No carbonation in 10% Imperial IPA after 2 months

[rjstew]

I brewed 9 gallons of a big 10% ABV Imperial IPA back in July, the recipe is below. I split the batch into two fermenters and ended up with 4 gallons to bottle from each fermenter. I bottled at the end of July, so it’s been carbonating for about 2 months. I was trying for 2.3 vols and used 95 grams of dextrose for each 4 gallon batch. I cold crashed the first fermenter but not the second.

Neither of the batches have any carbonation whatsoever. I even added 2 conditioning tablets to each bottle of a six pack to see if that would do anything but after two weeks, they’re still flat.

Any suggestions for getting these carbonating? I know big beers can take extremely long to carbonate, but I’d think I’d at least have a little carbonation after 2 months.

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
20 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 69.0 %
5 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 17.2 %
2 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 3 6.9 %
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 95.0 min Hop 4 6.4 IBUs
2.00 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 5 44.7 IBUs
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 9.3 IBUs
2.00 oz Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 23.6 IBUs
2 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) [Boil for 5 min](0 Extract 8 6.9 %
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [35 Yeast 12 -
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Da Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Galaxy [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days Hop 15 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Day Hop 16 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 17 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Galaxy [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 18 0.0 IBUs

 

[peterj]

Sounds like the yeast dropped out or are having a tough time with the high alcohol. You could try adding a little bit of yeast to every bottle. Except the ones you put extra sugar in. You might just have to pour those out because you added too much sugar and now they will be overcarbonated and possibly explode. You could try to monitor and vent them every once in a while I guess, but it would be very hard to get the right carbonation that way.

 

[eastoak]

are the bottles at 70 degrees and not less?

 

[Saxomophone]

I agree with peterj about adding more yeast. Anything I brew that is that big I add a half pack of rehydrated dry ale yeast at bottling. From what I understand, with a beer that big your yeast might just be too taxed from the high ABV to be much use anymore.

Sometimes I'll even take the bottles out and roll them around to try to keep the yeast in suspension to help speed up the process. Don't know if this really helps but it makes me feel like I'm doing something anyways.

 

[Calder]

I bet they will eventually carb up just fine.

You are using a highly flocculant yeast, so the amount of yeast remaining is low compared to many beers, also the high alcohol will be taxing on the yeast. However, there will be yeast in there, but it will take it a long time.

I wouldn't worry about the extra carb tabs. Bottles can take a lot more than we give them credit for. Most bottle bombs occur when the beer hasn't finished fermenting when bottled and builds up a lot of pressure.

 

[NurseJackie]

This has been my experience with big beers, bottled carbed with wlp007 - it flocks out so well that not many yeasties make it to the bottle. In the future, adding some yeast at bottling as mentioned above will solve the problem. I now add approx 2 gm of S04 (rehydrated, per 5 gallons) when I bottle a batch like this and get fine carbonation within 3 weeks at 70 degrees. For your current batch: if you can wait, your bottles will carb eventually but it could take several months.

 

[butterpants]

I had a 9% belgian take 3 months at 70F to carb. It was maddening! I also shook the hell out of the bottles at month 2 just incase rousing would help.

 

[brewski09]

I was listening to an episode on high gravity brewing a while back on the CYBI show and they recommended taking the beer up to 80 degrees or so for a couple of weeks to let it carbonate if you have issues. I would try this and hope it works. if not, you probably have to add some yeast to the bottles or pour back into a fermenter and have a mild secondary refermentation and rebottle (The refermentation limits oxidation). the other alternative is to pour the bottles out, pitch a little yeast onto the beer, and rebottle, then drink quickly once its carbed to limit oxidative effects.

The WLP007 should be the same as the Fermentis US-04 dry yeast pack from the research I've done previously on it (dry whitbread strain). I would venture a guess that the yeast just dropped out of suspension.

Good luck.

 

[jhoneycutt]

Give it more time. I brewed a hopslam clone that unfortunately took 4 months to carb up. Alot of the aroma was gone but the flavor still there

 

[rjstew]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. The bottles have been at about 72-78 degrees so temperature is definitely not an issue. I've also been shaking the bottles about once a week to get the yeast back into suspension.

There is so much dextrose in the grain bill that the beer is overly cloying without any carbonation. At this point, I'd prefer oxiginated beer over flat beer.

If it doesn't show any signs of additional carbing in the next month I'll dump all the bottles into a bucket, add some S04, rebottle and drink quickly (8 gallons of 10%? Oh man.....)

Yet another lesson learned about homebrewing! I feel like a learn something new with every beer I brew.

