No carbonation after 3 weeks

[JonGardner]

This is my 5th batch. It is an extract recipe kit from More Beer (grapefruit IPA). Fermentation was weird. It bubbled lightly for four weeks, well past the time the recipe called for, and not like previous beers I have done. I added the prescribed corn sugar prior to bottling. It is now 3 weeks since bottling, and virtually no carbonation. The beer smells and tastes great, just no bubbles or head. I am planning on leaving it in storage ( a pretty consistent 72f) for a couple more weeks in the hope that it will magically carbonate. Has anyone had this happen before? If waiting doesn’t work, what are my options for saving the batch?

 

[VikeMan]

It sounds like your yeast may have been a little worn out and/or underpitched. What was the batch size and original gravity? What yeast strain and how much did you pitch? How old was the yeast and how was it stored?

Also, have you sampled bottles from both ends of the bottling run? If not, I'd do that, just to make sure there wasn't an issue with mixing the priming sugar evenly.

 

[JonGardner]

Thanks, VikeMan, for responding. This was a 5 gal. batch. The dry yeast in the recipe kit was labeled San Diego from Apex Cultures. Since it was a kit, I have no idea how fresh it might have been. I used the one packet provided. I have no way of knowing which bottles came from which end of the run, but the two bottles I have sampled were chosen at random. I am sure the priming sugar was mixed thoroughly. I have my fingers crossed that someone will give me some hope that if I just leave them for a while, they will carbonate. If not, is there anything that can be done?

 

[VikeMan]

MoreBeer doesn't seem to have a kit called "Grapefruit IPA." Would it be the Grapefruit Sculpin Clone, aka Grapefruit Ugly Fish? If so, that's a fairly high gravity beer, 1.067-1.072 per Morebeer. Oddly, MoreBeer doesn't appear to sell Apex yeast, so I wonder if they did at one point and you got an old kit. Did you get it directly from MoreBeer, and how long ago?

I would give the bottles a couple more weeks at your 72F. If nothing happens by then, you could salvge them by uncapping and adding a small amount of yeast to each bottle. Something like CBC-1 would be ideal, because it will eat the priming sugar and leave residual maltotriose alone. And it has a fairly high alcohol tolerance.

 

[hotbeer]

How cold is your beer? If it's real cold, then you might not see much evidence of carbonation if the planned Vols of CO2 aren't very high. Let it warm up some.

Crown caps on the bottles? Are you certain you are getting a good crimp on your bottles? If the side of the crown isn't almost vertical, then you might be leaking the CO2 out.

If you are using swing tops, some have had issues with the seals on the plug.

Not having a head on it is probably a indication of something else wrong and not so much related to the carbonation issue.

 

[jsphlynch]

Fermentation was weird. It bubbled lightly for four weeks, well past the time the recipe called for, and not like previous beers I have done.

Do you mean it only ever bubbled lightly? Or did it have a nice vigorous initial fermentation, then followed by 4 weeks of continuing to bubble lightly? If it was the former, I would say it's a likely yeast issue. Popping the caps, adding a little fresh yeast, and recapping would likely get you the bubbles you seek. Although I would add that if you had poor yeast health in your fermentation, they might have gotten tuckered out before finishing off all the fermentable sugars, in which case yeast added to the bottle may chew through both the added priming sugar and the residual unfermented sugars from the original wort, generating more CO2 than anticipated and leading to potential bottle bombs. This can be minimized by using a yeast that can only utilize simple sugars (like the CBC-1 mentioned above), but I'd still recommend that after you add the yeast you put them someplace that won't be harmed by being sprayed with beer if a bottle ruptures.

Do you have OG/FG measurements?

 

[JonGardner]

My poor memory - it is a kit by Brewers Best.
I do not have the OG/FG measurements handy, but the ABV was about 5.2%. The target for the kit was a bit higher.
I am using crown caps on 12 oz. bottles. About once a batch I will have an uncarbonated bottle due to a failure to seal, but I really don't think that is the case here.

 

[JonGardner]

Or did it have a nice vigorous initial fermentation, then followed by 4 weeks of continuing to bubble lightly?
This ^^

 

[JonGardner]

I had written a previous thread about the fermentation of this batch. If helpful , it is here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...fer-from-fermenter-to-bottling-bucket.727007/

 

[hotbeer]

Even if it was infection of some sort that caused it to bubble for all those weeks, you'd still get carbonation if you used the correct and proper amount of priming sugar. Which is most any sugar that is considered fermentable.

So I tend to be on the side of it leaking out of the bottles, or your beer is way too cold.

Unless you did something like heating your beer up to 140°F (60°C) before bottling and killed all the yeast.

And if you didn't leave quite a bit of headspace the beer won't make that satisfying pffft sound when you open it. Though there really isn't any need to have but a tiny bit of headspace under the cap.

 

[JonGardner]

The beer has been in a dark pantry between 72-74f for the entire 3 weeks. I bottle using a bottling wand, so the airspace is very consistent, at about an inch.

 

[JonGardner]

One thing I hadn't mentioned is that I used 1/2 tablet of Whirlfloc at 5 min. before flameout, than added Clariferm prior to adding yeast. Every beer I have brewed up to this point has used Clariferm successfully, but I have never added the Whirlfloc before. Oddly enough, the beer is pretty murky which I didn't expect with the clarifiers added. Could these additions be the culprit with the odd fermentation and lack of carbonization??

 

[VikeMan]

Could these additions be the culprit with the odd fermentation and lack of carbonization??

If so, I think you'd be the first to report it. And I can't think of a reason for them to interfere.

