ESB didn't carbonate in the bottles help!?

[houser31]

It's been in the bottles conditioning for 2 weeks.... opened 2 up and it was flat... no carbonation at all... I used carbs drops on this brew for the first time... can I save the beer?

 

[flars]

Give the beer a couple more weeks before checking another bottle. Carb drops are sometimes slow to dissolve. Are you holding the bottles at about 70°F?

 

[houser31]

Between 65 and 70 yes

 

[flars]

Getting down to 65° is to cool. Going over 70° would be much better.

 

[axelkahuna]

Had this happen awhile back.......after 2 more weeks of waiting and no carbonation here is what I did. (5 gal. batch)

dissolve 1/3 cup corn sugar in pint of water - bring to boil, let cool to room temp
clean and sanitize a bottling bucket
open all bottles and pour into bottling bucket
recarbonate with corn sugar and bottle.

worked like a charm for me

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Warm it up to low 70's and give it another two weeks. Rebottling with additional priming sugar before you've given it enough time presents a high risk of oxidizing and gushers/bombs and also a risk of contamination. I've had brews that took as much as 6 - 8 weeks to carb. Give it time.

The main reasons for it not to carb at all would be that something killed the yeast or you forgot to prime (been there, done that). If that truly is the case, you'd do better opening the bottles and adding a pinch of dry yeast and a carb tablet and recap. This reduces the risk of oxidation and contamination.

That being said, higher temp and time will work 95% of the time.

 

[flars]

Had this happen awhile back.......after 2 more weeks of waiting and no carbonation here is what I did. (5 gal. batch)

dissolve 1/3 cup corn sugar in pint of water - bring to boil, let cool to room temp
clean and sanitize a bottling bucket
open all bottles and pour into bottling bucket
recarbonate with corn sugar and bottle.

worked like a charm for me

You are definitely a risk taker. This could have resulted in oxidized beer.

 

[axelkahuna]

waited for a month, no sign of carbonation, while I'm not saying my idea is the best idea (by far) rather than tossing the batch, it was worth the risk

 

[rhys333]

My house is on the cooler side during winter months because I turn the forced air heating down while I'm out. I'm not sure if you have the same problem, but what I do is place all my bottles in a small room of the house, door closed, and make sure the air vent is fully open in that room so it stays warm regardless. I also find the yeast can settle and go to sleep in cooler conditions, but slowly turning the bottles over and back again helps immensely. I'll do this maybe 1-2 weeks into conditioning and it works a treat.

 

[brew703]

I had this issue with an APA. I f'uped and use the cold crash temp vs the higher ferm temp. I'm about 1 month after bottling and still flat as hell. I'm about to take a change and re-bottle using more primimg sugar because I'm just about to dump the 18 bottles I have left.

 

[rhys333]

I had this issue with an APA. I f'uped and use the cold crash temp vs the higher ferm temp. I'm about 1 month after bottling and still flat as hell. I'm about to take a change and re-bottle using more primimg sugar because I'm just about to dump the 18 bottles I have left.

Can't you just warm them up? The sugar will still be in there. It just sounds like the yeast are asleep!

 

[brew703]

I have- they have been on top of my upright freezer in my laundry room- temp is about 72 degrees. Been at that temp for 2weeks. Going to pop one open tonight to re-check. If still not carbed, going to re=bottle.