Little carbonation?

I brewed an imperial stout in early January. I bottled half, and left the other half in the fermenter and added oak cubes and will bottle later. I had a gift certificate to Midwest and had about $4 left, so I bought 'Munton's Kreamy' priming sugar. Honestly, I did no measuring. I used about half of the package and threw it in with the 2.5 gallons I had separated. It's been 3 weeks and tonight I cracked 2 bottles. I got no head and I see just a few bubbles floating to the top. Is this a case of I just need to give it more time?

It came out at 9.7% and I'm wondering if the yeast are just spent? It's the strongest beer I've brewed so far and I'm wondering if I should have added more yeast prior to bottling? Fortunately I still have 2.5 gallons left, so I can correct it and bottle it right the next time.

That photo was a bad example. It was taken after a 'vigorous' pour from my second bottle. This photo was taken after a normal pour from the first bottle.

The higher ABV of the beer, the longer it can take for carbonation. This one definitely qualifies. A wize man here on HBT spent many, many hours and thousands of dollars of his own money developing a high-tech diagram demonstrating this effect:



Just keep it at 70 degrees or above and give it a few more weeks before you try another one.

That is an awesome diagram!!!


I guess I'll just let them sit and try it again in a few weeks. I live in Southern California and we're moving onto spring. It's only been above 70 in my house probably twice in the last 5 months. But from now thru October, it probably won't be below 70. I figured the colder temps would slow things down. The higher ABV also isn't helping. I don't quite remember the gravity readings (they're jotted down somewhere..) but I think it was something like 1.096-1.023

Looks like another case of jus sit and wait.

If you were living in an environment that was nearly 10% alcohol you wouldn't be working that fast either.

Good point!


It's just frustrating because I'm super impatient (which makes brewing beer very difficult!) and I've nailed carbonation in every brew I've done so far.

Time to sit and wait and enjoy my session Belgian Pale Ale that came out great! And brew a new batch!

To be brutally honest... on a beer that big you're best to put it away for a few months to condition. This beer will taste great next winter.

+1 on waiting to carb, +1 on waiting to drink the beer.

Best to build a pipeline, then brew beers that need age. Easier to wait when you've got other good stuff to distract you.