Oatmeal Stout, no carbs after 2 weeks in bottle

Hi guys,

I’m here for advice again , so I will try to provide as much info as possible. 4 weeks ago I brew an Oatmeal Stout. Everything went fine other than my mash temp that was a bit high (160 instead of 150).

See the Recipe /ingredient here:
Toast:
Spred out evenly on a baking sheet and toast in a 300 (149 C) oven, giving the sheet a shake every few minutes : 8 oz.(227g) flaked oats.
Steep
Pour the oats into a brew pot and steep them in 1 gallon (3.8L) of 150 (65.5) water for 20 minutes along with: 8 oz 55L British crystal malt,8 oz British chocolate malt, 4 oz rice hulls 3 oz roasted barley.
Strain and Sparge
Strain the grain water into your brew pot. Sparge the grains with 1/2 gallon (1.9L) water at 150 (65.5). Add water to the brew pot for 1.5 gallon (5.7L) total volume. Bring the water to a boil, remove the pot from the stove, and add: 5.75 lb (2.6 kg) Muntons light DME, 2 oz (57g) East Kent Goldings 4.25%AA (8.5HBU) (bittering hop)

I had a temperature of 22-23 and fermentation started after only 3 hours. After 15 hours it was crazy! I had about 3.5 of head. But after 24 hours nothing more and I stayed that way for 2 weeks. (After 1 week I rack the beer in my secondary). Because of the high temperature, my stout have an aftertaste of bananas.. which is not that great.

What I found weird is the day of the bottling; there was not really a yeast cake in my secondary (just a bit of yeast in the bottom). I prime the beer with 300ml Munton wheat DME in 2 cups of water.

I tried a beer after a week in the bottle (still green) and there was just a very little Co2 which is normal. Now after 2 weeks it didn’t improve. My bottles are kept at around 16-17 degree.

Can my super strong fermentation at high temperature had an impact on this? How can I make my beer have more Co2. It's far from the best batch I did, still drinkable but would be way better with the little bubbles.

Thanks for your help and making me a better brewer!

You didn't say what yeast you used...I'm guessing those temps weren't high enough to kill it. What size was the actual batch...did you top up with water? What was approximate original gravity?

I'm asking this because it seems possible this was a high gravity beer. These can ale a long time to carb up. 3 weeks is minimum, but for a high grav it can be a lot longer. Plus side is the long conditioning may help some of the off flavors you got from the out of control high temp fermentation.

Make a swamp chiller and brew another batch while you wait for these to mature....

Keep at it, will only get better....

Unless you didn't use enough priming sugar, and technically if you didn't use any, it will carb up on its own time. 3 weeks is typically a minimum to let them carb up, but they can certainly take much longer. Not what we always like to hear, but it's the truth. Give it another week, maybe warm them up a bit and try again, then give them two weeks, etc. And as eric said, you could always brew again!

I think you need to warm them up - that's like 60-62* F, right? If you can get them back up to 21-22*C they should carb better.

eric19312 said:

You didn't say what yeast you used...I'm guessing those temps weren't high enough to kill it. What size was the actual batch...did you top up with water? What was approximate original gravity?....

Click to expand...

YEAST STRAIN: 1084 | Irish Ale™, for a 5 gal batch. My OG was 1.060 and at the boteling time 1.010.

As for the water here what was the process:

Boil
Add water until total volume in the brew pot is 2.5 gallon (9.5L). Boil for 50 minutes the add, 1 tps (5ml) Irish moss.

Cool and Pitch
Boil for 15 minutes, remove pot from the stove, and cool for 15 minutes. Strain the cooled wort into the primary fermenter and add cold water to obtain 5 1/8 gallons (19.5 L).

I guess I will simply let them sit at room temprature aroud (20) for anoter week and see it it improve.

Oh and about doing another batch... I have a Witbier that is comming along nicely in the secondary

Thanks for the info