carbonation

[sims_l22]

Brewed California Style Imperial Ale, full boil, left to ferment 28 days in primary, 15 days of bottle conditioning. Opened one last nite beer has very little carbonation. Poured in glass no head at all. What could be wrong. room where beer is conditioning is slightly cold. could this be a problem.
Thanks
sims_l22

 

[android]

high ABV, cool room = takes longer to carbonate. plus, 3 weeks is the absolute minimum recommendation for beers of average gravity (~1.050 or lower) at 70 deg. so, in short, it probably needs at least 2-3 more weeks due to the high ABV/cool room.

 

[Revvy]

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that 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.

And even carbonation doesn't mean that they will not still be green and need more time to condition.

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