Beer not carbonated???

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PWilko

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Hi guys
I recently put down a Carona kit which finished and hit all the expected numbers so I bottled it in glass stubbies with one carb drop in each. I've done this with all my other brews and have been great but it's been a month in the bottle now and I've opened 2 now and neither of them have been carbonated. What have I done wrong or what could be the cause of this? Thanks in advance for your help.
 
What temp are you storing them?
 
Hi mtb
I've been storing them under my house which is any where for 3 - 12 degrees this time of year, the last one I opened I put in the fridge for a few days before I opened it and it was still flat.
 
Nowhere warm enough mate, that's a fermentation occurring in the bottle, you need to store it at fermentation temps. 16C absolute minimum, 20C ideal, 24C max.
 
Do you have any tips of keeping the bottles at that temp? I don't have a cabinet to drop them in atm, so have them sitting in a dark room with a sheet wrapped around them but its pretty chilly in the room though :/ Might have to invest in a heater to run in there at night at least haha Also a thermometer to see what the actual temp is in there!
 
Alternatively - maybe store your bottles next to a water heating unit, if you have one inside. Do you not heat your house?
 
I have a spare fridge that a family member is using at the moment so I was going to get and use that as a fermenting cabinet. With the bottles though I am just using the PET bottles that came with the Coopers Kit. Can I still use the heatpad etc with them or will it give off too much heat and start to melt them if its too close? I think I have a heat belt somewhere that was given too me, but don't think that will cover 30 bottles haha

The house is heated but the only place I have room for the bottles is in the spare room, which at the moment is closed off so the baby doesn't get in there until I convert it :D
 
If you can snag yourself a fridge, use it for sure. That STC-1000 and heatpad I linked to can be installed into it, and you could ferment and bottle carb in it.
 
Thanks guys I'll bring them inside where my house temp is constantly 18-20 degrees. How long do you suggest I leave them at this temp before putting in fridge and opening??
 
I have a couple of crates sitting under my kids computer desk's near the lounge room, heating duct is nearby so gets reasonably warm in that area.
 
I have a couple of crates sitting under my kids computer desk's near the lounge room, heating duct is nearby so gets reasonably warm in that area.


Actually I never really thought of the crates, I reckon I have a couple out the back floating around I could shove my bottles in and then do a sneaky stash next to our freezer or something haha
 
yeah winter sucks

I have a batch I bottled 8 weeks ago this weekend and it is just carbed enough this week to justify drinking
 
Make sure your beer is properly finished if it's going in glass bottles, especially anywhere near infants.
Sound advice. Flying glass is not conducive to child development.
 
All PET and safely stored for me :D

Had a major derp fart in terms of storing the bottles. My first batch was done with bottles from the Coopers Brew Kit, so all the bottles were loose, just put them into the spare room and covered them up with a sheet.

The second batch, I was scratching my head wondering how I can store the bottles away but keep them a little warmer as the spare room does get a little cold at times. I have a few milk crates out the back so was thinking I might do what Hangover68 suggested and use those.

That is until I actually went out and purchased the bottles and realised they came packed neat into boxes that close really well with the lids on the bottles(I really thought you got them loose for some reason). So now my Pale Ale is safely packed into those bottles and they are the perfect height to fit just under a shelf I have near the freezer to the baby couldn't get them and drag out the ~15kg boxes if she tried haha
 
PET can still explode if the pressure is too high and unfinished beer packaged too early has other issues so while I commend your good sense and awareness, my advice still stands.
 

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