I am a failure and you can too....

[RandallFlag]

Well, the long-awaited drinking day for my first batch ever came and went and sadly, without a bang. My brew failed to carbonate.

Conditions:
None of the bottles appear carbonated
I used carbonation drops
I sanitized everything
Bottles have been in the dark at a steady 68 deg for over 2 weeks

I used Super Kleer to try and clear the beer a few days before bottling. Could this be the culprit?

At what point do you chalk this up to experience and toss it out?

Thanks for any insight.
-Randall

 

[NTXBrauer]

68 degrees may be a little cool. Warm them up to room temperature, around 72 degrees for another couple weeks, and then refrigerate one, and try again. Unless the carbonation drops were bad, I would suspect they were too cool to fully carbonate within a 2 week period.

 

[RandallFlag]

Thank you, sir. I will try that first.

 

[kh54s10]

68 degrees may be a little cool. Warm them up to room temperature, around 72 degrees for another couple weeks, and then refrigerate one, and try again. Unless the carbonation drops were bad, I would suspect they were too cool to fully carbonate within a 2 week period.

I agree with this. Try another in a week or two. I have had some that carbonated in 2 weeks others took longer and all of them tasted better at 3 weeks or longer.

 

[RandallFlag]

Appreciate the replies. So you fellas don't think that the SUPER KLEER will have screwed it up? Stuff works well for wine but I have no idea since this is my first beer.

 

[Paps]

Patience is a virtue......
Homebrewing will teach you this.
Don't be like the one guy on here recently, who threw out every batch he made for a year thinking that `they were infected` only after 2 days in primary.

 

[RandallFlag]

Yeah, this was a hobby to cure my ADHD without medicine.

 

[Komocabo]

Patience is a virtue......
Homebrewing will teach you this.
Don't be like the one guy on here recently, who threw out every batch he made for a year thinking that `they were infected` only after 2 days in primary.

You gotta be kidding me, right?

 

[Zepth]

You gotta be kidding me, right?

Gotta be a troll. Don't feed the trolls.

 

[Paps]

I won't post the thread title this came from or the posters name as to not emberass them, but this is what they said..
"I'v spent the last year trying to make wine and had juste problems. I started out when I learned to make wine from concentrated juice. I used welsh's and that first batch turned out great. I didn't sanitize anything just watched with hot water that time. Then from there, every time I tried it juste went vinegar so I tried boiling water and it failed. I bought K-meta. and it failed. I bought star-San and failed. I tried boiling-k-meta-Star-san trying to sanitize like a real psycho and failed. Im still trying hard and probably failed like 30 straight times this year (small batches since it all fails). "

Each batch after only a few days he `swore` was infected. SUpposedly he would boil juice and then not cool it and wait a day to pitch his yeast. But if you can't wait something out for more than 48 hours you won't do well in this hobby.

 

[passedpawn]

Give it more time, and get those bottles into the warmest part of your house.

Don't bother with those carb tablets. 5 oz table sugar into your bucket of 5 gallons beer, mix it a bit, you're in business. Don't bother with dextrose / corn sugar, it's a fable.

 

[ncboiler]

Patience is a virtue......
Homebrewing will teach you this.
Don't be like the one guy on here recently, who threw out every batch he made for a year thinking that `they were infected` only after 2 days in primary.

lol....link to thread please.

 

[NTXBrauer]

Appreciate the replies. So you fellas don't think that the SUPER KLEER will have screwed it up? Stuff works well for wine but I have no idea since this is my first beer.

Super Kleer is another fining agent that can be used to help with beer clarity. If you followed the instructions, I am sure it would not have a negative impact on your beer. I normally use irish moss for the same purpose. Cheers!

 

[RandallFlag]

Additional question, since I apparently suffer from "the dumb."

The ambient temperatures here are already in the mid 50s for the high and we keep our house cool (67-68 deg). How does one go about getting the temperature of the beer up to a carbonating temp of 72 deg + ???

I hope this question doesn't make me seem like a slobbering idiot but I don't really have any rooms in the house that get that warm in the fall.

Thanks in advance. I appreciate the feedback immensely.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

I keep my apartment ~67F in the wintery months, and what I do to carbonate my bottles is bring them upstairs (townhouse). After 10 days to two weeks upstairs I bring them down and let them condition for as long as I have patience (depends on style and pipeline needs). If you don't have an upstairs, I would go with an interior wall, and maybe wrap the bottles in a big blanket. Other than that the cure is time. It will carbonate at 68, just not as fast as with higher temps. As a general rule of thumb, don't carbonate over 75F (unless the style calls for it or someone with more experience tells me I'm full of crap)

As for the fining agent, I also use irish moss and everything carbonates fine. However, I do know that using gelatin can mess up bottle carbing, and is mostly used for kegging. Not sure on isinglass or any of the others out there.

 

[RandallFlag]

Thank you, good sir. I guess I'll wrap them up and just give it several more weeks. I just want to try it and see how bad (hopefully good) it is.

I made an all grain 1 gallon oatmeal stout and it is now in the bottle as well. Hopefully it will carb because it tasted amazing coming out of the kettle.

 

[flars]

You could put your beer in a box with a light bulb to produce heat. Think fire safety though. A trouble light would already have a shield in place to keep the box from catching fire.
Ceramic reptile habitat warmer would also be a good choice.

 

[RandallFlag]

Ceramic reptile habitat warmer would also be a good choice.

nestar:nestar:nestar:nestar:
You, sir, are onto some next-level ****. Wow. That's thinking outside the box (no pun intended).

 

[Paps]

( or someone with more experience tells me I'm full of crap).

You're full of crap!!!!!!
(I have no reason to say this except for your invite to do so)
:rockin:

 

[CJ-3]

Another thing you can do is once your brew is up to a warmer tepm, turn the bottles over each day to help make sure your yeast is not settled at the base. It sounds weird but some people swear by it. I am currently trying this with a porter and honestly, it can't hurt.