Another novice conditioning question...?>>

[witster18]

So I had the understanding through responses and info that it takes longer for a darker beer or a stronger beer to 'condition'... but i thought it meant more in terms of "mellowing-out flavors" than "carbing-up"... was this the wrong assumption... a week after bottling a rather tame 4.65% porter(probobly falls in between 'robust' and 'brown' on many levels) I opened one yest and there is little to no carbonation... i used 3.2oz of priming sugar for 3.7gal yield... and dry ale yeast..

when people say darker beers take longer to condition - do they mean longer to carb-up and mellow out or just mellow out...

this batch doesn't need to mellow out, it's already mellow in terms of flavor... but i'm beginning to get worried that I didn't use enough priming dextrose... I usually use about 1oz per gallon on my 'lager-type' beers, and I purposefully reduced the ratio just a bit to what I thought was 'to-style'...

so even though it's not a strong beer - does it still take longer to carb-up because it's a darker(near black - 55-56ish on the color scale) beer?

ease my mind.... somebody... they already taste great, but the thought of them never developing a nice head has me worried...

 

[rossi46]

How long has it been in the bottle and at what temp? Should be at least 3 weeks around 70 F. Without getting into a priming sugar calc, that amount looks about right.

 

[witster18]

1wk at about 62degrees... but i was only asking because, while my last few 'lager' batches were better in about 2 weeks, they were 'carb'd' plenty in just 3-4 days... so when these weren't carbing up at all after a week i was curious.

 

[rossi46]

Just give it some more time. They should carb up fully by three weeks.

 

[truvr]

I've got a stout that has been in the bottle for 3 weeks now and it is just barely starting to carb up. Same thing with the last stout I did. Warming it up should help but that can be tough this time of year.

It's a good question though. I don't know why dark colored beers seem to take longer to carb. I'd be interested in an answer to this as well.

 

[day_trippr]

The simple answer is high FG brews take longer. If you look at the chart that Bobby_M put up here, my "normal" brews - in the 1.010-1.012 FG range - follow the green curve perfectly to reach ~2.5 volumes of CO2.

But my big stouts (FGs in the ~20 point range) take at least another week and often longer - and that's to reach a desired carb level that's a bit lower, in the ~2.2 volume range.

Don't know why, haven't ever bothered to find out, as I don't have a problem with it (with a separate cold-carbing fridge from my keezer my pipeline makes that all a non-issue). But it's a very real phenomenon...

Cheers!

 

[MeBrew2]

Your lagers may carb quicker because lager yeast likes lower temps better thus processes your priming sugar faster.

When i first read "1 week" i immediately thought "not enough".

To me the general answer to your question is that darker beers need more time to mellow. Dark doesn't mean high gravity necessarily, so I'd keep carbing a separate issue.