Another no carbonation thread.

[psychobrawler]

First time poster-
I'm relatively new to homebrewing, but I've got 8 or 9 batches under my belt now ranging from simple extract to all grain. In October I made a partial mash pumpkin ale. I racked off the significant amount of trub to a secondary, and racked again to the bottling bucket with 3/4 cup of dextrose for around 4 gallons of beer. The end brew was crystal clear with no apparent sediment and an awesome spiced flavor.

Fast forward 3 weeks with the bottles in my basement (about 55-60 degrees F) and I opened a bottle to find not a single bubble. I brought one up and stored for another 2 weeks at about 70 degrees, chilled it down, and opened - still nothing.

Is it possible to get too clean of a homebrew where no bottle conditioning takes place? Should I bring them all up to 70, shake them, and leave them another month, or is it time to think about adding a little extra yeast to each bottle and recapping?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Revvy]

Fast forward 3 weeks with the bottles in my basement (about 55-60 degrees F) and I opened a bottle to find not a single bubble. I brought one up and stored for another 2 weeks at about 70 degrees, chilled it down, and opened - still nothing.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that 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.

Give them some more time at 70.....they will carb up eventually.

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

 

[psychobrawler]

Thanks for the reply.

This beer isn't terribly high grav - about 1.065. I guess having had great carbonation in just a couple of weeks for several batches, a five week lag time on the first recipe I really desigened myself and am very anxious to enjoy has been frustrating.

In retrospect, the only other brew I've done that hasn't had great carbonation within 3 weeks was also done with this same yeast strain, and the temperature in basement was a little warmer at that time. I've moved all the bottles back to a 70 degree space, inverted them a couple of times for good measure, and well try again in a few more weeks.

 

[Revvy]

Thanks for the reply.

This beer isn't terribly high grav - about 1.065. I guess having had great carbonation in just a couple of weeks for several batches, a five week lag time on the first recipe I really desigened myself and am very anxious to enjoy has been frustrating.

In retrospect, the only other brew I've done that hasn't had great carbonation within 3 weeks was also done with this same yeast strain, and the temperature in basement was a little warmer at that time. I've moved all the bottles back to a 70 degree space, inverted them a couple of times for good measure, and well try again in a few more weeks.

Many authors and brewers will say the anything above 1.060 is considered "high grav." And I've found that 1.060 and below is about the "3 weeks @ 70" window.