Consistent Carbonation Problem

[jesseleh]

Me and my roommate are brewing newbies, but we have worked hard and read up to learn everything we can about the process. We have made 2 very different batches--an IPA and a Wit with coriander and orange. It has been 3 months since bottling the IPA and about 6 weeks on the Wit, and both of them are completely flat still. Our capper seems to be fine as no air seems to escape when we shake them. We used priming sugar (3/4 cup boiled in) for the IPA and Cooper's carbonation pills for the Wit. The beers have been stored in my room, and I even turned the temp up to about 72 in there, and swirled every bottle to try to activate the yeast. What else could be the problem?

 

[BackyardHB]

Me and my roommate are brewing newbies, but we have worked hard and read up to learn everything we can about the process. We have made 2 very different batches--an IPA and a Wit with coriander and orange. It has been 3 months since bottling the IPA and about 6 weeks on the Wit, and both of them are completely flat still. Our capper seems to be fine as no air seems to escape when we shake them. We used priming sugar (3/4 cup boiled in) for the IPA and Cooper's carbonation pills for the Wit. The beers have been stored in my room, and I even turned the temp up to about 72 in there, and swirled every bottle to try to activate the yeast. What else could be the problem?

What was the rest of the process? Did you go straight from the wort to bottles? How long did you let it set in the fermenter? Did you take a gravity prior to bottling? If you can post everything you did it will help us diagnose your issue.
You should read a post by Deathbrewer, he goes completely in-depth regarding partial mash brewing w/pics.

 

[jesseleh]

We used malt extracts, boiled for 60 minutes, put each batch in primary fermenter for a week, then transferred to secondary for two weeks, then bottled.

 

[Zen_Brew]

OK, here are a couple stupid questions, but you never know.
You are not heating up the beer before priming are you?
Are you using twist off cap bottles?

I would invert one of the bottles in a bowl for a couple hours and make sure no beer leaks out. Unless you are somehow killing off the yeast, which you are likely not, then the caps not making a seal are the only logical explanation.

 

[jesseleh]

Nope, wort was cooled to 80 degrees immediately after flameout, then cool water was added to top off to 5 gallons. Caps are not twist off, they were put on with a wing capper. No beer seems to leak when we tried leaving it upside down. We're just frustrated and have no idea what the problem could be. Is it possible that we didn't get enough yeast when we transferred to secondary and when we bottled after because we didn't get all the sediment?

 

[KevinM]

Nah, you'd have to wait far longer to worry about not getting enough yeast.
So, to check on a few things.
You added rehydrated yeast into the primary right? Not at flameout or something? And the beer did ferment?
As for the bottling process, did you: transfer the beer to a bottling bucket along with the dextrose/water combination, then bottle?
And for the beer you used carb tabs on, did you put the tabs directly in the bottle?

Ideally you would have, and likely you did, but it's good to go over the entire process, step by step, and repeat it to us so we can see if anything was somehow missed. That's why us tech people start off by asking if something is plugged in.