Flat beer in bottles

[fogcitycory]

I've bottled an IPA and found bottle after bottle to be almost completely devoid of bubbles. It's my third batch. The first batch was a little flat, the second was well-carbonated, and now this. I used 4.5oz dextrose when bottling. Is there a way to carbonate when pouring? Should I keg it? Just live with it? I figure it's the latter, but some people are wizards when it comes to this stuff, so I thought I'd ask.

Thank you.
-Cory

 

[adiochiro3]

More specifics would help with diagnosis.

How long in primary?
How well mixed was your beer with the priming sugar?
Did you dissolve your priming sugar in water before racking to your bottling bucket?
At what temp are you conditioning your beer?
How long are you conditioning before testing?
Did you refrigerate after conditioning? How long?

 

[fogcitycory]

Thanks for the response, adiochiro3.

14 days in the primary.
6 days in the secondary.
The priming sugar was mixed added to boiling water, dissolved, then stirred gently into the beer.
Beer was conditioned at temps around 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit. No refrigeration.
I tested/tasted the beer at one week, two weeks. Now it's been about 6 weeks and still no bubbles.

I used the same routine for all three batches. Temps are pretty stable here.

Thank you.
-Cory

 

[brick]

Looking back at my notes, I have had several batches that took upwards of two months to reach proper carbonation. Nothing above ~1.070 seems to have been ready before at least that long.

How big was this IPA?

 

[fogcitycory]

Good to know... Hmmm. Patience? These days? That's so old school.

The initial gravity reading was 1.050, so it wasn't too hefty.

-Cory

 

[fogcitycory]

The last 4 bottles I've opened have been fermented quite well. In fact, the bottle I opened last night was so overly fermented that I'm afraid I have some beer grenades. It appears that either 1) the beer wasn't well mixed with the priming sugar before bottling or 2) patience was required.

-Cory