First Brew is flat, will it improve?

[transmetallator]

So I decided to enter the foray of home brewing. I'm a chemist and I really enjoyed the whole process. I followed all the instructions for a extract kit from a local store that used a can of Munton's nut brown ale. Fermentation was a bit slow to take off as I suspect the yeast was kindof old but it did and I transferred to secondary for 3 weeks, its been 3 weeks in the bottle and the beer is still on the flat side. The taste seems ok just not that carbonated. Will this improve or should I move onto my next batch and toss this up as experience (I'm a little anxious)? I was a little worried because the wort took a long time to cool in my bathtub as I did all 5 gallons in the pot and I didn't have enough ice on hand. Thanks for any advice/help, and/or telling me I just need to be patient.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

What temperature is the beer being kept at. Try keeping it around 70*F. Try rousing the yeast- give it a good couple of shakes now and then in the bottle.

And yes, it will probably improve over time. How much priming sugar did you use?

 

[ThomasRau]

You can make things easier on yourself by only using 1.5-2.5 gals for the boils, its a lot easier to cool down 2 gals of wort than 5 gals. How did you prime the beer?

 

[mrkristofo]

welcome, fellow chemist!

How much sugar did you prime with?

 

[grasshopper1917]

When using those kits you dont have to boile them - i never do. Besides that if your beer is flat you may have to use more priming sugar - I like lots of carbonation in mine so I use 1 1/4 cuppa corn sugar. You didnt forget to add the priming sugar before you bottled did ya? That would cause flat beers.

 

[transmetallator]

I have since switched to Kegging and force carbonation which is wonderfully convenient but my analysis of low/slow carbonation I believe was a result of to little priming sugar and extended time in the 2ndary fermenter resulting in low yeast levels when bottling. Sampling bottles that I brewed almost a year ago results in fairly carbonated beer. I doo like fairly high levels of CO2 though and so force carbonating is alot easier for me. Thanks for the help and sorry about the lack of a response.

 

[Nurmey]

Three weeks is just a guideline. I've had a couple of brews that took a couple weeks longer to carb. Yes, move to your next batch BUT DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TOSSING THAT BEER! It will get much better.

Welcome to HBT!

 

[ifishsum]

It's worth rolling them to rouse the yeast and putting them in a warm (75*+) location if you can for another week or two. I had a couple of batches that were undercarbonated after 4 weeks and they improved a lot - not perfect but satisfactory. They also got even better after being refrigerated for 5+ days, and I had almost resigned myself to choking down nearly flat beer. So yes- you have nothing to lose by being patient a little longer.

 

[Grinder12000]

Welcome - as some have said - three weeks is just a guide number. Beer making is not an exact science . . .even for you LOL

So I would move on to the next one and just watch what happens - nothing you can do.

You can rolling them to rouse the yeast but otherwise nothing.

One hint is when you have a question it's always best to include the recipe and anything else. Also - English Nut Brown Ale's have only a little carbonation anyway. How much corn sugar did you prime the batch with before you bottled it ??

Just thinking - if it was slow to get going the yeast might have been tired or lazy or something - just taking their time. This like this are why you should ALWAYS have three batches going at once

 

[BierMuncher]

...Thanks for the help and sorry about the lack of a response.

Hey, had you waited another 10 days or so to reply to your first post, you could have maintained your one-post-per-year pace. See you next fall.

 

[steelerguy]

I have found that my beers carbonating is very dependent on ambient temperature and even what surface the bottles are set on. I had some beer carbonating around 65 on a wood floor and it carbonated pretty decent in 10 days, then the ambient went up to mid 70's for a few days and it finished up really quick.

Another beer in that room once it had reached 75-80 was carbonated in 10 days (when I do my first check).

Now I have a beer carbonating on a concrete floor in a 68 degree basement. After 3 weeks there was very little carbonation, I think the concrete floor is just sucking the heat out of the bottles. After 5 weeks it is carbonated but I know it is still not done. I'm going to put them into my beer conditioning container I made for my pumpkin ale when it is out. I wanted to make sure my pumpkin ale was done in time for Halloween, so I put them all in a cooler with a carboy warmer taped to inner top, and it is on a temp controller. Keeping it steady at 75 and I bet it will be ready on Halloween night which will have been 2 weeks. Gonna do a test this Wednesday and I bet they will be pretty carbbed up.

 

[blim8183]

I just tried my first brew after about three weeks in the bottle and it seems undercarbonated. I had moved the bottles from my living room into the fridge about ten days into the process. Was that too early? I'm afraid I slowed down the yeast before giving them enough time to do their thing.

Will taking the beer out of the fridge and rolling the bottles around help?

 

[Revvy]

I just tried my first brew after about three weeks in the bottle and it seems undercarbonated. I had moved the bottles from my living room into the fridge about ten days into the process. Was that too early? I'm afraid I slowed down the yeast before giving them enough time to do their thing.

Will taking the beer out of the fridge and rolling the bottles around help?

3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70

Warm them up....Bring them out of the fridge and into a 70 degree room and check them in a week..they may be done...or will still need three weeks...but in the fridge the yeasties are barely awake.

 

[alextrumpet456]

I do feel like the class idiot because I forgot to add the priming sugar when I kegged. Its been about 7 days since I kegged the beer. Can I still add it to keep the beer from going flat?

 

[jmf143]

I do feel like the class idiot because I forgot to add the priming sugar when I kegged. Its been about 7 days since I kegged the beer. Can I still add it to keep the beer from going flat?

I haven't moved on to kegging yet so I can't help you there, but I gotta know why you added on to a thread that's almost 2 years stale instead of posting new?

 

[Ravenshead]

I haven't moved on to kegging yet so I can't help you there, but I gotta know why you added on to a thread that's almost 2 years stale instead of posting new?

And how in the hell did we find it?

If the keg is still warm just add the sugar now, you'll be fine. If it's cold, warm it up, add the sugar. You'll be fine.

or

Buy a CO2 sytem and never worry about that again.