Flat Bottled Beer Question

[Bordy]

I finally got around to bottling a beer that I had in my primary way too long, about four months, and it's a pretty low grav beer to begin with. It's been in the bottle for three weeks now and it's pretty flat. Could the extended amount of time in the primary affect the bottle conditioning? More time needed? And if I wanted to uncap and drop a conditioning tab in the bottle and recapped is that doable?

 

[prandlesc]

My guess is that there was no live yeast when you bottled - four months in the primary probably killed it all, and adding conditioning tabs won't have any effect but to sweeten the beer. Here's an idea I've not tried, but might be worth further exploration if you think your beer is tasty enough. Make a carbonation cap for two-liter bottles and use a handheld CO2 charger to carbonate your beer. Open a few of your flat beers at a time, and force carbonate.

Here's some info on carb caps -
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/homemade-carbonator-cap-124602/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/carbonator-cap-31828/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/better-diy-carbonator-cap-293500/

 

[Grannyknot]

Is there any visible yeast at the bottom of the bottles?

 

[Bordy]

There is a little visible yeast on the bottom of the bottles and there is a tiny bit of CO2 when you open the bottles

 

[Grannyknot]

There is a little visible yeast on the bottom of the bottles and there is a tiny bit of CO2 when you open the bottles

Its a long shot, but you could try putting the bottles in a warm place, like the top of a fridge. You might even try turning them upside down. Both techniques have worked for me.

Not sure what yeast you used, but if it was an American ale strain, you could add a tiny pinch of s-05 to each bottle. Not ideal, but may be the only option, besides the force carbing method prandlesc talked about.

 

[BigFloyd]

If it didn't carb because the yeast is no longer viable, adding more sugar isn't the answer. Your original priming sugar would still be there. The solution is to add a few grains of dry yeast to each bottle.

Before you take any action at all, please give us some details re: type of brew, ABV and the temp at which you've been keeping them. The three weeks for carbing needs to be at 70-75*F.

 

[Bordy]

It was a blonde ale, og was 1.042, I never checked it before I bottled because it was in the primary for so long. It's been in the bottle for a little over three weeks, 24 oz bottles, at around 75, give or take 5 throughout the day. If I do go the re-yeast option, I already used S-05 so that would work fine. I figure I'll give it another week or two, I'm in no hurry, if time doesn't work, I'll try to add a bit more yeast, because it is good beer.

 

[brewerelated]

If there is some carbonation and yeast sediment at the bottom of your bottle then that means that there is some live yeast. It may have not been enough yeast to fully carbonate the beer in 3 weeks.

It could be possible after 4 months to still have enough viable yeast to bottle carb your beer. What could have happened is that when you transferred your beer to your bottling bucket their just wasn't enough yeast in suspension. If you have your beer in the primary for a long time a lot of the yeast will settle out and if you don't get some of that settled yeast into your bottling bucket then that could lead to under-carbonation.

When you rack to your bottling bucket in the future make sure you get your siphon a little close to the yeast cake for a few seconds to make sure you get some yeast.

For now, I think what you said about giving it a little bit of time first and then possibly adding yeast later might be the way to go.