Beer is way undercarbed

[TechyDork]

My last three batches have all had almost zero carb in the bottles. All beers brewed using US-05, rehydrated and pitched at 65-70 degrees.

Rasberry Wheat

FG - 1.016
3 Weeks Primary 66-68 deg
2 weeks secondary 66-68 deg
bottled with 3/4 cup corn sugar, bottled 6/10/09

Nut Brown

FG - 1.012
3 Weeks Primary 66-68 deg
2.5 weeks Secondary 66-68 deg
bottled with 7/8 cup corn sugar, bottled 7/20/09


CSP Summer Ale

FG - 1.011
3 Weeks Primary 66-68 deg
bottled with 1 cup corn sugar, bottled 7/29/09

I placed a selection of these in the fridge last weekend, and after 7 days in the fridge all were flat. All beers have been bottle conditioned at the warmest i can get them, around 68 or so. Am i just not adding enough corn sugar when bottling? Is it just to cool in my home? I plan to move to kegs by xmas time, but until then would like to do a few more batches for bottles.

help.

 

[Parker36]

Have you tried one warm to see how the carb level is? The summer ale may still need another week or two to carb fully, but I think your strategy of slowly ramping up the sugar additions is a good method. You will get there

 

[WorryWort]

These are 5 gallon batches right!?!?

If your summer ale doesn't carb I am completely stumped. 1 cup of sugar in a 5 gallon batch at 68F simply has to carb it in about 1 month (unless it's been sitting forever and the yeast is all gone or dead). And it's been a month, right?

Though I've heard everything's a little slower in Alaska!

 

[Yooper]

Can you get a cheap scale? I weigh my priming sugar, and have only had one batch that didn't carb up. (Dead yeast in that case- long story).

I'm not sure that measuring it by the cup can be as accurate- sugar packs down, or fluffs up, etc. I use 4 ounces (by weight) for 5 gallons, and store them at 70 degrees. They all carb up fine.

 

[TechyDork]

Have you tried one warm to see how the carb level is? The summer ale may still need another week or two to carb fully, but I think your strategy of slowly ramping up the sugar additions is a good method. You will get there

Warm it is the same, flat.

These are 5 gallon batches right!?!?

If your summer ale doesn't carb I am completely stumped. 1 cup of sugar in a 5 gallon batch at 68F simply has to carb it in about 1 month (unless it's been sitting forever and the yeast is all gone or dead). And it's been a month, right?

Though I've heard everything's a little slower in Alaska!

Yes these are 5 gallon batches, and i know that everything is slower in AK

Can you get a cheap scale? I weigh my priming sugar, and have only had one batch that didn't carb up. (Dead yeast in that case- long story).

I'm not sure that measuring it by the cup can be as accurate- sugar packs down, or fluffs up, etc. I use 4 ounces (by weight) for 5 gallons, and store them at 70 degrees. They all carb up fine.

A scale has been on my list, guess i need to pick one up. i was just going off the recipes from my LHBS. 3/4 cup had worked well in the past for my other brews, and they carbed up fine in the winter when my house is a bit cooler than now.

 

[TechyDork]

Update:

purchased a scale to help avoid this in the furture.

these beers are still way undercarbed, i they are tasty, but just flat.

they are drinkable, i just know that they would be much better with lots of tiny bubbles.

 

[Revvy]

How long are you waiting in the bottles before trying them?

The bare minimum for most beers is 3 weeks at 70 degrees. If you can't get them above 70 it's going to take longer.

Gravity and storage temp are the biggest factors in carbonation/conditioning times...Less than seventy severely slows down the yeast...2 degrees may seem like nothing to us, but to micro-organisms that could be like 10.

ALL beers will reach their level of carbonation eventually. In fact, it's possible (and proven by running the numbers in beersmith) to NOT add priming sugar and get minimal carbonation/style of a few volumes in time (in old brewing british brewing books they didn't add sugar to some ordinary bitters, and milds and relied on time and temp to do the work naturally.)

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.

More info can be found here....Revvy's Blog, Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

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

They are gong to take forever to carb in the fridge...If a beer is under carbed after three weeks, then you wait a couple more.

 

[TechyDork]

the two beers in question have both been in bottles for around 10 weeks. the raspberry wheat does have good carb now.

my temps are around 66-68 so i am sure that is slowing it down quite a bit. the beers taste good, so i think i am just going to put them in the back of the closet with a blanket around the totes and leave them for a few months and let the yeast do its thing.

edit: and i feel honored to have Revvy reply to one of my threads

 

[TechyDork]

Update:

My last 3 brews i have switched to weighing out the corn sugar and carb levels have been much better. The combination of that and waiting 5-6 weeks before sampling has allowed my beers to carb up.

thank you all for your help.