to the kit to learn a little more and get some more experience - no carb.

When i bottle i dissolve the corn sugar in a cup of water, let it cool and gently stir it in. I set the bottling bucket on the counter and fill 6 22s, then i cap them and repeat until im finished. Start to finish, 20 minutes, maybe 30.

 

[Morganrich2]

In the fridge, some of them several weeks. Guess next time i will use the tasty brew calculator and edge it up a bit.

Do cappers go bad? Does not seem likely to me.

 

[joetothemo]

In the fridge, some of them several weeks. Guess next time i will use the tasty brew calculator and edge it up a bit.

Do cappers go bad? Does not seem likely to me.

I could see it happening. If you invert a bottle, does it leak?