Another under-carbed thread

[scrambledegg81]

So this Belgian Strong that I'm sitting on is in a bit of a conundrum. 1 month primary, bottled on 11/14, and because my last beer (an IIPA) was pretty over-carbonated, I cut down the amount of priming sugar to, roughly, 4 to 4.25 oz. into about 4 1/2 gallons of finished brew. (I don't have a scale in the house, so I rough guessed it by dividing the 5 oz. bag into 5 even sections.)

Bottles were kept near my back door, and temps have dipped in the low 30's at night for the last 2 weeks, but I didn't think it would affect things that much. So, 2 1/2 weeks later, I chill one down and pop it to check on flavor, but the thing let off one of the weakest "pfffft"s that I've ever heard. Slim to nil head with a bit of bubbles on the side of the glass, but nada in the beer itself.

Now yes, I've read about aging bigger beers to get better carbonation. The thing is, I'm worried that I didn't use enough of the priming sugar to really get anything going in the first place. If it doesn't carb up within the next week (and considering it needs to be drinkable by Xmas), would carbonation drops be a good choice in this situation? I realize bottle bombs might be an issue, but for right now, there's not enough going on in-bottle to worry about it.

Recipe, since I know someone will ask:

OG: 1.082
FG: 1.020 (finished a bit early, had abnormally warm temps during the 1st-4th days, and it was hard keeping the temp down)
ABV: 8.3%

.5# Special B
.5# CaraMunich
8.5# Light Pilsen LME
1.5# Bavarian Wheat DME
1.5# Dark Candi syrup

2 oz. Fuggles @ 60 min.
1 oz. Styrian Goldings @ 10 min.

Whirlfloc

White Labs WLP500 (Trappist) and WLP530 (Abbey)

(Sidenote: I moved the cases to a spot near the central heater in the house a few days ago and shook each bottle up, but I still don't see much carbing happening.)

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I'm going to say you probably need more time. Give it another week or two and it'll probably be fine.

 

[RM-MN]

Bring it into a warmer area so the yeast has a chance to multiply and eat the sugar. If it is too cool, the yeast activity will be really slow or non-existent.

 

[Revvy]

I wouldn't add any more sugar. If you've read about how time is important for carbing, then you SHOULD already know the answer. And that Gravity is a big factor.

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.


Lazy Llama came up with a handy dandy chart to determine how long something takes in brewing, whether it's fermentation, carbonation, bottle conditioning....

Your Belgian Strong is a BIG beer...Big beers often translate to months not weeks.

Honestly, it's probably WON'T be ready by x-mas.....adding more sugar won't make it carb and condition any faster. It would more than likely actually slow it down, since if it's not already finished eating the sugar you primed with, it's still going to need to eat that AND the new sugar added....if you don't get bottle bombs, that's not going to make it happen faster.

It's a sad fact, if you are brewing a big beer it's going to take longer, and if you have a deadline, you have to factor that in AHEAD of time. And if it's not ready, then pick up a nice commercial Belgian Strong, and savor the others when it is ready.

I did a high grav pumpkin once that I wanted ready by halloween night, I thought I planned far enough in advance.....It wasn't ready, so I bought a nice selection of commercial pumpkins to the part instead...and the beer was ready beautifully by Turkey day.

I would agitate the beer, makes sure it is warmer and HOPE it will be ready, but if not, I would suck up the bitter taste of disappointment and get some Unibrou for x-mas.

 

[scrambledegg81]

Cheers all. Was worried that I might not have used enough of the priming sugar to make anything happen, but I'm keeping them near our central heater & shaking them up again in about a week...fingers crossed.

 

[Revvy]

Well using tastybrew's carbonation calculator, factoring in the temp of your beer at it's highest being 70 degrees, and opting for the top volume of co2 for your style (2.5 volumes of co2) you should be almost dead on for the carb level of the beer.

This is what it is telling me based on 4.5 gallons.

Sugar Type Weight
Glucose (dextrose or corn sugar)....4.0 oz
Sucrose (table sugar).........................3.8 oz
DME 55% AA (eg: Laaglander)............9.3 oz
DME 70% AA (eg: Northwestern)........ 7.3 oz
DME 75% AA (eg: Munton & Fison)......6.8 oz