low carbonation in my dubbel

[gkeusch]

I've had good luck with bottle carbonation using 3/4 cup of corn sugar in a 5 gallon batch. I just made my first dubbel and used the usual amount of corn sugar but after two weeks in the bottle I tried one and could not seem to raise a head on it even with an aggressive pour. It doesn't really taste flat, just no head. Fermentation seemed normal. My recipe included candi sugar added to the boil, yeast was Safale 04.
Any thoughts?

 

[Revvy]

Repeat after me. "3 weeks at 70, 3 weeks at 70, 3 weeks at 70! (Minimum for 12 ounce, average gravity beers, bigger beers, bigger bottles, or lower temps take longer.)

Then read this.

 

[Juno_Malone]

How long did you wait before opening one? For higher alcohol beers like Dubbels, they really need 3-4 weeks at 70F (at LEAST) to reach full carbonation. Past that, you're going to get even better flavors as things meld and condition. My 8.4% Dubbel I brewed last year wasn't carbonated until about 4 weeks in bottle, and the alcohol burn flavor didn't really dissipate until ~8 weeks in bottle. Now I'm drinking ones that have been in bottle nearly a year, and they've only gotten better.
I'd also highly recommend investing $15 in a digital scale, for fine measuring of priming sugar amounts. It's just a hell of a lot more reliable than going by cup measurements. That being said, 3/4 cup in 5gal of beer that peaked at 70F during fermentation/after fermentation should give you 2.8vol CO2, so just give your bottles some more time and make sure you're keeping them at 70-75F.