Bottled beer didn't carbonate?

[littleladyshay]

Hi all, I recently bottled an amber ale and I usually just use priming sugar when I bottle, but this batch didn't carbonate and it's been a few weeks now.
It was my first all grain brew, I used hops that I grew at home, all my equipment was sanitized.... not sure why they didn't take? They don't taste terrible, there's just barely any carbonation. Fermentation went fine, but I'm wondering if something happened when I racked it to secondary?
Any advice is welcomed!
Thanks!

 

[Barbarossa]

I had to massage a few bottles a while ago. Basically, I raised the temperature to reactivate the yeast, then gently rolled the bottles, one by one, to put the yeast back in suspension.

 

[hotbeer]

What temps did you keep it at after bottling. I usually shoot for around 74°F ambient air temps, but now that it's gotten cooler and that part of the house near the ceiling is much cooler, I'm having to put a heating pad inside a insulated box (cooler) with the beer bottles inside to maintain that temp.

Also, if you are significantly more or less beer being bottled than other times, it might just be you didn't use enough sugar. Or do you add your priming sugar directly to the bottle?

 

[Falstaff]

Heat them up and get the yeast back in suspension. I usually flip them. Sometimes I shake them if I'm especially frustrated. You could even get them up to 80. I dont there would be any off flavors with so little fermentation left. For my Kveik, I pitch at 110, hold at 90, then I keep a few at 90 to have them sooner throughout the bottling phase.

Also, did you use enough sugar? I do 1oz per gallon as a rule of thumb. My bottling bucket is marked with 1ga marks because the 5ga fermenter never produces 5ga of beer.

 

[dkeller12]

What was the volume of beer being bottled and what kind and amount of priming sugar did you use? Did the beer ferment as expected?

 

[jwill911]

I'm having to put a heating pad inside a insulated box (cooler) with the beer bottles inside to maintain that temp.

1+
Thanks! I'm having the same issue. Ambient temp where the beer is stored is 66-67 degrees. I will jostle the bottles and put a heating pad under them. I have 48 bottles -the one I'm testing now. Been in the bottles for 18 days. It tastes good but mostly flat.

 

[ncbrewer]

For a while, I conditioned in a closet that was 65F in the winter - they took 5 weeks to carbonate. Temperature makes a big difference IME. Also the amount of sugar as noted above. You could check against the Northern Brewer priming calculator, but for volume, use the amount in the bottling bucket - not the fermenter.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Hi all, I recently bottled an amber ale and I usually just use priming sugar when I bottle, but this batch didn't carbonate and it's been a few weeks now.
It was my first all grain brew, I used hops that I grew at home, all my equipment was sanitized.... not sure why they didn't take? They don't taste terrible, there's just barely any carbonation. Fermentation went fine, but I'm wondering if something happened when I racked it to secondary?
Any advice is welcomed!
Thanks!

Okay so there is some carbonation, but not enough, switching to all grain, using homegrown hops, has nothing to do with priming. Even when the “yeast drops out” there is plenty of yeast slill in suspension.

The advice above about temperature is probably the culprit, however there could be other issues. Did you use enough priming sugar? I had thought I added priming solution to the bucket one time, but found it in the microwave upon clean up. I had to calculate the amount needed for each bottle, remove some beer with a syringe, add the priming solution and recap. Haven’t made that mistake again.

 

[jwill911]

1+
Thanks! I'm having the same issue. Ambient temp where the beer is stored is 66-67 degrees. I will jostle the bottles and put a heating pad under them. I have 48 bottles -the one I'm testing now. Been in the bottles for 18 days. It tastes good but mostly flat.

Well I ended up using my Fermentemp heater and InkBird controller to keep the temp ~74 degrees for three days now. How long should I wait before sampling again? Mine is a 5 gal batch, I primed with 5 oz corn sugar in the bottling bucket like I have previously. I did have flat/low carbonation in the last Stout I brewed but raising the temp for a few days did the trick.
Thanks in advance for any help. I have 47 bottles of tasty Fresh Squeezed (clone) that is flat and I'm anxious to drink and share.
John

 

[GrowleyMonster]

Hi all, I recently bottled an amber ale and I usually just use priming sugar when I bottle, but this batch didn't carbonate and it's been a few weeks now.
It was my first all grain brew, I used hops that I grew at home, all my equipment was sanitized.... not sure why they didn't take? They don't taste terrible, there's just barely any carbonation. Fermentation went fine, but I'm wondering if something happened when I racked it to secondary?
Any advice is welcomed!
Thanks!

In most homes, the kitchen is the warmest part of the house. Bedroom can be good, too. An electric blanket is a great heat source, and cheap, and theromstatically controlled after a fashion. Shake the bottles and give them three more weeks, at a reasonable temperature. Then put a couple in the fridge overnight and drink up.

What yeast did you use?

I have done the one oz per gallon thing and ended up with geyser beer. That's part of why I generally keg, now. But my last batch I used 3.9 oz corn sugar based on a priming calculator, and I will see how that works out. I would rather have a little under carbed than over. My beers are like suds fountains if overcarbed.

I doubt if racking technique had anything to do with it. I am betting that the yeast is an odd one that just doesn't bottle condition well or your ABV was at the top of the tolerance range, or your bottle temp was too low for the yeast. A possibility is that your sugar solution was too hot when you added it to the wort or vice versa, but it would honestly have to be boiling to make much difference in a 5 gallon batch. But longer storage at higher temp is the easy solution to try. But... could your bottle temp be too HIGH for your yeast? If it is a lager yeast it could be something like that.

Worse comes to worse, you can always dump the beers into a corny keg and shoot it with CO2.