 

[eastoak]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. The bottles have been at about 72-78 degrees so temperature is definitely not an issue. I've also been shaking the bottles about once a week to get the yeast back into suspension.

There is so much dextrose in the grain bill that the beer is overly cloying without any carbonation. At this point, I'd prefer oxiginated beer over flat beer.

If it doesn't show any signs of additional carbing in the next month I'll dump all the bottles into a bucket, add some S04, rebottle and drink quickly (8 gallons of 10%? Oh man.....)

Yet another lesson learned about homebrewing! I feel like a learn something new with every beer I brew.

have you ever had an oxidized beer? it's horrible. dumping the beer into a bottling bucket and re bottling is a great way to turn the beer into liquid cardboard. just let the beer sit and move on to the next beer.

 

[NurseJackie]

No, no! Don't dump in a bucket - it's not necessary. Rehydrate some S04, uncap each bottle one at a time and use a sanitized eye dropper to insert a bit of the yeast solution into the bottle. Recap immediately and move on to the next bottle. The exact amount of yeast added isn't critical since all the bottles will have the same amount if sugar available and the yeast will flock out when it's finished.

 

[Bamsdealer]

Dry champagne yeast. Trust me. Costs a buck is clean and will drop crystal clear. Your bottles will be ready in a few short days.

Just sprinkle the smallest amount in each bottle... u can prob even recap using the same caps on there. Just be gentle prying them up

 

[brewski09]

have you ever had an oxidized beer? it's horrible. dumping the beer into a bottling bucket and re bottling is a great way to turn the beer into liquid cardboard. just let the beer sit and move on to the next beer.

If you drink it quickly, it should be fine. But that is also why a quick referment is mentioned, then the yeast will deoxygenate the beer as it is growing and bring the gravity back down. I've done this with about 2 gallons of beer before without issue, but not 9. I wouldn't age it though for sure.

Maybe an excuse to have a party once this beer is carbonated ???

 

[peterj]

I wouldn't worry about the extra carb tabs. Bottles can take a lot more than we give them credit for. Most bottle bombs occur when the beer hasn't finished fermenting when bottled and builds up a lot of pressure.

I would worry about this. You probably almost doubled the carbonation in these bottles and while it might not be enough to burst the bottles (hopefully) it will be enough to cause the beer to gush out when you open them and be undrinkable.

There is so much dextrose in the grain bill that the beer is overly cloying without any carbonation.

Any dextrose that was in the grainbill would have been completely fermented out. If the beer is cloying it would be for another reason. It could possibly be the unfermented priming sugar you added though.

If you drink it quickly, it should be fine. But that is also why a quick referment is mentioned, then the yeast will deoxygenate the beer as it is growing and bring the gravity back down. I've done this with about 2 gallons of beer before without issue, but not 9. I wouldn't age it though for sure.

Maybe an excuse to have a party once this beer is carbonated ???

If you don't pour them back into the bucket then there is no need to worry about getting rid of the oxygen because you won't really be adding any in the first place. Plus, would it just be refermenting the added priming sugar? It will do that anyway, in the bottle.

 

[justingreenwood]

I've only waited 2 weeks, but this beer which is about 9 1/2% ABV, is not carbonated much yet if at all. It tastes great, but I'm not sure what to do. I guess I can wait another 2 weeks and see what happens. I tried rolling them around this morning, so maybe that will help get the yeast working a little. What was the final conclusion to this story?

 

[Saxomophone]

Patience, grasshopper. Two weeks is but a drop in the ocean for a beer that high ABV.

Seriously, even if you added fresh yeast it could take a month. You probably put a lot of time and money into those bottles. Wait it out.

 

[justingreenwood]

I did - it was my first all grain beer and it took me all night to brew it. Thanks for the reassurance. The other two beers I've brewed took one week to carbonate, so I was concerned.

 

[SnakeRidge]

4+ weeks is not that long for a big big beer to carb up. It's hard to wait, but worth it. I brewed a 10% IPA back in April that took about 6 weeks to carb up right. I'm still drinking it, and it is even better after 3+ months in the bottle.

 

[jaydlaw]

What was the fg? Is it possible that you didn't pitch enough yeast to ferment. I had a similar issue. The yeast was stressed cause I didn't pitch enough. After it didn't carb, I just added it to another batch of a brew made from just 2 row and pitched enough yeast and got something pretty good.

 

[justingreenwood]

I used two viles of WLP002 yeast (I also added yeast nutrient at the end of the boil if it matters), and 1.016 was my final gravity. Based on what I've read, I just need to be patient - but I appreciate your feedback. I like the idea of adding the flat beer to another batch if it doesn't carb up. Thanks!