Ughh, no carbonation

[Skins_Brew]

My IPA has been bottled for a little under 3 weeks. Tonight i cracked one open and there is very little carbonation. When i release the swingtop i get a very little pop and when i poured it and was definitely under carbed. I boiled 1/2 cup of water and added .1 oz of priming sugar to it and then added 1/2 a TBSP of the mix to one bottle and 1/4 TBSP to another just as an experiment to see what level of carbonation this would provide in about a week. Anyone have any suggestions on what i can do? There is very little sediment on the bottom of the bottles also. When i primed, i used that chart on howtobrew.com. Also, is typical priming sugar cane sugar or corn sugar? Thanks!

 

[Moonpile]

Have they been in your basement? They might just need to be warmer for the yeast to really carb them up. Maybe put them in your closet, where they'll be 68 or 70 deg.

If you open another one and find that it's well carbed or even over carbed it's possible that you didn't distribute the priming sugar well enough. If that's what happens, then next time just stir the bottling bucket gently every 6 or 10 bottles you fill.

 

[Skins_Brew]

They have been in my laundry closet where its a steady 65 degrees with the exception of about once a week (When i do laundry). When i added the priming sugar i gave it a good couple of stirs to mix it up. When i opened my two test bottles they both had similar very small "pops" when the swing top was released. Hopefully my experiment will yield some decent results. I really dont want to add more yeast to the bottles. That seems like such a hassle. I cant see it being the yeast. I had quick fermentation in the primary and the brew fermented out in under a week, so in my opinion, the yeast is there. Anyway, i am going to wait out my above stated experiment unless someone has a good suggestion.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

So how much priming sugar did you use in total? For a 5 gallon batch you should be using about 4 oz. of priming sugar.

 

[Skins_Brew]

I used about 3.5 oz of corn sugar OR 3.25 oz of cane sugar. I was not sure what kind of sugar i was using. The LHBS sold me 'priming sugar.' Next time i will ask them what type of sugar it is.

 

[Yooper]

Priming sugar is dexrose aka corn sugar. I use 4-5 ounces in 5 gallons. I didn't understand what you were saying about .1 ounce with 1/4 tsp though. That's what we're trying to figure out before we give too much advice on what could be going on. Could you explain exactly what you did with the bottling procedure?

 

[Skins_Brew]

When i bottled i boiled up about 2 cups of water and added my 3 1/2 oz of sugar. Cooled it and poured it into my bottling bucket. Transferred my beer and stirred it a few times and bottled. Tonight, after discovering the under carbonation, i boiled the 1/2 cup of water with .1 oz of priming sugar. That was a small scale experiment. If in a week, those two test bottles are carbed, i can redo that ratio of sugar and water on a larger scale for the rest of the bottles.

 

[Yooper]

Ok, what I would try to do is gently rouse the yeast in your bottles by gently turning them upside down and back a few times. Then keep them as warm as you can- near 70-72 if it's possible. In a week or two, you should be fine. It'll still be slightly undercarbed since you didn't use that much priming sugar, but they should be very drinkable.