sloooooooooooowwwwwww bottle carbonating?

[Teufelhunde]

Ok, so here's the deal. The below picture is a bottle from a batch that was bottled 14 days ago. At six days in the bottle, I accidently grabbed one and put it in the fridge with my daily allotment When I saw that it was not what I thought it was I said, what the heck, it's been six days, I'll go ahead and try it. It was totally flat.

So, at 14 days, it appears I have a small foam cap on it. I cracked one today and there was a pressure release when the seal was broken, but not as much as I would expect, so it appears that I just have a slow carbonation happening. My question is, has anyone else ever had it take this long? What might have caused it? I normally bottle at 3-4 weeks in primary, but life got in the way on this one and it sat in primary for 6.5 weeks. Could the yeast have started to die off, so that when presented with more sugar it took them a while to build their numbers back up?

Thanks for any input or suggestions.

Lon

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

The picture looks to me like the beer is infected. I would expect to continue the slow carbonation until the bottles explode. Drink now if they taste good.

 

[rburrelli]

How are you figuring your priming sugar amounts?

And I agree that it does look like an infection. I have never had a “cap” like that form in my bottles.

 

[Teufelhunde]

The picture looks to me like the beer is infected. I would expect to continue the slow carbonation until the bottles explode. Drink now if they taste good.

I have one in the fridge, figured I would try it this evening to see how it tastes.

 

[Teufelhunde]

How are you figuring your priming sugar amounts?

And I agree that it does look like an infection. I have never had a “cap” like that form in my bottles.

I use brewer's friend calculator...always comes out right around 4 oz table sugar per 5 gallons....

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I have one in the fridge, figured I would try it this evening to see how it tastes.

Normally, when I have primed a beer there isn’t that white ring you have in your picture. I’m sure that different yeast act differently though. If it’s drinkable then have at it.

 

[Teufelhunde]

Well, I've got the chilled one in a glass right now. It is barely carbonated, but really, doesn't taste bad. It's not great, but then again, this was my first ever from scratch recipe, so just being drinkable is a plus .

I think I'll leave it as is and keep an eye on it, likely crack one every 3-4 days and see how/if it changes.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

What temperature are the bottles being stored at?

 

[Teufelhunde]

What temperature are the bottles being stored at?

Room temp 77 days 74 nights

 

[IslandLizard]

Well, I've got the chilled one in a glass right now. It is barely carbonated, but really, doesn't taste bad. It's not great, but then again, this was my first ever from scratch recipe, so just being drinkable is a plus .

I think I'll leave it as is and keep an eye on it, likely crack one every 3-4 days and see how/if it changes.

Do you have any "cap" on that one too?
It surely looks like a pellicle, likely from a "wild yeast" infection that slipped into your brew at some point. Or from dirty equipment or bottles.

As was pointed out those "bugs" keep gobbling at whatever was left by your regular yeast, and produce CO2 (and souring and other off-flavors) while doing that, causing over-carbonation. Some wild yeasts produce good beer, but accidental ones usually do not. Keep checking them.

 

[Velnerj]

In my experience 14 days is the MINIMUM amount of time it takes for bottles to carbonate. It is usually 3-4 weeks that I find most of them have hit the right amount. Infection aside...

 

[Teufelhunde]

Do you have any "cap" on that one too?
It surely looks like a pellicle, likely from a "wild yeast" infection that slipped into your brew at some point. Or from dirty equipment or bottles.

As was pointed out those "bugs" keep gobbling at whatever was left by your regular yeast, and produce CO2 (and souring and other off-flavors) while doing that, causing over-carbonation. Some wild yeasts produce good beer, but accidental ones usually do not. Keep checking them.

Yep, all of them have a slight foam cap on them...

 

[Teufelhunde]

In my experience 14 days is the MINIMUM amount of time it takes for bottles to carbonate. It is usually 3-4 weeks that I find most of them have hit the right amount. Infection aside...

The one I drank last night was actually pretty good, though not carbonated enough. Most of my beers seem to be fully carbonated in a week, but definately improve in taste at about the 3 week in the bottle point.

 

[Teufelhunde]

Decide to dredge this up and update it. Yesterday, I decided to chill a couple of these, and did the same today. They are now fully carbonated, still have the floaters. The taste is not too bad. This was my first attempt at an original recipe, so not really sure what I should have been expecting, but it is not bad at all. No off flavors that I can detect, a bit citrusy, little bit of malt in the background, decently, but not overly bitter.

The head on this beer is an off white (touch of amber), but the floaters are white/white, so easy to see when in the glass. They don't seem to affect taste, and I didn't wake up dead this morning, so I'm gonna guess we're OK.....

YMMV
Lon

 

[IslandLizard]

the floaters are white/white, so easy to see when in the glass

I'd say they're pieces of a pellicle, tasteless, and stick to the glass, like small flakes. Fall apart/disintegrate upon touching them.