Long cold crash - no carbonation

[nicadrick]

How long is too long to cold crash if you bottle condition? I've had many successful batches, 3 in a row now have been nearly flat after bottle conditioning. The only thing I can figure is that my CC was just too long.

These particular brews were done between Thanksgiving and Christmas while I was quite busy. Typically, I'd CC for 3-4 days and then prime, bottle and cap. These ran 8-9 days before bottling.

Could I have dropped that much yeast out? It is a bit cooler in the house these days 63-65F. Beers are primed for 2.2-2.4 volumes, same as I always have done, but nearly no carb. after an even longer conditioning period of 5 weeks.

Does corn sugar go bad? No clumping, no signs of moisture.

Ideas welcomed. Thanks!

 

[Skyforger]

Corn sugar can't go bad, it's just sugar. How fast yeast crashes out depends on the yeast; British strains crash out very quickly, Belgians quite slowly, for instance. I doubt it's the problem, though, for just a few days. I've bottle conditioned successfully after keeping a beer at sub-freezing temps for a month.

The lower ambient temp during bottle conditioning could be a problem (I'm assuming you're conditioning at your stated room temp). Try figuring out a way to raise the temp of the bottles to more like 75*F. If that's not possible, pitch in a bit of a vigorous dry yeast before bottling, such as Safale US-04.

Bottle conditioning can also just be mysterious sometimes. I've had several beers that didn't attenuate fully; I primed and bottled them, and they carbonated nicely. Then, about two months after bottling, they suddenly became far too carbonated. Yeast can be strange sometimes. Have you been using the same strain for the past 3 batches?

 

[VegasBrew]

Take your bottles and turn them upside down a few times and put them in a warm part of the house, like 75 f and give em some more time. That will move
The yeast around some and the warmth should get em active again.

VB

 

[flabyboy]

Take your bottles and turn them upside down a few times and put them in a warm part of the house, like 75 f and give em some more time. That will move
The yeast around some and the warmth should get em active again.

VB

+1. I agree with this post. You definately need to put those bottles in a warm place for a while. I tried conditioning some bottles at 64 degrees once. After 2 weeks they were completely flat. I ended up agitating them a bit and moving them to a room that gets warm (south side of the house) and they were fully carbed the next week