Carbonation taking forever

[Josh VanDerbeck]

I recently brewed my first IPA. Bottled it 3 weeks ago and opened the first one and it had little to no carbonation. I filled the brew recipe through every step. What did I do wrong? Thanks for any help.

 

[doug293cz]

What was your priming procedure? You need to give us details about what you did in order for anyone here to be able to help you.

Brew on

 

[Rob2010SS]

Need some more info from ya...

What was your recipe?
OG?
FG?
What did you use as a priming sugar and how much did you use?
Once bottled, how have you stored the bottles and at what temp?

 

[Josh VanDerbeck]

What was your priming procedure? You need to give us details about what you did in order for anyone here to be able to help you.

Brew on

It was a brew kit that had priming sugar as part of the kit. I started by dissolving 5 oz of priming sugar in some water and added it the bottling bucket. Once it cooled I added grapefruit extract. Then transferred the beer into the bottling bucket. After bottling I kept the bottles in my closet at a temp of 70-72 degrees.

 

[doug293cz]

It was a brew kit that had priming sugar as part of the kit. I started by dissolving 5 oz of priming sugar in some water and added it the bottling bucket. Once it cooled I added grapefruit extract. Then transferred the beer into the bottling bucket. After bottling I kept the bottles in my closet at a temp of 70-72 degrees.

How did you rack the beer onto the priming sugar and grapefruit extract mixture?

Brew on

 

[Josh VanDerbeck]

How did you rack the beer onto the priming sugar and grapefruit extract mixture?

Brew on

I siphoned it into the bottling bucket and then carefully stirred it once all the beer was in. I stirred it for about 5 minutes.

 

[doug293cz]

Nothing obviously suspect yet.

How many of the bottles have you tested? And, as asked before what were the starting and finishing specific gravities?

Brew on

 

[RM-MN]

What kind of bottles? If they are plastic, screwing on the lid is the critical factor as they tend to leak out the carbonation unless screwed really tight. Glass bottles that had screw off lids are questionable although I have been pretty successful at using them. Glass bottles with pop-off lids usually seal well but do require good capping technique.

 

[Josh VanDerbeck]

Nothing obviously suspect yet.

How many of the bottles have you tested? And, as asked before what were the starting and finishing specific gravities?

Brew on

I have tested 3, one was one of the initial’s bottles filled one from the middle and one from closer to the end.

the OG was 1.053 (kit range 1.054-1.058)
The FG was 1.011 (kit range 1.011-1.014)

 

[Rob2010SS]

I have tested 3, one was one of the initial’s bottles filled one from the middle and one from closer to the end.

the OG was 1.053 (kit range 1.054-1.058)
The FG was 1.011 (kit range 1.011-1.014)

And just to clarify, it was a 5 gallon batch, right?

What kind of bottles did you use?

 

[Josh VanDerbeck]

And just to clarify, it was a 5 gallon batch, right?

What kind of bottles did you use?

Yes it was a 5 gallon batch and I used 12 oz amber longneck bottles and 16 oz amber grolsch style bottles.

 

[Rob2010SS]

The bottles you've tried, which were they? The longneck bottles or the grolsch bottles, or both?

 

[Josh VanDerbeck]

Both, the grolsch seemed to have A bit more carbonation but not much more.

 

[Day-Day]

I've had beers take MONTHS...and MONTHS to carbonate... be patient ...if you put 5oz of corn sugar in a 5 gallon batch it will carbonate...if everything else was done right.

I bottled some brown ales once that took like 6 months to fully carbonate... they also seemed to be more carbonated if I chilled them really good like to almost freezing...instead of just chilling in the 40F range.

Also, adding certain things can affect carbonation...not sure if the extract you added is affecting it in some way.

I've found that when beers take a little longer to carb in the bottle they end up having a better carbonation level in the long run... when my bottled beer was fully carbed fast ...they seemed to become overcarbed in the long run... it might not be a bad thing they are coming along slowly.