Bottled beer not carbinating

[scooter878]

So I am currently on my third 5 gallon batch in a row that has not carbonated after bottling. Prior to these batches I have successfully bottled hLf a dozen plus batches. Now all the sudden not working out so well for me. She. Things were going good, I was using 2/3 cup corn sugar and 2 cups water boiled and cooled. Since my issues began I have increased the corn sugar to 3/4 cup with no change in results. Can corn sugar go bad? I have had this bag of corn sugar for about a year. I typically ferment for 2 weeks. I generally make ales and typically use California ale yeast. The first 2 batches I I had a problem with we're smack packs the third was a white labs yeast. Agian I have not changed anything in my bottling process other than the increased volume of corn sugar. What could be going wrong?

Any input is greatly appreciated!

 

[ArcaneXor]

The two most likely culprits are

(a) temperature - try to keep those bottles warm. If the temperature drops into the lower 60s, some yeast strains will simply go to sleep on you. I like 70-75 degrees F for bottle conditioning.

(b) bigger beers - above about 8% ABV, the odds of having a beer fail to carbonate increases, especially if the yeast is stressed or subjected to wild temperature swings.

 

[Doongie]

I made some hard cider last year around mid Oct, hoping it would be ready for Christmas. It was fully fermented, but did not carbonate properly. I was given the advice, pretty strongly by Revvy and others, that with proper amounts of sugar and active yeast time and temp will lead to carbonation.

I had 3 gallons made with US-04 and 3 gallons with Montrachet. I calculated the abv to be in the 10% range for each, according to hydrometer readings. This Thanksgiving, nearly a full year later, the carbonation is still not what I was expecting with the 5 oz of corn sugar I used for the 6 gallons.

Montrachet is tolerant to 13-15% depending on who you refer to, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that S-04 is tolerant to about 12%.
Storage was at about 70 degrees.
There is sediment in the bottle, so the yeast was present and active, and did act on the priming sugar I put in.
Several calculators indicate 5-5.5 oz of corn sugar will produce 2.5 vols in 6 gallons.
I used my bottling want and have a consistent fill level, headspace left by removing the wand from a bottle filled to the brim.
One year later both variants are carbed pretty much equally. More than last year, but not much more, and not to what I would expect from 2.5 vols, given my experience with beer carbonation levels.

Regardless of the advice given by many here, I now believe there is at least one additional outlying factor beside time, temperature, yeast health/activity and alcohol tolerance that affects carbonation.

I have not experienced that issue before the cider, or since. I have no clue what the cause may be. I have to consider I measured the sugar wrong, but that mistake would have had to happen twice as there were two 3 gallon batches, and I use a digital scale, so I put the chances of that risk pretty low.

I have bottled lots of beer with good results, I believe I have a consistent procedure that gives consistent results. I can only deduce there is something different about cider, but that seems not terribly likely.

I have quit looking for explanation, but have not forgotten. Maybe one day the light will come on.