Beer has not carbonated. Any advice?

[AbeLincoln]

Beer has not carbonated in bottle. Here's the lowdown:

Chocolate Oatmeal Stout:

OG: 1.072


Used American Ale yeast from Wyeast Labs.

Fermented in Primary for 2 weeks and racked to secondary.

Added 1/4 oz "Polyclar 10" after 5 weeks in secondary.

After 1 more week:

FG: 1.029 (high FG most likely resulted from 6oz Malto Dextrin and 5oz Lactose added for body/sweetness)

Bottled with package of "Muntons Kreamyx".

Total time between fermentation and bottle: 8 weeks.
Average temperature during fermentation: 68 degrees F
Temperature variance: +- 1 degree F


After 10 days in the bottle, I cracked one open and drank a completely flat beer.

Is this because of the polyclar, extra fermentation time, etc..?

Additionally, is there anything I can do at this point to bottle carbonate the beer?

Cheers,

-Abe

 

[Nurmey]

Yes, there is something you can do for your flat beer....leave it for a couple more weeks. It generally takes about 3 weeks at 70°f for a beer to completely carbonate. It takes a little longer if you bottled in large bottles or if you brew a high alcohol beer. Patience is the only thing to do right now.

 

[neko]

Like the previous poster said. RDWHAHB. 10 days is not a lot of time.

 

[AbeLincoln]

Yes, there is something you can do for your flat beer....leave it for a couple more weeks. It generally takes about 3 weeks at 70°f for a beer to completely carbonate. It takes a little longer if you bottled in large bottles or if you brew a high alcohol beer. Patience is the only thing to do right now.

I like to get a good measure of my beer every week or so and write it down. It seemed strange that after 10 days it is as flat as the day I bottled it.


What I really want to know is a few things:

1. Can polyclar drag enough yeast out of suspension to prevent bottle carbonation from occurring?
2. Can extended times in secondary effect the ability of beer to carbonate in the bottle?
3. What can be done if these beers will not carb on their own?

As it stands, I'm going to wait for at least two more weeks before taking any further action.

Thanks for your input Nurmey and neko