I can't carbonate Belgian beer

[CaptZav]

This is my second Belgian beer that I have brewed that hasn't carbonated. I brewed, aged in the primary for 3 1/2 weeks, bottled with enough sugar for high carbonation, and its been over 3 weeks in the bottles. I tried one last night, and it was flat as could be, zero carbonation. My other beer still won't carb from 2 months ago after leaving it on top of my fridge for 3 weeks. Can I please get some help?

Also, my apartment temp is kept at 73 deg, so that's the temp it is sitting around in the bottles.

 

[jessup]

in the past when i've put honey in as an adjunct for begian beers there's a lag time w/ carbonation. this is classic in my older high grav tripels n such, perhaps since yeast is stressed. i've gotten in the habit of adding new yeast in beers that are aged, but that's not the case here

 

[CaptZav]

what do you mean by an adjunct? I want to stay away from using carb tabs because I don't want to create beer bombs either. This second beer is a tripel, should it be taking this long to carbonate? Also, could I put a little dried yeast (probably Nottinghham or something similar) into each bottle?

 

[Beernik]

What's the ABV? If it's over 7% or 8%, it's because the yeast is stressed. I've got a Belgian Barleywine that finished over 10%. It's been bottled for about 4 months and is still not satisfactorily carbed.

It's also when I seriously started thinking about potential force carbing options should I ever brew another.

 

[TipsyDragon]

what was the OG of the beers? high grave beers are hard to bottle carbonate. the yeast are so beat up by the end of the fermentation process they are in no mood to do any more work. i had the same problem with a Belgian golden strong. next time im going to force carbonate a beer with that high an ABV.

you can try adding more yeast to the bottles. but be warned if the new yeast cant handle the ABV of the beer your waisting your time.

 

[pjk49202]

don't touch those beers! just leave them alone for a few months. then if they are not carbed, just wait longer. Seriously, you have to give those beers a few months in the bottle. I have 9 tripels left from a batch I made in Nov, 09 and I'm kicking myself for not leaving those things alone.

 

[Revvy]

You just need more patience. If a beer isn't ready at three weeks, there's nothing wrong.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them ore time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

You are dealing with, I'm assuming, a big beer here. Big beer needs more time.

Lazy Llama came up with a handy dandy chart to determine how long something takes in brewing, whether it's fermentation, carbonation, bottle conditioning....

So forget about this beer for awhile. It will be fine.