Time to bottle carb a big beer?

[jsun]

I have a Dogfish Head 90 Minute clone (1.092 OG, 1.025 FG, 8.8% ABV) that spent 1 week in primary and 2 weeks in secondary. I primed with 1 oz corn sugar per gallon. After 3 weeks in the bottle at ~73F followed by 3 days in the fridge, it doesn't seem to have carbed at all.

I know bigger beers can take much longer to carb, so I'm hoping some of the more experienced brewers could give me a ballpark estimate of when it might be carbed. I think it tastes great, so I don't want to open any more bottles before they're ready!

 

[frazier]

Not carbed at all? Not even a little "pfft"?

8.8% ABV is high, but not excessively so. The yeast (what yeast, BTW?) should be able to handle it, if slowly. Give them another 3 weeks (at least!) before sticking another one in the fridge. The general rule is, anything bigger takes longer.

Cheers,

 

[jsun]

Thanks. There was no hiss from the bottle I opened last night. I had another bottle a week earlier (I knew it wouldn't be ready, but friends wanted to try it). That one did hiss, but it was only in the fridge for a few hours, so maybe there less time for CO2 to dissolve into the beer?

There is a LITTLE carbonation, but I can't really tell how much is residual from the fermentation. No head on the pour, though.

I used Wyeast 1099, following the BYO recipe.

 

[GluStick]

I am having this same issue with a dogfish head midas touch clone. I had it in primary for 2 weeks, transferred to secondary and stayed for another 2 weeks. Bottle conditioned with 3/4 of a cup of corn sugar. Stayed in bottles for 2 more weeks. Little to no carbonation so far. I used White labs American Ale yeast. Not enough corn sugar?

It tastes great, but the lack of carbonation is frustrating. Ill wait another couple weeks to see if it carbs up.

 

[peterj]

Thanks. There was no hiss from the bottle I opened last night. I had another bottle a week earlier (I knew it wouldn't be ready, but friends wanted to try it). That one did hiss, but it was only in the fridge for a few hours, so maybe there less time for CO2 to dissolve into the beer?

There is a LITTLE carbonation, but I can't really tell how much is residual from the fermentation. No head on the pour, though.

I used Wyeast 1099, following the BYO recipe.

CO2 doesn't need time to dissolve in the bottle. It's always in there. It was probably just warmer so there was slightly more pressure in the bottle and it was easier for the CO2 to come out of solution.

I was just in the same situation with a 9.2% DIPA. After 3 weeks, nothing. I just inverted and swirled the yeast around every couple of days and tried to keep them a little warmer. Not sure if it was the heat or the swirling or both, but a week or two later they were carbed up perfectly.

 

[monstervictor]

This is just a guess, but when I bottled my first homebrew, I had troubles placing the caps on the bottles. I had heiniken bottles and the cheapest bottle capper i found. As a result, I ended up with bottles slightly open and without gas after 2 weeks (while others were ok).

It might not be your case but I didnt see anyone bringing this up.


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[peterj]

I am having this same issue with a dogfish head midas touch clone. I had it in primary for 2 weeks, transferred to secondary and stayed for another 2 weeks. Bottle conditioned with 3/4 of a cup of corn sugar. Stayed in bottles for 2 more weeks. Little to no carbonation so far. I used White labs American Ale yeast. Not enough corn sugar?

It tastes great, but the lack of carbonation is frustrating. Ill wait another couple weeks to see if it carbs up.

2 weeks is not long enough. Just wait longer. If anything I would say 3/4 cups is on the high side for priming.

 

[GluStick]

Thanks for the advice Peterj. It has been 3 weeks now, i plan to wait another 2 weeks.

GASP! I have been hearing that 3/4 of a cup of corn sugar was perfect for bottle conditioning.

Still a noob. Midas touch was my third batch after a stout and a blueberry wheat.

 

[peterj]

Thanks for the advice Peterj. It has been 3 weeks now, i plan to wait another 2 weeks.

GASP! I have been hearing that 3/4 of a cup of corn sugar was perfect for bottle conditioning.

Still a noob. Midas touch was my third batch after a stout and a blueberry wheat.

I'm sure 3/4 cups will be fine. It doesn't have to be completely exact. It all depends on how much beer you actually ended up with and the highest temperature the beer was at during fermentation. I would use a priming sugar calculator and weigh your sugar out with a scale.

 

[GluStick]

Great, thanks. Ill keep that in mind when i bottle my next brew.

 

[JimRausch]

Another possibility might be incomplete mixing of priming solution. A cautionary tale: I did a very tasty Ryecentennial PA, and at bottling time I filtered the siphon through a BIAB bag because I wanted to filter out the dryhop particles and read somewhere on the forum that this would work. I usually get a good swirl while siphoning which mixes the priming solution in well and I've always had even carbonation. Not this time apparently. I had two bottles that blew out their bottoms, multiple poorly carbonated bottles and so far only a few perfect ones. I should have stirred. Oh well- learned something new.

 

[jsun]

5 weeks in the bottle and still minimal carbonation. Starting to worry the priming solution didn't get mixed well enough. I filled some bombers before filling 12 oz bottles, but I've only tasted the 12 oz bottles so far. Might try a bomber soon to see if the priming solution might have been more concentrated in the bottom of the bottling bucket.

 

[tadkays]

I have had luck leaving the bottles by my water heater. A formerly flat barleywine is now nicely carbonated.

 

[KepowOb]

5 weeks in the bottle and still minimal carbonation. Starting to worry the priming solution didn't get mixed well enough. I filled some bombers before filling 12 oz bottles, but I've only tasted the 12 oz bottles so far. Might try a bomber soon to see if the priming solution might have been more concentrated in the bottom of the bottling bucket.

If they are lightly carbed now, just give them some more time, instead of opening them up and wasting them. Give them a few more weeks and then try again. If your temps are a bit low it'll slow it down as well.


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[jsun]

If they are lightly carbed now, just give them some more time, instead of opening them up and wasting them. Give them a few more weeks and then try again. If your temps are a bit low it'll slow it down as well.


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Bottles have been sitting at 72-75. I'm going to rouse them though. Could underpitching and/or racking to secondary have resulted in fewer yeast cells at bottling?

I get what you're saying about not wasting them, but at the same time, I don't wanna be stuck with too much over-the-hill IIPA 2-3 months after bottling, heh...

 

[tadkays]

My understanding is that unless you do some serious filtering/crashing, there will always be yeast in suspension to eat the newly added sugar. However, some yeast cannot survive beyond a certain ABV, therefore you can in the future use some high gravity tolerant yeast with bottling sugar. I have used some CBC-1 with success with an 11% scotch ale. Your best bet IMO is to shake, warm, then fridge cool and test them. I hope your IIPA works out!