Carbonation

[jagg]

I brewed an Imperial Stout, it has been in bottles for about 6 weeks, tried one the other day, it was almost flat, just a few bubbles, hardly any head, what is up with this, does it take longer for big beers to carb or what, btw I used 3/4 cup DME to prime with, that is what the recipe called for, any thoughts? thanks. Oh, it was a 5 gallon batch.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

What temp were the bottles stored at? They need to be at ferentation temos till the yeast has eaten up the priming sugar.

 

[Jaybird]

How long were they in primary and secondary fermentation??
JJ

 

[kaptain_karma]

Big beers definitely take longer to carbonate. Aside from time, the other two major concerns are the quantity/quality of yeast pitched, and the alcohol tolerance of that yeast.

High gravity beers require a large amount of healthy yeast ( a big fat starter) to achieve full attenuation.

Even the healthiest yeast can eventually kill itself with the alcohol it produces. I usually finish high gravity beers with dry or sweet champagne yeast because of its high alcohol tolerance. Champagne yeast ferments much slower, but tolerates much higher alcohol levels.

I let the ale yeast ferment until activity stops, then rack to secondary with champagne yeast. The ale yeast eats the majority of fermentable sugars and leaves behind its unique characteristics. The champagne yeast dries out the beer, leaves a fairly clean signature, and helps carbonation when bottling time comes.

 

[rra24403]

I just had the samething happen to me with a Stout that I bottled at 70 degrees with 3/4 cup of dme for 3 weeks and it's flat.
My Imperal Stout done the same way has some carbonation but not a lot.

Tells us more about the way, when, where and how much of the Champagne yeast you add before bottling.
Thanks Randy

 

[Moonpile]

I've been wondering about this myself. Our recent IPA has been 3 weeks in bottle as of today. It was definitely undercarbed and we used 6.5 oz of DME in maybe 4 gal of beer. It was in secondary for 3 or 4 weeks. (FYI, according to an answer I got about this before 3/4 DME = ~4.3oz).

Meanwhile all of our wheat beers using WLP300 that we've done recently carbed up really fast. The hefe was carbed in 36 hours, thought it gained more carb as it went for another week or so.

My guess is that with the IPA we'd maxxed out the yeast and clarified it too much. We're trying another IPA tonight, and if it's not showing signs of better carbing, we'll rouse up the sediment and hope to get some yeast up into suspension so they can do their thing.

 

[joshpooh]

I always thought you were supposed to use 1 and 1/4 cups of DME to prime 5 gallons with. 3/4 cup is how much corn sugar you use if using that. DME isn't as highly fermentable so I'm guessing you would need a little more. I have always used corn sugar so no real experience there, but I think I remember reading that it takes 1.25 cups of DME to prime 5 gallons.

 

[kaptain_karma]

I always thought you were supposed to use 1 and 1/4 cups of DME to prime 5 gallons with. 3/4 cup is how much corn sugar you use if using that.

Yeah, that's a good point. I also use 1 and 1/4 cups dme per five gallons.

As far as champagne yeast goes...
I let big beers ferment with an ale yeast until activity more or less stops (no krausen or bubbles on the surface, less than one bubble per minute in the airlock) or two weeks, transfer to a secondary fermenter, then add pitchable champagne yeast (white labs or wyeast) on top of the beer in the secondary before tossing the airlock back on. The champagne yeast doesn't cause much visible activity, but it will slowly eat the remaining sugars and dry the beer out.

 

[BierMuncher]

I always thought you were supposed to use 1 and 1/4 cups of DME to prime 5 gallons with. 3/4 cup is how much corn sugar you use if using that. DME isn't as highly fermentable so I'm guessing you would need a little more. I have always used corn sugar so no real experience there, but I think I remember reading that it takes 1.25 cups of DME to prime 5 gallons.

Agreed. 3/4 cups of priming (corn) sugar. 1 & 1/4 cups of DME.

You just shorted the sugar factor a bit. Move them to a 72-74 degree setting for a week and give those bottles a slight shake every day to rouse the yeast off the bottom.