Flat Amber

[Steveareno]

I recently brewed an Abita Amber clone and it is flat after bottling. I brewed this recipe before and it was good. This time I changed a few things just for the sake of experimenting. I used store bought Spring Water instead of tap water. I used Wyeast 2565 Smack Pack instead of Safale K-97 dry yeast. I racked to secondary fermenter for one week this time so it would clear better. I have a fermenting fridge now and I maintained 65 degrees throughout the fermenting. I used the same bottling sugar as the last batch and let it stay in the fermenting fridge for two weeks after bottling. OG = 1.052, FG = 1.015. I'm wondering if 65 degrees is too cool for the carbonating phase? I raised the fridge temp to 70 two days ago. Any ideas or suggestions?
Steve

 

[Jag75]

If you added the correct amount of sugar for 65 degrees you should be good . A couple things I would do different. I wouldn't do secondaries as they offer no benefit unless your racking onto fruit or doing a long term condition . Another thing I would suggest is letting the temp rise a bit at the end to allow the beer to clean up. After 2 weeks is there any carbanation at all? Did you mix the priming solution enough ?

 

[Steveareno]

I just used one of the 5 oz. packs of brewing sugar from a homebrew shop that is supposed to be for five gallons. Is there different amounts needed for different temps? I dissolved it in 2 cups of boiling water and poured it into the bottling bucket and then racked the beer on top of it. I can't say for sure if I stirred it after that or not. I feel like I probably did. There is a little carbonation but not much. I could hear it release when I opened the bottle but very little in the beer.

 

[Jag75]

Well for Ambers they're around 2.3 volumes. @65 degrees it called for 3.77 oz so your 5oz is plenty . The temp does play a role in carbination. With the amount you used at 65 degrees it's around 2.8 volumes . Here is a priming calculator . Use this on further batch priming.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/priming-sugar-calculator

 

[balrog]

Do you know which bottles were filled first and which last? Can you check one of the first-filled, as you might have different priming in different bottles if it wasn't mixed thoroughly in the bottling bucket. However, many people have done many batches, priming exactly as you did, without issue. I'm just thinking out loud.

 

[Steveareno]

Well for Ambers they're around 2.3 volumes. @65 degrees it called for 3.77 oz so your 5oz is plenty . The temp does play a role in carbination. With the amount you used at 65 degrees it's around 2.8 volumes . Here is a priming calculator . Use this on further batch priming.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/priming-sugar-calculator

Thanks for the link. Very handy. Do you think that I should leave it at 70 degrees and check another one in a few days? Or maybe raise the temp higher than 70?

 

[Steveareno]

Well for Ambers they're around 2.3 volumes. @65 degrees it called for 3.77 oz so your 5oz is plenty . The temp does play a role in carbination. With the amount you used at 65 degrees it's around 2.8 volumes . Here is a priming calculator . Use this on further batch priming.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/priming-sugar-calculator

Thanks for the link. Very handy. Do you think that I should leave it at 70 degrees and check another one in a few days? Or maybe raise the temp higher than 70?

Do you know which bottles were filled first and which last? Can you check one of the first-filled, as you might have different priming in different bottles if it wasn't mixed thoroughly in the bottling bucket. However, many people have done many batches, priming exactly as you did, without issue. I'm just

Do you know which bottles were filled first and which last? Can you check one of the first-filled, as you might have different priming in different bottles if it wasn't mixed thoroughly in the bottling bucket. However, many people have done many batches, priming exactly as you did, without issue. I'm just thinking out loud.

No, no way of telling which ones were first and last. Even if I didn't stir after racking I sure feel like all of the swirling around during racking it would have mixed sufficiently.

 

[rburrelli]

The swirling around does distribute the sugar, but I would not count on it doing it equitably. It is good practice to give a gentle stir. Try not to be vigorous so as to not add more oxygen to the beer.