Strong ale won't carbonate? Just add water!

[2bluewagons]

Just wanted to share a recent victory over a beer gone not-so-well turned into a nice surprise. I brewed my first barleywine over a year ago and although fermentation went well, either the combination of too much time in secondary (some of that in cold storage) or just too much for the yeast to handle caused it to have zero carbonation after 10 months in the bottle.

I didn't mind drinking it flat, it tasted pretty nice and at 12.2% was a nice sipper at the end of the night. But when mixed with equal parts sparkling water, it makes for a delicious pale ale. So much of the malty goodness hangs around even when diluted down to half strength.

Certainly not something I would set out to do in the first place, but quite a nice surprise. I realize this is not a new idea, and I'm not claiming that I discovered anything amazing here, just sharing another fun aspect of having complete ownership of the beer I drink.

Cheers!

 

[discooby]

I'm thinking awesome! Thinking dedication! Thinking gratification! Thinking rdwhahb+time! I’m thinking about a motivational poster here! How long in secondary did you have it and at what temps? What yeast did you use? AND, what was your recipe?

 

[two_hearted]

Did you try opening them and drop a small amount of yeast in and recapping? I bet that would carb them as long as your priming sugar is still in there.