Little Carbonation after one week

[charne0922]

Here is my situation -

I brewed an Oktoberfest style beer using Nottingham yeast and let sit in the primary fermenter for 5 days. I then racked into the secondary and let it sit for 13 days. Three days before I bottled, I added some knox gelatin to clear the beer. On the day of bottling, I primed with 5 oz of corn sugar.

The instructions on the recipe said the beer would be ready after one week, but best if I waited 3 weeks. Since this is my first batch and I am impatient, I decided to try the beer after one week in the bottle (sitting at 72 degrees). Unfortunately, there was very little carbonation and now I am concerned that there was not enough yeast to carb in the bottles. Am I stuck with flat beer, and if that is the case, is there a solution post bottling to carb the beer.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[wolfman_48442]

Only 5 days in primary is mighty short.
Carbonation takes at least 2 weeks, so try another in a week. 3 weeks is even better, so if you can be patient ...
You can really (and should) leave it in primary the full 3 or 4 weeks. The only reason to secondary is for long term storage of big (RIS, barleywine, wee heavy) beers that need aging to mellow out.
Then a careful rack to your bottling bucket will leave most of the yeast and trub behind, leaving you with just enough to carbonate your bottles.

 

[GulleyBrew123]

The bottle conditioning process usually is a slow process. When I bottle, mine are never really ready in one week. I would definately keep them at room temperature for another week or two and then try them. You should definitely still have enough yeast in the beer to condition with. It is nearly impossible for homebrewers to filter out enough yeast to effect the bottle conditioning process. To help the process out or make it go a little faster you could swirl the bottles every once in awhile. Hope this helped and patience is a virtue when it comes to brewing

 

[terrapinj]

you should also allow at least 48 hours or so in the fridge after at least 2-3 weeks at room temp

co2 will go into solution better at colder temps so the extra few days in the fridge should help a bit as well

 

[Kaz]

You should've thrown away the kit instructions and looked around here. 5 days in the primary was a little short, you didn't really need to secondary, just leave it in the primary for 3 weeks. It can take way longer than 3 weeks to carb up when bottle conditioning. I agree with terrapin, let them sit at room temp another couple of weeks and then chill one for a couple days before trying.

 

[Revvy]

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, 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 more 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.

 

[charne0922]

Great! Thanks for all the info and advice everyone. I'll have to pass the time by starting on another brew.

 

[ACbrewer]

OP - is this a higher gravity beer? the higher the OG the longer it takes to carb in the end . I had a higher grav beer that took 4 weeks to carb up right. If the OG was 1.040 or so (1.050) then the 3 weeks at 70F should be about right.

 

[Xalwine]

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, 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 more 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.

Revvy, I think this is the most pasted statement from you. I believe in the past month I have seen this about 5 times....

Also I used to think "Man this guy is harsh!" But after seeing it over and over, your words are perfect!

 

[NWMOBrewer]

I might have seen it more than 5. It should be put on the sign-up form so he will quit pasting it so much, lol

 

[Xalwine]

i might have seen it more than 5. It should be put on the sign-up form so he will quit pasting it so much, lol

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