A NON-High Gravity beer that won't carbonate

Hi all!

This my first post here, but I've been a member for a couple of months. I'm very confused about a very simple batch of pale ale that WILL-NOT CARBONATE!

I did this batch back in late Feb. It isn't very high gravity stuff. Just 2 # of light DME and 3.3 # of light LME. 2 oz centennial hops, White Labs #1 ale yeast, 5.5 gal batch, 45 min. boil, yadda yadda yadda. It was the basic beginner recipe that came with my home brew kit. I primed it with 5 oz. corn sugar and bottled. Here's where I'm confused: The recipe calls for 7 days fermentation prior to bottling. Well, when one week was up, I was sick as a dog with a bacterial sinus infection. A week later, I was down with a VIRAL sinus infection. So, there's no way I was going to think about trying bottle beer even if I felt up to it, which I didn't. Long story short my ale sat in the fermenter for over 3 weeks.

Now, as a faithful reader of this site, I've learned (at least I thought I learned) that the longer your brew sits on top of the yeast cake, the better it comes out. I thought that 3 week fermentation wouldn't hurt my beer. (Indeed, the flavor is at least as good as some commercial pale ales I've had) But, the lady at the LHBS told me that 3 weeks was WAY TOO LONG that there was no yeast left to carbonate the beer. She told me that I'd need to add fresh yeast.
Fast forward through a month and a half of procrastination and the brewing of a second batch. When I finally got around to opening my bottles to add fresh yeast, they would fzzzzzzt! when I popped he tops!
Well, I'd seen threads where guys would ask "Why isn't my beer carbonating?" and the answer would be: "Be patient! Give it two more weeks, agitate the bottles every couple of days and then wait some more." Well, I thought: "Hooray! It's true! Wait long enough and it'll happen!" So, thinking my ale was finally ready, I put a six pack in the fridge and waited. When I opened the chilled bottles....they were FLATTER THAN HOT BEER IN HELL.

Any ideas on what I should do now? Why did the room temp bottles fizz and the cold ones not? Do I need to add fresh yeast? What's the best way to go about that?

Forgive my long-windedness, please.

Thanks!

PS: 2nd batch was a porter that spent 1 week in a primary and 1 week in a secondary and came out GREAT!

So please clarify... how long were they bottle carbing? three weeks in the primary is fine. The LHBS lady is wrong.

DSorenson said:

So please clarify... how long were they bottle carbing? three weeks in the primary is fine. The LHBS lady is wrong.

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Hi, thanks for writing back! They've been in the bottles for about 2 months now. It was mid-March when I finally bottled and now here we are just past mid-May. And they've been in a room that's usually 68 - 72 degrees.

When did you... or did you at all... add this carbing yeast?

Hold a bottle under water and see if bubbles come out. If your caps are letting air out they won't carb up. Are you caping pop top bottles? That's all I can think of. There's no way after three weeks your yeast dropped out.

I did not add the carbing yeast. When I was popping tops and hearing he fizzy sound I assumed the bottles had sufficiently carbed and I aborted the operation.

When I was preparing to do this yeast-adding operation, I made a sink of B-brite solution and soaked he capped bottles in it. Then I moved them to a soak of Star-San. I was afraid of infecting my bottles so I wanted to be sure they were clean and sanitary before I popped the tops. I saw no bubbles leaking from my bottle caps.

The bottles in the fridge did you open them and recap them? Or its possible you didn't stir in your priming sugar well enough so only a few got carbed. Really there's no need to add yeast for bottle conditioning unless 1 you filter it 2 its super high gravity or 3 its sat around for 6 months or more. It is very odd yes but your problem isn't with the yeast its something else

Well, 3 bottles from the fridge I'd opened an then re-capped. All the others, no. That was my first thought: I'd opened and re-capped this particular bottle and let all the CO2 out and since it was in the fridge, it couldn't re-carb. But, I also put bottle I hadn't opened in the fridge, chilled it for a day or two, then popped the top. It was also flat. Leave it to me to get the really weird, "Ya don't say?" kind of problem. I appreciate you and DSorenson trying to help though!

So, how did you mix in the priming sugar? Is it possible that it never got mixed well, and the chilled bottles got less sugar than others?

I boiled my sugar in 2 cups of water and then let it cool, covered to room temp. Then, I pour it into my sanitized bottling bucket. Then, I siphoned the beer from my carboy into the bucket. I just left the end of the siphoning tube in the bottling bucket and let the beer fill the bucket. I assumed the action of the swirling beer filling the bucket would mix the priming sugar properly. At least that's what Palmer says...

Ya that's what I do and its never been a problem.

The LHBS lady is, at best, woefully ignorant... and at worst, lying to you to sell you more yeast.

Think about it. Homebrewers regularly empty the dregs from their commercial craft beer bottles, then culture the yeast from those dregs to brew with. If yeast was dead in three weeks, how in the world could you grow enough to ferment a full batch from after months of a bottle sitting on the shelf?

3 weeks at 70 degrees is the baseline for most beers. Higher gravity or cooler temperatures can take longer. My belgian golden strong at at six weeks in bottle now, and while I get a nice "pffft" on opening, I only get a thin cap of foam when I pour, and pretty much none of the continuous bubbling from the style. The verdict? Wait another 2-4 weeks. Of course, this beer is ~8.5% ABV.

I've had a beer sit 4 weeks in primary, 4 months on secondary. No added yeast. Carbed up like a champ.

I'd advise trying a couple of bottles. Could be that you didn't get a good mix of priming sugar. I've always done like you mentioned (sugar solution in bucket, beer racked on top) and the swirling mixes it for me. Some do stir theirs, however.

homebrewdad said:

The LHBS lady is, at best, woefully ignorant... and at worst, lying to you to sell you more yeast.

Think about it. Homebrewers regularly empty the dregs from their commercial craft beer bottles, then culture the yeast from those dregs to brew with. If yeast was dead in three weeks, how in the world could you grow enough to ferment a full batch from after months of a bottle sitting on the shelf?

3 weeks at 70 degrees is the baseline for most beers. Higher gravity or cooler temperatures can take longer. My belgian golden strong at at six weeks in bottle now, and while I get a nice "pffft" on opening, I only get a thin cap of foam when I pour, and pretty much none of the continuous bubbling from the style. The verdict? Wait another 2-4 weeks. Of course, this beer is ~8.5% ABV.

I've had a beer sit 4 weeks in primary, 4 months on secondary. No added yeast. Carbed up like a champ.

I'd advise trying a couple of bottles. Could be that you didn't get a good mix of priming sugar. I've always done like you mentioned (sugar solution in bucket, beer racked on top) and the swirling mixes it for me. Some do stir theirs, however.

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I stir very carefully, works fine for

Well thanks to you all for you insight and advice. What I'm taking away here is that the yeast do whatthey want the way they want to do it and there's no set timetable. It sounds like I should pull those bottles out of the fridge and give the whole batch another 2-4 weeks. And that I should come here for advice and use the LHBS for supplies -period. I appreciate you all.

One more thing, it could be your capper. I had an issue with mine once that ruined about half a batch. Are the caps popping off like commercial beers, or are they just kind of falling off when you pop them? With mine I noticed some of the caps weren't coming off with a pop, and it turns out the magnet/bell on the capper had unscrewed a little bit, so I don't think it had the right bite to really clamp them down.

I also always stir my beer gently in the bottling bucket, and it has seemed to give me more consistent carbonation within the same batches. Many people say it isn't necessary, but IME it has been helpful.