porter carbonation problems

[The_Dutch]

hello all,
let me explain what is going on:
I brewed a milk porter on 6/11/2017 with a OG of 1.080
I bottled about 3 weeks later when the FG stayed at 1.025 for 3 days
It came out to be approximately 7.6%
Anyway i ended up with about 4.25 gallons, and i went on northern homebrew's website to determine how much priming sugar to add because i was worried about over carbonating. so it came down to adding about 3.2 oz to my batch. I did and let it sit until today. so it has been about 24 days, and there is very little carbonation to it. I need some advice on what i should do. I dont want to waste the batch, I just dont know if it should sit a little while longer. Any advice would help. THanks guys

 

[flars]

Is your bottle conditioning temperature too low? 70°F to 75°F is about optimum temperature. Beers over 6% can also take longer to carbonate than lower ABV beers.

 

[Smellyglove]

What kind of yeast? If it's 007 then you have to turn those bottles upside down to get the yeast in suspension.

 

[The_Dutch]

i used a safale S-04 ale yeast, and the temperature is at a constant 75+ degrees. Would turning the bottles and agitating the yeast really help??

 

[Smellyglove]

i used a safale S-04 ale yeast, and the temperature is at a constant 75+ degrees. Would turning the bottles and agitating the yeast really help??

That's often the case with 007 at least. Haven't heard of it with 04. Are you sure your caps doesn't leak? Cheap capper, cheap caps? See if you can pop one off with your hands. It should't be loose either.

How much priming sugar pr "fluid unit" (whatever you americans call it) ?... If the bottles aren't entirely dead you might have undercarbed if the calculator took account for temperature at bottling/fermentation temperature, and you used a secondary bucket to blend the carbonation sugar in.

 

[The_Dutch]

That's often the case with 007 at least. Haven't heard of it with 04. Are you sure your caps doesn't leak? Cheap capper, cheap caps? See if you can pop one off with your hands. It should't be loose either.

How much priming sugar pr "fluid unit" (whatever you americans call it) ?... If the bottles aren't entirely dead you might have undercarbed if the calculator took account for temperature at bottling/fermentation temperature, and you used a secondary bucket to blend the carbonation sugar in.

That's often the case with 007 at least. Haven't heard of it with 04. Are you sure your caps doesn't leak? Cheap capper, cheap caps? See if you can pop one off with your hands. It should't be loose either.

How much priming sugar pr "fluid unit" (whatever you americans call it) ?... If the bottles aren't entirely dead you might have undercarbed if the calculator took account for temperature at bottling/fermentation temperature, and you used a secondary bucket to blend the carbonation sugar in.




I have tested the caps and when i pop them off with a bottle opener there is a good pop and when i pour it just isnt the right amount of carbonation i was expecting.
The calculator said with my input 4.25 gallons at 78 degrees F. to add 3 oz or so of priming sugar to get the desired carbonation for a porter. I weighed and added the proper amount

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Looks like you carbed around 2.1-2.2 volumes. With lower carb rates I sometimes find it takes a little while for the carbonation to become evident. The combination of higher alcohol and lower carb may take a little longer. Try rolling the bottles every few days for another week or two and then see what you've got.

 

[Smellyglove]

That's often the case with 007 at least. Haven't heard of it with 04. Are you sure your caps doesn't leak? Cheap capper, cheap caps? See if you can pop one off with your hands. It should't be loose either.

How much priming sugar pr "fluid unit" (whatever you americans call it) ?... If the bottles aren't entirely dead you might have undercarbed if the calculator took account for temperature at bottling/fermentation temperature, and you used a secondary bucket to blend the carbonation sugar in.




I have tested the caps and when i pop them off with a bottle opener there is a good pop and when i pour it just isnt the right amount of carbonation i was expecting.
The calculator said with my input 4.25 gallons at 78 degrees F. to add 3 oz or so of priming sugar to get the desired carbonation for a porter. I weighed and added the proper amount

It sounds about right. But depending on your procedure for filling bottles, some carbonation can have been lost there, so you wouldn't end up with that amount of carbonation into the bottles.

I guess you're used to stouts, since you brewed it, but they should be kind of dull on the carbonation.

If you rack your beer into a secondary fermentor, and add the sugars there, then into bottles, that's probably where you lost some carbonation, depending on technique used.

Does it taste directly sweet? like sugary-sweet? If so, then your yeast doesn't perform and you need to pop the caps and add fresh yeast, maybe with some amount of sugar. It might be that the yeast was old and/or poorly stored at the lhbs.

1.080 OG is sort of in the borderlands depending on how much you pitched and how healthy the yeast was.

 

[65C]

I had one porter that took weeks to carb (and ended up finishing later batches off before I started drinking it) - but in the end it carbed fine

 

[The_Dutch]

Update on this porter issue. so tonight i poured a glass and it had a head that disappeared quickly, and a slight "fizzy" mouth feel. but i guess the question now is this: is it done? i am not to experienced with porters so i do not know how carbonated it is supposed to be. Thank you guys for all your input

 

[flars]

Update on this porter issue. so tonight i poured a glass and it had a head that disappeared quickly, and a slight "fizzy" mouth feel. but i guess the question now is this: is it done? i am not to experienced with porters so i do not know how carbonated it is supposed to be. Thank you guys for all your input

I used 3.7 ounces of corn sugar for carbonation of my last porter. This was for a volume of 19 liters. I don't like too much fizz. Fizz seems to interfere with tasting all the flavors a porter can have. Your porter may need a little more time for the head to stay or the glass may have had some soap residue. Soap or oils will make the head on a pour dissipate rapidly. Give one of your glasses a good scrubbing with salt. Salt crystals cut through any residues. Rinse well and pour another one.

The head on a beer can also disappear faster from a bottle that hadn't been chilled long enough to force the CO2 into solution. I try to chill the first couple of bottles for three days before pouring.