Need expert advice: Outstanding (bottled) Imperial Stout didn't carbonate

[pavyaz19]

Hey guys,

I’ve brewed 40+ batches over the years and have never run into this. Instead of experimenting, I’d rather leave it in the hands of you experts!

My bottled beer isn’t carbonated. I want to figure out why… and I want to figure out if I can safely add carbonation now.

Here’s the situation:

THE STORY:
Last summer, I brewed my first beer away from my house. It was at my family’s cherished cottage in the heart of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula during our annual family vacation. I would have never brewed there but the place is super special to my family - seems like a great place for a beer to be born, right? To make matters even more unique, I live in California, so even the fermentation was unusual since I sent the beer home with my brother to Ohio. (Note: my brother is a craft beer freak and turned me on to good beer almost a decade ago… but he’s not a home brewer himself.)

RECIPE:
We brewed an Imperial Stout. Super small batch - only two gallons.

BREW DAY (7/13/2016):
Totally fine / normal. No hiccups. Cooled the wort. Pitched the yeast.
OG:1.121

PRIMARY:
It started picking up speed within a couple days then (I was told) really took off during my brother’s 7 hour drive back south to Ohio.

SECONDARY:
There was no secondary… I flew back to California and my brother put the beer in his basement. He was supposed to transfer it to the secondary with my help over FaceTime but life got in the way and it didn’t happen.

BOTTLING:
When I was in Ohio for Christmas, I bottled the beer myself on 12/27/2016. So, it was in the primary for 5 1/2 months then straight to bottle. Of course I tasted it… and it was delicious!
FG: 1.026 (~12.7% Alcohol)

I never do bottle drops, but for the sake of simplicity, that’s how I did these. I filled a few 12oz bottles with one drop each and the rest were in 22oz bottles with two drops each.

CONDITIONING / AGING:
The bottles sat in my parents (Ohio) basement from then on. Being Ohio, I’ll guess the basement stayed in the 60s the entire time.

FIRST TASTE:
A couple weeks ago (5/13/2017) I flew to Dark Lord Day at Three Floyds and met family there for the BEST FESTIVAL ON PLANET EARTH. My brother brought two bottles of our beer… a 12oz and a 22oz. On hallowed ground at Three Floyds, we had our first taste of our 10 month old beer. It was absolutely delicious… but no carbonation whatsoever.

WHAT NOW?:
It’s so good, we’ll certainly drink the rest but only me, my wife, and my brother are used to drinking cask beers. I’d like the rest of the family to be excited about this beer too and make brewing it an annual tradition. But without carbonation, people aren’t going to understand it.

MY PLAN (until you tell me otherwise):
Since I added the bottle drops, I know there’s residual sugar in there. I’m assuming the remaining yeast is the problem. Either the yeast was too old (is that possible?) or it had died / become inactive with the high alcohol content, or it never activated because the Ohio basement was in the 60s.

I was thinking of opening each bottle, and adding more yeast. Possibly just dry yeast. Then capping the bottles and letting them sit for a few more weeks. I can’t imagine sugar is the problem and I certainly don’t want to risk over carbonating these by adding more sugar.

Thoughts? (Thanks so much in advance, all you beer saints!)

 

[madscientist451]

Its a 2 gallon batch, the equivalent of 20 12oz beers? And it tastes good now? Even with no carbonation? I'd accept the results and move on. Pull out a bomber at the end of the night and give everyone a 3-5 oz taste, the carbonation won't be that big of a deal.
Sure, you could uncap each bottle, add yeast and sugar re-cap and hope for the best, but there's also a chance you will introduce an infection.
If you insist on trying something with the existing bottles, only do half of them, then you won't be ruining the whole batch.
If you go back East every summer and Christmas, I'd buy a cheap pot to go with what you already have, a 5 gallon plastic carboy, and brew up 4 gallon high ABV batches every summer. Bottle at Christmas, but add yeast along with the sugar. I've never used the drops, but they didn't work last time for you, so I'd skip them.
When I started brewing I used a clear plastic water dispenser like you put in the fridge with a small tap. Walmart has these for about $7.
Its a super cheap bottling bucket or just buy a real one, they aren't that much.
Have your brother save 22 oz bombers and it will go faster.
It sounds like a nice family tradition, you'll figure a way that works for you.
If money is no object, get a corny keg and rack the still fermenting beer into it. Williams brewing sells a floating pickup tube so you won't
pick yeast up off the bottom. Get a small Co2 cartridge rig to seal up the keg and the remaining fermentation will carbonate the keg.
You can add a spunding valve for about $30 and it won't over carbonate.
When you show up at Christmas is should be ready to go!

 

[pavyaz19]

Thanks so much, MadScientist!

It all makes perfect sense. I won't mess with the uncarb'd beer. Not worth the risk. Agreed.

The stand alone keg system will eliminate the headache and worry. I'm definitely doing that. Thanks for opening my eyes to it!

It appears the Williams floating pickup tube is no longer available. Bummer. Sounded very cool.

Again, MANY thanks!