Carbonation problems with my Dubbel (bottled)

[uncle_jimbo]

So, over 2 weeks ago, I bottled my Belgian Dubbel. I tried one after a week and it had zero carbonation. I knew one week isn't always enough, so I didn't panic. I try one after 2 weeks, though, and it's still completely flat.

There are a couple things that might have happened:

1) I might have forgotten the priming sugar. I bottled 2 batches that day and brewed another one, so while I think I included it, it's possible I got caught up in the frenzy of everything I was doing and forgot.

2) The ABV is really high (about 10.5%). Maybe the alcohol became too much for the yeast to handle.

So, what are my options for getting this thing carbonated while limiting the amount of oxygen I introduce into the beer?

At first, I thought about just getting some Coopers drops and dropping one in each bottle, but the guy at my LHBS told me that it would incite a chemical reaction and foam up a ton when I did that. I also saw something on the Cooper's forums about this.

Another thought might be to try to reintroduce some new yeast into each bottle? I have no idea at all if this would work... also if the problem is the alcohol content being too much for the yeast, then that might still be a problem.

Any thoughts?

 

[JuanMoore]

Assuming you added the priming sugar, you probably just need more time. The MINIMUM time for full carbonation is 3 weeks at 70F, but some beers can take months to fully carb, especially with higher ABV beers like yours. If you didn't add the priming sugar, more time obviously isn't going to help any, and you'll need to open, prime, and re-cap them.

 

[Revvy]

I wouldn't expect a NORMAL grav beer to be carbed at only 2 weeks in the bottle, let alone a high gravity beer like a Dubbel.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

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.


Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

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

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

At 10.5 abv, I would rank your beer as a "big" beer.

 

[uncle_jimbo]

Thanks for the thoughts. I'll let it sit a while.

Hard to be patient when I WANNA DRINK IT RIGHT NNNNOOOOWWWW!!!!

 

[solbes]

Brew up something else that will be ready in 4 weeks, like a low gravity cream ale, wheat beer, or bitter. You're going to want to wait a few months before drinking many of those dubbels anyway. Thowing out my two pennies.