Bottles did not carbonate

[Woodchuck2]

I bottled a Yuengling clone ale on August 11th, 5 gallon batch, 1.05 to 1.01, used one cup of corn sugar to prime, Wyeast 1056 American Ale. We have opened a bottle once a week since late August and they are all totally flat.

Is it possible to empty all the bottles, re-pitch and re-bottle? I hate to just pour out an entire batch of beer.

 

[Vinman58]

I bottled a Yuengling clone ale on August 11th, 5 gallon batch, 1.05 to 1.01, used one cup of corn sugar to prime, Wyeast 1056 American Ale. We have opened a bottle once a week since late August and they are all totally flat.

Is it possible to empty all the bottles, re-pitch and re-bottle? I hate to just pour out an entire batch of beer.

Try just adding a few grains of ale yeast to each bottle and recap. Was this beer in fermenter for an extended time?

 

[ncbrewer]

From the Northern Brewer priming calculator, one cup of corn sugar in 4.6 gallons (allowing 0.4 gallons of trub loss), at 70 degrees produces 3.68 volumes of CO2. That's more than I would want - you could have bottle bombs once it ferments. Unless I'm missing something, you could have a bigger problem than not carbonating. Be careful storing and handling the bottles.

 

[mongoose33]

Some reasons why bottles may not be carbonated:

1. Yeast is dead. Did the bottles freeze, or inadvertantly get very hot?

2. Bottles weren't capped completely, and whatever carbonation was created just leaked out.

3. The sugar wasn't fully incorporated in the beer, and some bottles had almost none (though if that were true, some would have had a LOT and likely would have burst by now).

 

[BrewInspector]

Where have they been stored? They will not carbonate if it is too cold. They should be kept at 72 degrees or more for 2-3 weeks before chilling and opening.

Assuming they were warm enough, had enough time at the right temp, sugar was equally distributed among the bottles and caps are not leaking then something killed the yeast after fermentation and at or after bottling which is extremely rare. You need to determine how that happened so as not to repeat it.

I would go with the "adding a few grains of yeast to each bottle" method if you can determine that you killed the yeast.

Do not re-prime. You already have a bit too much sugar in the bottles.

Do not pour out the beer and re-package ever. Oxidation from all the transfers will ruin your beer

 

[Woodchuck2]

Thanks for the input, I've ordered some dry yeast and will rehydrate and put a few drops in each bottle and see how it works. As for why it didn't work? I'm at a loss, they were stored in a closet with other batches of beer in a climate controlled room, there has been about 50 batches of beer stored in that closet and all of them have carbonated fine. The batch wasn't left in the fermenter any longer than other batches, one week primary and one week secondary.

 

[kh54s10]

I wouldn't bother rehydrating the yeast. At least one dry yeast manufacturer now advises against rehydrating their dry yeast.

And as an aside, why do a secondary? It is increasingly considered an archaic procedure that has more possibility to do harm with infection and/or oxidation than the small benefit of a clearer beer.

 

[Immocles]

Some reasons why bottles may not be carbonated:

1. Yeast is dead. Did the bottles freeze, or inadvertantly get very hot?

2. Bottles weren't capped completely, and whatever carbonation was created just leaked out.

3. The sugar wasn't fully incorporated in the beer, and some bottles had almost none (though if that were true, some would have had a LOT and likely would have burst by now).

I had something of a #3 just happen to me recently. About 18 straight barely carbonated bottles, then opened one where the cap nearly went through my ceiling, sounded like a cannon. Then a few more lightly carbonated, and two more cannonballs. Did everything the same as I normally do, so at a bit of a loss. My only thought is I possibly had the spigot open on my bottling bucket and the wand filled with solution. But I feel like that’d only contribute to one overly carbed bottle.

 

[bucketnative]

You know how many times I have been cooking and totally whiffed on adding a key ingredient? Any chances that in the hustle and bustle of bottling you forgot to add priming sugar??? A gravity reading of the flat beer would confirm this.

 

[kh54s10]

You know how many times I have been cooking and totally whiffed on adding a key ingredient? Any chances that in the hustle and bustle of bottling you forgot to add priming sugar??? A gravity reading of the flat beer would confirm this.

Not necessarily. If they were primed and the co2 leaked out somehow, the gravity would read as if no sugar was added.

 

[mattdee1]

What kind of bottles are you using?

Back when I used to bottle, I had a carbonation problem only once. I needed more bottles at the time so I bought some 500ml amber-colored plastic bottles with screw-on caps, and all beer in the batch carbonated fine except for the beer in these plastic bottles. I assumed that the caps did not seal properly, despite being tightened quite well. I didn't keep them long enough find out for sure; after this happened they went straight to the recycle bin.

 

[Woodchuck2]

One of the bottles was opened and the SG is the same as it was when transferred to the secondary, around 1.01 so it looks like a simple bone-head move on my part. And it doesn't taste sweet so I'm thinking no priming sugar was added....DOH.

 

[BrewSavage]

You know how many times I have been cooking and totally whiffed on adding a key ingredient? Any chances that in the hustle and bustle of bottling you forgot to add priming sugar??? A gravity reading of the flat beer would confirm this.

I'm reading this thread because I have a stout that didn't carbonate and I'm beginning to believe I must have forgotten to add the priming sugar, despite what my notes say.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Open each bottle and add a sugar cube and recap with a new cap.

 

[Woodchuck2]

If the SG was 1.01 without sugar what should it be after the sugar was added?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

There are many reasons. I have been brewing for 15 years and sometimes it happens.
I have went through periods where 3 or 4 batches had poor carbonation and couldn't figure out why. And never did, the problem went away.

 

[Vale71]

If the SG was 1.01 without sugar what should it be after the sugar was added?

What was the OG and how much sugar was added?

 

[kh54s10]

What was the OG and how much sugar was added?

I believe the OP is saying this is the current SG of the flat beer and wants to know how much change in SG by adding a Domino Dot, or priming tab.

 

[Woodchuck2]

Update: On Saturday I opened the bottles (Grolsch Style) added a pinch of dry yeast and 4cc of sugar water, it probably should have been more but that's all that would fit in the bottles, this morning there is Krausen on top of some of the bottles so they were transferred to 5 gallon buckets and the lids put in place, I fear a bomb may occur. Have you ever seen a more redneck procedure?

 

[ncbrewer]

they were transferred to 5 gallon buckets and the lids put in place, I fear a bomb may occur.

Good move. Be careful with them.

 

[Woodchuck2]

An update, its been a little over two weeks since the homeboy attempt to carbonate the bottle and wow...it worked. Beer is super cloudy and only lightly carbonated but it tastes great. Going to give it a couple of more weeks and try again. Thanks for the input, I think we saved this one.