How long before I give up?

[yewtah-brewha]

can you even do that?

And where are you located, I have some bottles if your in Utah! I also know where to get them for free.

 

[SnowboarderPaul]

Is this your first batch? What type of caper did you use? Bottle lip type. priming method and amount of priming sugar? style of priming sugar i.e dextrose!

My first batch I used a 4.00 hammer caper, corona small flange bottles and single bottle prime method. they were all flat except a few. I also frequently disturbed the beer during fermentation by opening the lid every few days to see how cool it was and how great it smelled. .. bad idea. leave it sit w/o disturbing it for the ferment cycle. If it gets oxygenated it will ruin the beer.

I now use the wing style capper, brown large flange bottles and I bulk prime. with 5 oz weighed out or 3/4 cup (dextrose)priming sugar to 1 cup depending on recipe. finished batch 11 a few weeks ago and it was a 8 out of 10!

Second batch. First one was 100% carb'd.

I use this:

 

[unionrdr]

I used that same capper for a couple years,but the bell strtched out a bit & the bottles leaked co2 under pressure & higher temps. So I bought the Ferarri Super Agata bench capper & couldn't be happier. Those shorter neck bottles cap more easilly now than with the Red Baron,which hangs up on them.

 

[SnowboarderPaul]

So, I'm right about that time again where I should be drinking beautifully carbed up home brew aaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnddddd......My most recent batch hasn't carbed.

I was super careful this time in measuring my priming sugar, adding it to he bucket first, stirring after I added the beer and finally being extra sure I was capping the bottles correctly. I'm still on the early side of worrying too much (been in the bottle 5 weeks) but I'm starting to get a bit frustrated.

That one 22 that was carbed on my last batch when the rest were flat got me thinking I'm not capping them properly but, it doesn't seem like rocket science to me. Is there a capper or caps any of you recommend? I'm just using whatever caps northern brewer sells and that wing capper that came in my kit.

Testing another beer tonight put in the fridge this weekend at the 5 week mark. We'll see but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[stpug]

Just to beat a dead horse again .... did you use your dishwasher for this batch?

On your last batch (2nd batch), when you were bottling do you recall having to quickly grab one more bottle to fill during the process? I'm wondering if that one bottle that was carbed was somehow not included in the normal washing/sanitizing process that the others were. I ask because I recall many times when I'd come up short on washed bottles and have to quickly grab a bottle or three, wash them up, sanitize them quickly, and fill them. I'm just prying to see if that one bottle went through a different process than the rest. If it did, then perhaps it's the process that's causing the problem.

I also recall a couple batches that were not carbing up very fast and in those instances I would turn each bottle upside-down, and swirl up the sediment back into the beer. I assumed that I was getting more yeast and/or settled sugar back into the solution. Knowing what I know now, I doubt this was very useful but those batches did carb up shortly thereafter (another week or so).

Assuming you actually brew another batch if this one doesn't carb , you can always try putting a balloon on one bottle instead of a cap so that you can see if and how well it's carbing up like woodlandbrew has done. It won't solve your carbing problem but it's a nice and quick visual indicator.
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-long-does-it-take-to-carbonate-beer.html

 

[yewtah-brewha]

where u located? my 1st batch sucked, I im on no.14 and everyone since has been good. you might be mising some important step. i'd like to help

 

[yewtah-brewha]

I bottled my last batch 5 days ago and its perfectly carbed my fastest to date.

 

[yewtah-brewha]

given your user name, I assume your either in Colorado or Utah.

 

[jgroesbeck]

So, I'm right about that time again where I should be drinking beautifully carbed up home brew aaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnddddd......My most recent batch hasn't carbed.

I was super careful this time in measuring my priming sugar, adding it to he bucket first, stirring after I added the beer and finally being extra sure I was capping the bottles correctly. I'm still on the early side of worrying too much (been in the bottle 5 weeks) but I'm starting to get a bit frustrated.

That one 22 that was carbed on my last batch when the rest were flat got me thinking I'm not capping them properly but, it doesn't seem like rocket science to me. Is there a capper or caps any of you recommend? I'm just using whatever caps northern brewer sells and that wing capper that came in my kit.

Testing another beer tonight put in the fridge this weekend at the 5 week mark. We'll see but I'm not holding my breath.

You may consider finding a Brew Club near where you live. If there is one, perhaps you can ask for help? Maybe someone even watch you bottle a batch? It would seem that your processes are okay, however, it's hard to be certain through text.

 

[heckler73]

snowboarder, check your bottles for really fine hairline cracks caused by that capper.

I had a batch with 1/4 of the bottles with a tiny, tiny crack in the bottle, and flat beer after 6 weeks. I'm sure was caused by the metal edges of the wing capper biting into the bottles. Of course, this was a batch heading to a friends wedding - I'll never put myself through that stress again.

I've since bought a stand capper and have never looked back. It doesn't clamp steel around the glass bottle.

althought that one above is **** - the plastic joint between the vertical stand and the base causes too much flex. Get a steel to steel version that's welded.

 

[SnowboarderPaul]

I'm in Northern California (we have mountains too )

And yeah, this time they all went through the dishwasher like they did the first two times. I hand brushed with dish soap and rinsed by hand before putting them in for a short rinse cycle on Sanitize Mode using no detergent or rinse aids or anything. I boil the bottle caps and after I fill the bottles, I place the caps on the bottles and let them sit loose while I fill the rest of the bottles. Once the bottles are done being filled I go back through them with the capper.

Thanks for your help everyone....and never fear, I'm not going to stop (the title of the thread is referring to giving up on a batch rather than giving up on brewing). I'll figure this out some how. Perhaps I just need to step down to less strong beers?

 

[stpug]

Overall, I can't see anything in your process that would cause non-carbing issues. I boiled caps long ago and they worked; I've since switched to just putting them in starsan. I've never used a dishwasher but a friend did for a couple batches and he also had some non-carbing issues on two batches; he also did not use any rinse aids or detergent. Then again, lots of folks have used dishwashers with great success so it's hard to believe that could be the cause; on the other hand, it's pretty easy to take it out of the loop for one batch just to see if it changes anything.

The only bottles I ever had problems with capping were short-collared bottles; i.e. bottles where the collar and lip were very close (<1/2"). Normal collared bottles should be totally usable. I would say that as long as it's taking normal effort with a bottle opener to remove the cap then it's been put on correctly. If the cap seems to come off too easy then you may need to look into a different capper.

Again, I would try flipping the bottle over and swirling up the contents into solution, and then put them back down normally. It seemed to work for me a few times in the past.

 

[Pie_Man]

Maybe I missed it, but can you give a quick summary of the second recipe, fermentation process, and bottling procedure?

If you bottled correctly and you're never getting carbonation, there's either a leak, our the yeast is kaput.

Another thought, and this is pretty unlikely, but are you letting the bottles cool after the dishwasher thing? When I've used this method, the bottles are really freakin hot after the sanitize cycle.

 

[kh54s10]

Start eliminating variables. Don't use the dishwasher to sterilize. Clean and use Starsan to sanitize.

Maybe get a new batch of caps.

I have used the same capper for about 35 batches with a variety or bottles, mostly Sam Adams and had no issues!. I have done a broad range of styles and gravities.