Not enough Carbonation

[althea]

My ale is under carbonated...I think due to loss of some of the priming solution during batch priming. Long story...but I spilled a little before adding to the bottling bucket, then the gasket on the bottling bucket was leaking. I unfortunately added the priming sugar first then siphoned in the beer. Due to this I think I lost a good portion of my sugar. I've heard a few solutions...1)add a pinch of yeast to each bottle.....2) use a product like Cooper's tablets....3)wait longer.

It has been 3 weeks, and the carbonation doesn't seem to be moving any, though being in New England lately it has been hard to have keep the bottles in a warm environment. Probably been around 60-65 degrees since bottling.

Please help!

 

[hopsalot]

too cold, you want 75*+/- 3*, or something around there. Warmer temps accelerate carbing. Coopers tabs would be the easiest solution if the temp don't work, but warm those beers up ya heard

 

[Trenchant]

If you never got enough sugar in the bottles the CO2 level will max out much lower then you want as well. Sugar is converted into CO2 at a set ratio. Less sugar will give you less CO2. You should be pretty close to full carbonization by 3 weeks. There was a week by week video on here and 3 weeks seems to be a good rule of thumb for when they really start becoming enjoyable.

You may need to add those tablets or maybe nows the right time to start kegging? Throw it all in a keg and pressure it up!

 

[hopsalot]

try warming it up first, it is worth a shot and reduces the risk of contanimation

 

[althea]

Great News! I gave my brother a six pack to take home the night we brewed. He brought one over last night and whaddya know it was perfectly carbonated and tasted fantastic. He kept his in a spot over 70 degrees or so, so I have my answer. My only worry (other than we continue to get beat up here in New England with this cold weather so it will be hard to get my beer up to temp) is that I missed that period for carbonation. Could this be the case? or will it do what it needs to do as soon as it comes up to temp...only one way to find out I guess.

Anyway...thanks for the responses.

Salud!

 

[ifishsum]

It should work on it's own once you warm them up - the yeast is still in there and so is the sugar. You might want to roll the bottles gently to rouse the yeast back into the beer, that will help a bit too.

 

[MajorTom]

It will be fine even if you leave it as is... Those yeast are still in there and they are eating the sugar, just a little slower than normal.