Problem(?) with carbonation in bottles...

[Evan!]

I'm wondering if something is amiss. I brewed 2 batches at the same time: a basil pale ale, and a maibock. I don't have the capacity to cold-lager, so I just used lager yeasts, but at basement temp.

I bottled the pale ale about a week after brewing. 5 days later, the bottles were pretty carbonated. That was in July.

However, I let the Maibock condition in a small carboy for longer, and just bottled it last weekend. I tried it a week later (saturday), and it had almost no carbonation.

I'm curious: when bottle-conditioning/carbonating, is there a difference between lagers and ales when it comes to how long it takes to carbonate? Or does it sound like my beer has...issues? There WAS a little bit of a "pfft" sound when I popped the cap, but no carbonation at all in the glass. The still beer, however, tasted amazing.

Do I need to give it more time? Or is something wrong? Is it possible that it sat so long that all the yeast settled out, and there was not enough to carbonate in bottle? Or is that just stupid?

 

[BrewVA]

I'm no expert, but i think the difference is due to the fact that you bottled just 1 week after brewing for the pale ale. The extra carbonation may be on account of "primary fermentation" still occuring. As for the maibock, just give it another 10 days

 

[Blender]

My beer has never been carboonated enough after 5 days. It usually takes 2-3 weeks for them to be ready. I bet it will be better in a couple of weeks.

 

[david_42]

The guideline is 3 weeks for carbonation. Probably a little more in a basement. 5 days is unusually fast.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I think your problem is you need another month or so with your Maibock as it is a higher gravity beer.

 

[Evan!]

OK, thanks. I guess my Pale was the one that was out of the ordinary, not the bock. Cool. I feel much better now.