8wks bottled and no carbonation.

[looneybomber]

Well, it's a little over 8wks, but close enough. Here's the vital info.

Brewed tripel with 1.080OG.
Used Wyeast 3787
Fermented roughly 3wks.
Secondary on orange zest for 5wks.
Bottled using close to 3/4cup table sugar.
Stored downstairs for 3wks in the mid to upper 60's.
Brought upstairs where it's mid to upper 70's when I noticed they're not carbing.
Have, multiple times, agitated the cases of beer, tipping them upside down repeatedly.

I am going to put those cases in my car and drive around with them to shake 'em up some more, but I doubt it helps.

Here's what I thought of so far...
1) Uncap/uncork every bottle and add some champagne yeast to each individual bottle?
2) Uncap/cork every bottle into bottling bucket and...ok, that's going to be way too hard and likely introduce too much oxygen. Scratch that idea.

So, other than what I mentioned, do I have any more options?

 

[kh54s10]

Well, it's a little over 8wks, but close enough. Here's the vital info.

Brewed tripel with 1.080OG.
Used Wyeast 3787
Fermented roughly 3wks.
Secondary on orange zest for 5wks.
Bottled using close to 3/4cup table sugar.
Stored downstairs for 3wks in the mid to upper 60's.
Brought upstairs where it's mid to upper 70's when I noticed they're not carbing.
Have, multiple times, agitated the cases of beer, tipping them upside down repeatedly.

I am going to put those cases in my car and drive around with them to shake 'em up some more, but I doubt it helps.

Here's what I thought of so far...
1) Uncap/uncork every bottle and add some champagne yeast to each individual bottle?
2) Uncap/cork every bottle into bottling bucket and...ok, that's going to be way too hard and likely introduce too much oxygen. Scratch that idea.

So, other than what I mentioned, do I have any more options?

Have you chilled any of them? I think that I have read that chilling the beer forces the carbonation that is in the air space at the top of the bottle into solution.

I would also wait much longer for such a big beer to carbonate before taking any drastic measures. 3 weeks is about right for an average beer. I would not be surprised that this one would take a couple of months.

Also at 3 weeks that beer will be very green. I would put it away for another month or two of conditioning before drinking them. I did a Belgian Dubbel last year and they are still getting better.

 

[looneybomber]

Have you chilled any of them? I think that I have read that chilling the beer forces the carbonation that is in the air space at the top of the bottle into solution.

None have been chilled. Since there's no pressure in the bottles, there's nothing to absorb into the beer. Every batch of beer I brew has one PET bottle that I can squeeze to test carbonation levels. It's just as squishy now as it was 8wks ago when I bottled.

I would also wait much longer for such a big beer to carbonate before taking any drastic measures. 3 weeks is about right for an average beer. I would not be surprised that this one would take a couple of months.

You missed the title of my thread and the first sentence. I bottled them over 8wks ago. The 3wk part is how long they were down stairs where it was a bit cool before bringing them upstairs.

Also at 3 weeks that beer will be very green. I would put it away for another month or two of conditioning before drinking them. I did a Belgian Dubbel last year and they are still getting better.

You're right, at 3wks, they would be too green to drink. But as stated in my post, these are 8wks old, with an additional 5 weeks in secondary. That's 13wks...well closer to 14wks since there were a few extra days here and there. They're ready to drink, except for there's no carbonation.

So does anyone have a better idea than popping open all the bottles and adding some champagne yeast to each one?

 

[BayerischBier]

Did you pitch some yeast just 1-2 days before bottling?

I had a similar issue with my Hopslam 10% beer.
Ended up in uncapping and adding some pieces of dry-yeast to each bottle, and recapped asap.
Worked like a charm.

In your case, I would add a few drops of the original yeast. Champagne yeast sucks all sugars out and comes back with a try taste. (had a black lager bottled w champagne!)

BUT before all that! Put a bottle in the fridge for a day and then sample it!!

 

[looneybomber]

Did you pitch some yeast just 1-2 days before bottling?

I had a similar issue with my Hopslam 10% beer.
Ended up in uncapping and adding some pieces of dry-yeast to each bottle, and recapped asap.
Worked like a charm.

In your case, I would add a few drops of the original yeast. Champagne yeast sucks all sugars out and comes back with a try taste. (had a black lager bottled w champagne!)

BUT before all that! Put a bottle in the fridge for a day and then sample it!!

Put one in the fridge yesterday and just opened it. Not the slightest hint of carbonation. No pressure what so ever. I can taste the priming sugar in it though. I don't have any wyeast 3787, but the LHBS does carry T58. I could use it for priming since my AbV is <9%, but my RIS that didn't carb either is around 11%, so I don't know how effective T58 will be.

The only beers I've had issues getting to carb are the big ones I have put in secondary. Any big beer that I didn't put in secondary carbed just fine.

 

[looneybomber]

Just a follow up. I made a batch of skeeter pee with EC1118. When I racked it to secondary, I used a syringe to suck it up and pur a couple mL in each bottle. Within 2 days, my plastic bottle was getting noticeably firm. Success!

I will try rehydrated EC1118 with my stout. I hope the nearly 11% AbV doesn't kill the yeast since it won't be used to the alcohol level.