another carbonation problems thread

[Schwind]

So before everyone jumps on me, i know i shouldn't have done this but I had no options.
So I went to bottle my christmas ale, added the 3/4 cup of DME but then I had to leave unexpectedly for around an hour or 2, came back the air lock was bubling, and so I hurried up and bottled my beer.
2 and a half weeks later, my beer is flat, it tastes good, just flat. When I pop a cap off, the co2 haze is there, but the beer is flat and has no head at all.
should I pull all the caps, pour back into my bottling bucket, add some more DME and recap, or add a carb tab or two. I have no experience with the tabs, and really don't want to pour all the beer out and then rebottle. So basically, I need some advice.

thanks,
Mike

oh yeah, the SG was 1.071 and it dropped to 1.025 using the white labs Ale yeast. I have sediment on the bottom of all my bottles, just no carbonation, I've tried resuspending the sediment twice, and 72 degrees is not an option, but the bottles have been kept at 67-68 since bottling.

 

[Jayfro21]

So before everyone jumps on me, i know i shouldn't have done this but I had no options.
So I went to bottle my christmas ale, added the 3/4 cup of DME but then I had to leave unexpectedly for around an hour or 2, came back the air lock was bubling, and so I hurried up and bottled my beer.
2 and a half weeks later, my beer is flat, it tastes good, just flat. When I pop a cap off, the co2 haze is there, but the beer is flat and has no head at all.
should I pull all the caps, pour back into my bottling bucket, add some more DME and recap, or add a carb tab or two. I have no experience with the tabs, and really don't want to pour all the beer out and then rebottle. So basically, I need some advice.

thanks,
Mike

oh yeah, the SG was 1.071 and it dropped to 1.025 using the white labs Ale yeast. I have sediment on the bottom of all my bottles, just no carbonation, I've tried resuspending the sediment twice, and 72 degrees is not an option, but the bottles have been kept at 67-68 since bottling.

I think the reason there is no carbonation is that when you use DME to carb with you need to add like 1.5 cups or something, but I know it is more than 3/4 cup. You usually use 3/4 - 1 cup of dextrose (corn sugar), but you need to add more DME because there are unfermentables in it. Dextrose is pretty much completely fermentable.

As for how to fix it, I'm not sure. You could dump all the bottles out and re-install an airlock, wait for it to completely ferment out the earlier DME, and then add the correct amount (or use dextrose instead). Or you could pop each top and add like 2-3 (whatever the package says) carb tabs to each beer and recap. It's up to you.

Jason
Jason

 

[Bulls Beers]

When i bottle, i use corn sugar and it's 3/4's of a cup. I have used DME in the past but used 1 1/4 cups. Also, Priming with DME takes longer to carb.

 

[Schwind]

I think the reason there is no carbonation is that when you use DME to carb with you need to add like 1.5 cups or something, but I know it is more than 3/4 cup. You usually use 3/4 - 1 cup of dextrose (corn sugar), but you need to add more DME because there are unfermentables in it. Dextrose is pretty much completely fermentable.

Gotcha, did not know that. Thanks for the info, I think I'll pour out half and rebottle with dextrose and add tabs to the other bottles. At least I can get an opinion on the tabs.

 

[Schwind]

Bulls, I also didn't know there was a time difference. This whole brewing thing is starting to come together slowly, with every new batch.

 

[malkore]

make sure your caps are sealing tight too. the fact that you got sediment means it should be carbing somewhat...you should get a little hiss when the cap is opened.

then again, it sounds like you added DME to secondary, then bottled, so you might have just bottled trub from secondary.

are you using a bottling bucket?

 

[Schwind]

I'm using a botling bucket. I added the DME to the bottling bucket afer I racked from the secondary, I just didn't add enough. I had to leave so I put the lid on my bottling bucket with an airlock to prevent more air from getting in, was gone to long and the beer started priming in the bottling bucket and then I bottled it in a hurry.

I do get the hiss and a little co2 "cloud" from the headspace in the bottle when I open it. The beer inside is flat.