Cimary Clone Didn't Carb

[matt1776]

Hello all,

I need a little advice. I brewed a Chimay Clone. All went well with the fermation, OG and final gravity were on target after 2.5 weeks. I used Cooper Carb Tabs as I have done before - one tab in each 12oz bottle. After two weeks, they weren't carbed. Gave them another week, and no better. I've never had this happen before. Any suggestions???

Thanks in advance,
Matt

 

[matt1776]

any advice would be appreciated. don't want to have to pour out or dilute by pouring in a well carbed (but different) beer

 

[kh54s10]

I looked up a recipe that showed an OG of 1.068. Big beers take longer. I would wait another week or three before taking any action.

Is the beer at about 70 degrees? The lower the temperature the longer it will take.

 

[keesh]

First things first - what temp have your bottles been at for the past 3 weeks? It is possible that they were too cold to restart the second fermentation in the bottle. If so, try warming them up to 75F and then wait some more.

With that out of the way, the first thing I would do is to try storing them upside down. That will put the yeast back into solution. It is possible your yeast flocculated to the bottom of the bottle before they got a chance to eat the sugar you added. Try this and wait some more.

Second thing to try would be adding more yeast - say an 1/8 of a tsp of dry yeast per bottle. You will be sacrificing caps for this, however. Try this and wait some more.

Other than that you are on your own as far as I know. It isn't recommended to add more sugar on account of potential bottle bombs.

 

[Slainte-brew]

My Chimay clone took 2 almost 3 months to carb up. It was around 1.080 OG and around 9.8 abv, that high of an alcohol takes longer. Give it 6 weeks total in the bottles and try it again. Also turning them upside down quickly is a good idea to get the yeast in suspension again.

 

[matt1776]

Thanks for the advice everyone. The beer is in our 2nd bathroom, 70F at night and about 77F during the day. I flipped them upside down. We'll see in a week or so.