No carbonation after bottling

[13monsters]

I'm new to homebrewing and think I made a mistake bottling a batch of black IPA. After two and a half weeks, the beers have very little carbonation.

When mixing in the bottling sugar before filling and capping the bottles, I remember I simply dumped the sugar in instead of dissolving it in water first. Whoops, stupid oversight on my part.

I'd like to save this batch of beer. Are there any methods to carbonate a batch of beer when the first attempt at carbonation failed?

 

[eadavis80]

I've never bottled without boiling the priming sugar. You said after 2.5 weeks they have "very little carbonation." But, when you open a bottle, if there is a slight noise and you see even the slightest stream of bubbles from the bottom, in my experience, they'll get there eventually. My suggestion is to let them all sit 2 weeks and try again. The pale ale I'm drinking now, for whatever reason, took a long time to carb, but it's good now.

 

[kh54s10]

Dissolving in water is just for better mixing, and usually in boiling water to sterilize the solution. At what temperature have the bottles been conditioning? About 70 degrees is best. If cooler it will take longer. 3 weeks or so is common. I have had some that were fully carbonated at about 2 weeks but all of mine have tasted better at 3 weeks or longer.

 

[13monsters]

Thanks for your replies. I keep my thermostat at 78 degrees to keep electric bills down during the central Texas summer, and I don't think I've heard slight hiss noise when I open a bottle. I'm going to wait until Friday to crack another bottle open.

The batch of pale ale I made before this one had carbonation after a couple of weeks with my home's thermostat at 76-78 degrees, but I dissolved the bottling sugar in water first before adding it to that batch. If this black IPA needs a longer time to carbonate, I don't mind waiting. But if I don't hear a hiss when opening another bottle, should I think about adding more bottling sugar (then hope the bottles don't explode)?

 

[chuckthebutcher]

It probably didn't get mixed evenly. Which means that some bottles got little or not any at all and some bottles got a lot. That sugar had to go somewhere. If that is the case you run the risk of bottle bombs. I would open some up from different stages from different stages of the bottling to see if some bottles are more carbonated than the others