IPA No Carbonation & Sweet Flavor After 8 Weeks

[Ness010]

So I have an IPA I bottled about 7-9 weeks ago and sat at 70-75*F. Fermented 1 week in primary and 1 week secondary (dry hopped in the secondary). Primed the beer with priming sugar in a bottling bucket and bottled. After 3 weeks the beer was showing no sign of carbonating so I agitated the bottles then and again at 4 and 5 weeks. The bottle caps are on air tight. It is now about at the 8 week mark and absolutely no signs of carbonation and you can taste the sweetness of the priming sugar still. According to my hydrometer readings the abv is ~11. I used a Wyeast Labs American Ale strian yeast. Not sure what is going on and I'd like to see if anyone else has had this problem before I take it all out of the bottles and re-pitch yeast.

Any help or suggestions will be appreciated

 

[homebrewdad]

11% ABV is a monster, and may well be beyond the ability of the yeast to carb.

However, I wonder... how did you come up with this figure? Was this an extract recipe?

Also... did you add the priming sugar directly to the bucket, or did you boil it first? If you didn't boil, the odds that your dry sugar mixed evenly are VERY low. Some bottles may be ready (even overcarbed) while others stay flat.

 

[HopZombie99]

I've read that a beer high in alcohol can take 3 months to carb up. You would think that there would be a little action at least by 8 weeks tho.

You could try rehydrating some champagne yeast and using that to carb up. Its more alcohol tolerant than the ale yeast will be. Use a (sanitized) small syringe or an eye dropper type of thing to get the yeast in the the bottle. Recap and wait again.

 

[unionrdr]

What was OG/Fg? Did you cold crash or something? Sounds like the yeast either crapped out or aren't there in suficient numbers to do the job.

 

[Ness010]

I did boil and cool the priming sugar before adding it and started with it in the bucket before transferring the beer to the bucket. I'm unfamiliar with cold crashing and I got the approx. abv using a hydrometer. OG was 68 and FG was 20. Brix scale was 16.5 start and 5.25 finish.

 

[rydnly5]

I have a similar situation going on right now, I made a clone of 90 min IPA, 2 weeks in primary and 2 weeks in secondary, last 4 days in secondary were dry hopped. I am now over 3 weeks in bottling condition, beer taste and smells great but no carbonation. What I find weird is the sediment is real loose vs tight and stuck to the bottom like my other batches.

 

[duboman]

I did boil and cool the priming sugar before adding it and started with it in the bucket before transferring the beer to the bucket. I'm unfamiliar with cold crashing and I got the approx. abv using a hydrometer. OG was 68 and FG was 20. Brix scale was 16.5 start and 5.25 finish.

If OG was 1.068 and FG was 1.020 then there is no possible way this beer is 11%. It's impossible.

You have a 6.3% beer with only apparent attenuation of 69%

How much priming sugar did you use and did you weigh it or measure by cups? How much beer did you actually prime?