IIPA no carb?

ChadChaney · Dec 1, 2011

I brewed an IIPA and bottled the batch with Coopers drops and after 3 weeks in the bottle, very little(virtually no carbonation) and I am wondering if I need to crack all the bottles and add more yeast to carb. Any ideas?

Some info. Extract brew w steeped grains. OG 1.103
Final OG 1.012
Pitched a starter w Pacman yeast, split a smack pack between 2 1liter flasks, and pitched at high krasuen.

Beer tastes great, just needs some Co2, thinking of opening the bottles and adding a small amount of yeast to each, any thoughts?

Also, I have a small layer of "stuff" settling to the bottom of the chilled bottle, thought it might be yeast or sugar from the drops, but I taste no yeast like characteristics in the last swallow...

If I do add yeast to the bottles, how, what kind, how much..etc..

Saw a post by Yooper about adding a single grain of dry yeast to each bottle, should I try this, do I then have to worry about bottle bombs?

What I am thinking is that I might have over pitched and there is not enough yeast left to carb, am I wrong? I want to drink this soon, it was dry hopped w Citra and Amarillo, tasty!

day_trippr · Dec 1, 2011

Before the infamous "Wall O' Text" arrives...

A bit curious how you correlate "over pitching" with "under carbonating", but then again, there are no end of curiosities on this site

I'd give all of the bottles an invert 'n' shake, then let them sit for another week or two, then chill a sample bottle for a few days, pop it, and see how it's going, before going to the extreme of uncapping, re-yeasting, and recapping...

Cheers!

bigbeergeek · Dec 1, 2011

Attenuated from 1.103 to 1.012?!?! That's just shy of 12%. This is a high alcohol beer and is going to take longer to carbonate than your average beer. The yeast is stressed, fewer cells are alive to digest the precious carb drops. Give the beer another month before you pry anything open.

rycov · Dec 1, 2011

three weeks (from what i've gleened) is a minimum. i've had higher alc. beers take closer to three months. also it's going to depend on what temp you have the beers at.

ChadChaney · Dec 1, 2011

Day Tripper- I thought if I over pitched there might not be enough yeast left in the solution to carb.

I will try the invert, shake and wait. Just anxious to drink some, lol. My pipeline planning didn't account for this one taking so long, dumb mistake.

Kmcogar · Dec 1, 2011

I had the same thing happen. Not quite as high alc. content, but I waited another week and BAM! Delicious carbonated beer. Patience my friend

SuperNintendoChalmers · Dec 1, 2011

I currently have a batch of fresh hop IPA that's been conditioning for two weeks. I primed with DME for the first time. Opened one last night (couldn't wait), and it had only a tiny whiff of carbonation. I'm hoping the DME just takes a little longer than corn sugar to make the yeast happy, but I'm a little concerned. It's heartening to hear that it's a common problem - I'll wait.