Carbing Issue on First BIAB batch

[oconne55]

I’m having a carbonation problem with my beer. This beer has been in bottles for somewhere between 2 to 3 months, and they’re undercarbonated. I made a summer pale ale using the BIAB method. This was my first attempt going from extract to partial mash. Details on this beer:

5 gallon batch
5 oz priming sugar added prior to bottling
Primed in bottles at 70-75

Recipe:
3.15 lbs LME
3.8 lbs Golden Promise
1 lbs White Wheat
4 oz Crystal 60°L
1.25 oz Liberty pellets @ 4.5% for 60
.75 oz Liberty pellets @ 4.5% for 5
Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast
Fermented at 70

I’ve ruled out the possibility that the bottles weren’t capped well enough. I bottled them in both 12oz glass bottles, and 24oz plastic bottles. Both were equally low in carbonation. I think for the style beer it was, it has had plenty of time to sit. I’ve shaken bottles daily after 1.5 months. The yeast are/were alive, because there is some carbonation to it.

As I said, this beer was my first attempt at BIAB so I feel like it could have something to do with either my process or my recipe. It’s not terrible so I’ve been drinking it anyway, but I really would like to know what happened so my next beer doesn’t come out undercarbonated. Any thoughts?

 

[blackflagbrew]

We're all the bottles under carbonated? If some had more carbonation than others, it could be that the priming sugar wasn't mixed well enough. 5 oz should be plenty.

 

[oconne55]

I thought that too, but I'm about halfway finished with this batch and none have the carbonation they should. All the bottles release CO2 when opened, so I'm under the impression I have the potential for carbonation, but it never dissolved into the beer. The only part of the bottling I think could have this effect is my PBW solution, but I always rinse the bottles off 2 or more times.

I'm not sure if I was missing something in my recipe which would have helped me retain the CO2 better, or if I blatantly messed something up with my first mash.

 

[1MadScientist]

I thought that too, but I'm about halfway finished with this batch and none have the carbonation they should. All the bottles release CO2 when opened, so I'm under the impression I have the potential for carbonation, but it never dissolved into the beer. The only part of the bottling I think could have this effect is my PBW solution, but I always rinse the bottles off 2 or more times.

I'm not sure if I was missing something in my recipe which would have helped me retain the CO2 better, or if I blatantly messed something up with my first mash.

I am only guessing here. It seems to me the bottles should have been soaked in an acid after that, like Iodophor. I know Dawn dish soap film kills the head. Do you have a head problem too?

I assume you measured the volume of beer and priming sugar acurately.

 

[OaklandHills]

You say you're drinking this batch, so the yeast were happy during fermentation, right? In my experience, 1 oz priming sugar/gallon is plenty. If the yeast are happy post bottling, you should have trub in the bottom of the bottles. Have you got trub? If not, maybe you were too fastidious in decanting the beer from your fermentor into the bottles and didn't get enough yeast in each bottle to utilize the priming sugar. More carbonation time at room temperature should fix that. If you have trub, and partial carbonation, I'd suspect the capping process went awry.

 

[oconne55]

I soak my bottles in starsan following my pbw wash.

I reached my fg in 2 days, so fermentation went perfectly. That could very well be. I have surprisingly little trub in the bottle. I may not have gotten enough yeast into the bottles. Do you think I should add some more yeast prior to bottling? My batch before this one took a long time to carb up (month and a half).