 

[jsphlynch]

Or did it have a nice vigorous initial fermentation, then followed by 4 weeks of continuing to bubble lightly?
This ^^

This makes me less confident in (but doesn't rule out) my poor yeast health theory. Four weeks is quite a while, but not entirely unreasonable for light bubbling, especially given the potential for some hop creep.

Just to walk you through my thought process, I break this down into the necessary components for getting carbonation:
1) Fermentables
2) Viable yeast
3) Suitable conditions for yeast
4) Time
5) Containment

Looking at each component:
1) You said added sugar at bottling, so the fermentables should be there. Any chance you used the wrong units on your scale? For example, using 5 grams when it was prescribed as 5 oz? Or that you forgot to zero out the container? Or even any chance that you meant to add the sugar, but it somehow got left out?
2) Yeast health remains an open question.
3) It's not a particularly strong beer, so there shouldn't be enough alcohol to cause yeast problems. At 72 degrees, temperatures should have been great for the yeast. Conditions all seem good.
4) The only way three weeks wouldn't be enough is if there was another problem (such as yeast health or conditions) that slowed things down.
5) Others have suggested that you didn't get a good crimp. Since you've successfully done other batches, I'm operating under the assumption that you've got the crimping process figured out. Unless you're using a different type/brand/manufacturer of caps than you've used previously.

My approach* would be to pop one or two of the bottles, add a small amount of yeast, and recap. After a couple of weeks, check both one of the re-yeasted and one of the unaltered bottles. If the re-yeasted bottle is bubbly and the unaltered bottle is not, the problem was yeast and you just need to re-yeast the rest of the batch. If both are bubbly, the problem was time and you're good to go. If neither are bubbly, the problem is sugar or containment; add sugar and yeast to bottle and check again after a couple more weeks, and if that doesn't get you bubbles then it's time to start looking at the caps/capping process.

*Not only would this be my approach, it has previously been my approach, helping me troubleshoot insufficient carbonation on--and ultimately saving--a batch of delicious dubbel.

 

[JonGardner]

*Not only would this be my approach, it has previously been my approach, helping me troubleshoot insufficient carbonation on--and ultimately saving--a batch of delicious dubbel.

A very practical approach; I appreciate it! I don't think capping is a problem. From what everyone has said, it sounds to me like a yeast issue. I'll admit, adding yeast to each bottle sounds treacherous—between letting air in, and possible bottle bombs. However, I don't know that I have many options at this point. I will check a bottle again this weekend and if there is no change, I will take the plunge. If anyone has tips about how to add the right amount of yeast consistently, I would love to hear them!

 

[Rish]

possible bottle bombs

If your problem is lack of viable yeast, adding more won't cause bottle bombs if your priming sugar is the correct amount.

to add the right amount of yeast

Sanitize and dry a plate or saucer very well. Place some of tthe same yeast you pitched in a thin layer on the plate. Wash, sanitize and dry your hands. Press the end of your index finger into the yeast so you get a good coat of yeast stuck to it then hold that over the open bottle and rub the yeast off your finger and into the beer. Should be plenty to get the job done if yeast is your problem.
Good luck!

 

[mac_1103]

If anyone has tips about how to add the right amount of yeast consistently, I would love to hear them!

Depending on how many bottles we're talking about...

Boil some water and let it cool.
Add a gram or two of yeast to 5 mL of that water per bottle
Once the yeast has had a chance to rehydrate, add 5 mL of the slurry to each bottle with a syringe and recap.

 

[jsphlynch]

If anyone has tips about how to add the right amount of yeast consistently, I would love to hear them!

When I did it, I made a yeast starter (I was brewing again anyway), then used a disposable plastic pipette to add a measured amount (I think it was 1 or 2 ml, but don't recall offhand) to each bottle.

 

[JonGardner]

If your problem is lack of viable yeast, adding more won't cause bottle bombs if your priming sugar is the correct amount.

Sanitize and dry a plate or saucer very well. Place some of tthe same yeast you pitched in a thin layer on the plate. Wash, sanitize and dry your hands. Press the end of your index finger into the yeast so you get a good coat of yeast stuck to it then hold that over the open bottle and rub the yeast off your finger and into the beer. Should be plenty to get the job done if yeast is your problem.
Good luck!

Thank you!

 

[JonGardner]

Thank you!

I gave it another week and a half and still no carbonization. I am going to try adding yeast according to your instructions tonight. My only concern stems from my thoughts about the fermentation stage. Since things seemed unusual during fermentation, and a bit weak in my limited experience, is it possible the sugars in the beer are higher than it should be? And if so, after adding primer also, if I add yeast, could I get bottle bombs then? That is, if the sugar content is higher than expected, could this cause problems once I add the new yeast? I did not get accurate gravity readings, as I think my hydrometer isn't working properly.

 

[VikeMan]

I am going to try adding yeast according to your instructions tonight. My only concern stems from my thoughts about the fermentation stage. Since things seemed unusual during fermentation, and a bit weak in my limited experience, is it possible the sugars in the beer are higher than it should be? And if so, after adding primer also, if I add yeast, could I get bottle bombs then? That is, if the sugar content is higher than expected, could this cause problems once I add the new yeast?

If you didn't get gravity readings before bottling, then yes it's possible that there are residual sugars that could be fermented when you add fresh yeast. And if there are enough of them, plus your priming sugar, yes, it's possible that you could severely overcarbonate.

I did not get accurate gravity readings, as I think my hydrometer isn't working properly.

Why do you think your hydrometer isn't working properly? Have you tried measuring the gravity of plain water? It should read 1.000. After verifying that, you could open and sacrifice one of your bottles to a gravity reading.