Slow bottle carbing stout

[bbriscoe]

I did a Dragon's Milk stout clone - bottled in late February. 6-7 weeks later it still isn't fully carbed. There is basically no head when poured though there is some carb in the beer at this point.

My question is - I bought and milled the grains several weeks before we got around to brewing the batch. Does crushing a long time before boiling cause issues with bottle carbing?

 

[RM-MN]

if you hear a pssft when you pot the cap off the bottle you have carbonation. The lack of heading may be detergent residue in the glass you pour it into although I have had a couple stouts that just refused to make head.

Try hand washing your glass, maybe even use a salt scrub, then rinse well.

 

[myndflyte]

Some more info might also help. Like what was the OG and FG? How did you prime (bottle vs batch) and how much sugar did you use? What temp are you storing the bottles at?

 

[bbriscoe]

if you hear a pssft when you pot the cap off the bottle you have carbonation. The lack of heading may be detergent residue in the glass you pour it into although I have had a couple stouts that just refused to make head.

Try hand washing your glass, maybe even use a salt scrub, then rinse well.

nah, I get plenty of head in the same glassware from every other batch and from store-bought beers. One of my batches is even way overcarbed -another imperial stout. I have to pour immediately into a liter stein then wait for it to settle down and pour into a pint to drink. That one was bottled in OK then I moved to Denver - big altitude change - not sure if that affects it.

 

[bbriscoe]

Some more info might also help. Like what was the OG and FG? How did you prime (bottle vs batch) and how much sugar did you use? What temp are you storing the bottles at?

1.09 OG and 1.022 FG. 5 oz priming sugar in the 5 gal batch at bottling, same as every batch I do. Bottles were at basement temps (probably 60) for the first couple weeks then I moved them to pantry near 70 for the past 4-5 weeks.

The other variable is this is a bourbon aged beer. I soaked 3 oz of oak chips in quite a bit of Beam for a couple weeks then added the entire mixture to the carboy for another week+ before bottling.

But to my original question - does the freshness of the grain crush affect carbination, or affect other important factors? I'm wanting to order grains from OK tomorrow for my inlaws to bring up for Easter (for a Prairie Bomb clone). I'm not sure how soon I can brew them, so should I have them crushed or uncrushed and hope I can find a local place to get them crushed?

 

[brownni5]

Freshness of grains really shouldn't have anything to do with carbonation. Carbonation is a result of residual yeast, new sugar, confined space, and time. Head retention shouldn't be affected either, but more factors come into play - grains used, mash temp/regime, etc. Can't think of how anythoan like that should kill the head on an RIS though.

You brewed a pretty big beer and kept the bottles cool for a while before getting them warmer. My guess is they probably need more time. In the future, for bigger beers if you want quicker carbonation, add some fresh neutral yeast. And look into bottle carb calculators - just adding 5oz at each bottling time may eventually come back to bite you.

Edit: you also said you added "quite a bit" of Bourbon. Could you have added enough to raise the alcohol level past the tolerance of the yeast you fermented with? You were already up around 9% ABV, and some strains crap out around there or 10% - what yeast did you use?

 

[bbriscoe]

What will the freshness of the crush do ? Does it even matter?

 

[brownni5]

What will the freshness of the crush do ? Does it even matter?

It *could* affect the malt flavor. It may not even matter. Only one way to find out...