Bugger No Bubbles

[fergi]

well ive just cracked open 3 of my pale ales that have been in the bottle for 5 weeks,and there is not a bubble in sight,it is lovely and clear,good color,and really nice taste apart from no bubbles,all bottles were capped as normal,they are not leaking.now why dont i have any bubbles.og was 1042,fg was 1010,i used irish 1084 yeast that i have used before with no problems.fermented for 8 days in primary,racking gravity was 1010,racked for 12 days then bottled.SO WHERE THE HELL ARE MY BUBBLES,not happy as this really tastes very nice except for carbonation.i cant believe that i didnt add sugar to each bottle but it could have happened,just like i could win the lottery too.anyway will these bottles eventually gas up over a few months.they have been in the shed where i guess the daytime temps have probably been warm enough over a long enough period to gas up but ,nothing,not even a little fart arse bubble,any ideas
cheers
fergi

 

[delboy]

YOU WON THE LOTTO ! GO BUY A TICKET YOU FORGOT THE SUGAR

lol easy done man .

i guess that it would be easy to do if you were interupted ? nearly did it my self once.

delboy

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

The first thing I ever see when bottling is the filler tube hanging over the sugar...

Crank your hotbox/fridge up to about 29-30 degrees and pop the bottles in there for a couple of days...others may hate me for saying this but it works geat

If you didn't add priming sugar to the bottles, pour them into a keg :chug:

PZ.

 

[T.D.]

I would think that 5 weeks, at this time of year, would be enough to get some activity - so there's not even a little hiss when you pop the cap off?

A month or two ago, I had a beer that took a good 3 weeks to get any fizz at all and then was probably as much again before it was actually drinkable.

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

Time to start BULK priming by the sound of it..

I have had it happen to 1 crate but never a hole brew.. bulk prime and it cant happen again...

as delboy said go buy a ticket

Cheers fnqbunyip

 

[pint of lager]

Reasons for no bubbles:

Incorrectly capped bottles (ans: reprime and recap)
no priming sugar (an:s reprime and recap)
too cold for the yeast to work (ans: warm up bottles and wait two weeks)
killed the yeast by heating bottles above 40 deg (unlikely)
filtered the beer prior to bottling with 1 micron filter (unlikely)

To reprime your bottles.

Do not just add the right amount of granulated sugar, there is some dissolved carbon dioxide in the beer and it will froth everywhere when you add the sugar. You need to add the sugar as a syrup to avoid all the tiny surfaces.

So if you have 30 bottles, you need 30 x 7 gms sugar = 210 gms sugar, dissolve in 500 ml of water, simmer for a few minutes to sanitise, cool, then add 15 ml to each bottle. A syringe makes this easier. You may need to tip a small amount out first.

Do not pour into a keg, or pour back into a fermenter, you will oxidise the brew. This will give you off flavours such as wet cardboard and sherry aromas and flavours.

 

[Airgead]

So if you have 30 bottles, you need 30 x 7 gms sugar = 210 gms sugar, dissolve in 500 ml of water, simmer for a few minutes to sanitise, cool, then add 15 ml to each bottle. A syringe makes this easier. You may need to tip a small amount out first.

[post="83260"][/post]​

I've had to do this once or twice when my bulk priming failed to work (one I didn't mix through and the other i forgot to add the bulk priming sugar *d'oh*).

I found the best way was to make up the sugar syrup so that it is 1g/ml (so 210g sugar in say 250ml water than boil down to 210) that way you only need to add 7ml rather than 15 and the dose is really easy to calculate. Bottles of kids neurofin (painkiller.. spelled incorerctly I'm sure) come with a handy 5ml syringe that works a treat for dosing bottles.

Cheers
Dave

 

[fergi]

ok thanks guys, i will go the add some sugar syrup route,this sounds easiest.
cheers
fergi

 

[BRAD T]

Fergi,
I did a Wiezen in june that took about 7 weeks to carbonate, drinking just fine now.

 

[DrewCarey82]

Mate, check @ the very bottom of the bottle before opening to see if there is any sugar sediment(assuming that you didnt bulk prime) and there should be about 1 or 2 millimetres of white sugar down the bottom, if there isnt well I guess you just stuffed up.

 

[fergi]

just an update on this problem, i left it alone for another 4 weeks or so and while in my brew shed i crabbed another bottle and twisted the cap,to my surprise it had a hiss of gas so i tightened up the lid and stuck it in the fridge 6 hours later i knocked the top off and poured it into a glass,great head,good color,great tasting and lacing all the way to the bottom of the glass,wonderful thing patience sometimes,so after about 10 weeks all up this is a terrific beer .i think it must have been a bit cold in the shed to really fire up the carbonation process
cheers
fergi