Yeast settles early in bottle

[StophJS]

Hey all. My question is about carbonation. My IIPA has been bottled now for about a week. I noticed that there was substantial yeast on the bottom of the bottle within just a couple days. I drank one of the beers yesterday and it definitely does have significant carbonation, but it poured with no head. Problem is, it seemed to be at about the same level of carbonation just 3 days or so after bottling. I'm wondering if maybe carbonation has pretty much stopped now given that the yeast seems to have settled out.

 

[Just1pepsi]

well, there may be yeast in suspension you cannot see with the naked eye.
Also, did you refrigerate your sample? Refrigeration will help the CO2 force itself back into the liquid, giving better carbonation.
I usually test one at 1 week, one at 2 weeks and one at 3 weeks. The biggest difference I see is between weeks 2 and 3 for an average gravity beer.

How did you carb?

 

[StophJS]

well, there may be yeast in suspension you cannot see with the naked eye.
Also, did you refrigerate your sample? Refrigeration will help the CO2 force itself back into the liquid, giving better carbonation.
I usually test one at 1 week, one at 2 weeks and one at 3 weeks. The biggest difference I see is between weeks 2 and 3 for an average gravity beer.

How did you carb?

Yeah I definitely cooled the samples just for the sake of having cold beer. I actually threw em in the freezer for an hour or so as opposed to refrigerating which I would think makes some difference in co2 activity. I prepped for carbonation by mixing in two cups of water with 5 oz of dissolved sugar into my 5 gallon batch on bottling day.

 

[AmandaK]

This is a pretty great paint drawing of what I want to say. (Less time meaning less time for proper carbonation. Credit to Llama for this one.)

Wait longer for it to carb/condition.

 

[Jakemo]

+1. Any less than 3 weeks for bottle condition, regardless of style, will yield unsatisfactory results.

 

[frazier]

When I started out brewing, I too got frustrated by the low level of carbonation after a week. So, I started upping the amount of priming sugar to compensate. As a result, I had good carbonation after a week. Of course, by the third or fourth week, it was way overcarbed.

Patience. Trust the recipe. Sample early if you want (I always do), but give it time to finish the job.

 

[Revvy]

There's nothing wrong. And the fact that there's sediment on the bottom has little or nor bearing on how well the beer will be carbed in time..

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.


Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

 

[StophJS]

Thanks all, and thanks for the link Revvy. I knew it was early but I just couldn't really find anything that stated when the yeast cake on the bottom was supposed to show up.

 

[BesteBrew]

I have noticed sediment within a day or two and still had no carbonation whatsoever. Might be some trub you sucked up during your bottling process also.