Zero Carbonation

[chaindriven]

So, I had no clue where to put this in this forum.. So I just put it here... I finished my clone of heady topper on Jan 6 and it's been sitting for the last 24 days and I have tried three beers since I brewed it and I am still getting the same results.. Zero carbonation. It's just flat beer. It's good flat beer but flat none the less... What did I do wrong...? My OG and FG were spot on, I mixed my priming sugar as the recipe calls for.. And bottled it right from the bottling bucket and called it immediately... What happened?? Is there any way to save 50 bottle of delcious flat beer from where I am at now....? The only thing that I can think that happened is as soon as I bottled it I left in downstairs in my basement where it is 55-59 degrees... I left it there for under a week and brought it upstairs in fear for having it been in the cold for too long.

 

[mfgann]

The yeast needs warmer temps to eat the priming sugar. If you stored it that cold the yeast were either sluggish or dormant. If you'll move it to a room that is around 70 for a week, and maybe tip all the bottles upside down as you move them to get the yeast floating again I bet you'll see some carbonation. After 2-3 weeks at 70 you can store it cold if you like.

 

[chaindriven]

Ya that's what I was afraid of.. I won't see those temps till spring time.. My house stays right under that. Would it hurt the beer if I put it in the room that my wood stove is in for a couple weeks..? That get around 74-76 consistently..?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

You should still have some carbonation, even at those low temperatures. It will just take longer to carbonate (depending on the yeast). It could be that your capper is not sealing properly. Try uncapping a bottle, put in some sugar (about 5g for a 750mL bottle), cap it, then put it in a sealed plastic bag (zip lock bags are good) with most of the air squeezed out. Check it in a few days. If the bag swells, your lids aren't sealing properly.

MAKE SURE that this bottle is put somewhere that it won't do damage if it explodes. If there is still sugar in the beer, then you add 5g, you could make a bottle bomb.

Also, does the flat beer taste sweet? If so, it would indicate that the yeast aren't performing.

 

[chaindriven]

I wouldn't say sweet, the beer has an almost thicker than normal taste to it... But then again this is my first go around with the heady clone.. So I'm not sure what it's supposed to taste like.. Alls I know is that it smells amazing and tastes good but flat....

 

[Yooper]

Ya that's what I was afraid of.. I won't see those temps till spring time.. My house stays right under that. Would it hurt the beer if I put it in the room that my wood stove is in for a couple weeks..? That get around 74-76 consistently..?

Yes, that would be fine. Once it's carbed up, it can then be stored cold or cool.