Flat After 3 Weeks

[Yob]

Evenin' all.. Last week I took out of the inside cupboard (or 'the store' as I like to call it) a bottle from an Aussie Pale Ale brew bottled on the 14 may.. flat.. few bubbles when I decanted to a jug but pretty much flat... bit cool these days, give it another week I said.. ythursday I pulled another out, whacked it in the fridge, friday I open it.. flat.. many swear words ensued.

750 Coops bottles, 2 x carb drops at time of botteling.

Now the brew wasn't an easy one with it stalling mid ferment and going quite slow from there on so I'm wondering if I just need a bit more patience and let them slow arsed Muntons yeast finish??

it didnt really taste bad.. just flat..

Cheers
:icon_cheers:

 

[QldKev]

what temp are they sitting on?

 

[Yob]

what temp are they sitting on?

the thermometer in the store says about 15 currently so I guess it would vary a few deg. from that with house temps.
:icon_cheers:

 

[Jim Botla]

I had the same problem during last winter, solved the problem with temp control. maybe just a lamp with an old (not energy saving) light bulb in the cupboard will do the job.

 

[QldKev]

yep, get the temp up a bit to get the yeast back into action. Try and get it up to 18 and then invert the bottles to get the yeast back into action.

QldKev

 

[Yob]

I had the same problem during last winter, solved the problem with temp control. maybe just a lamp with an old (not energy saving) light bulb in the cupboard will do the job.

yeah cheers but I reckon SWMBO would have a fit.. maybe I will bring a few out into warmer areas for a week and see if that helps
:icon_cheers:

 

[flattop]

Do you reuse the coopers caps? I hear the blue inserts can fail after so many uses.
I use my caps about 4 times and throw them. I also heard some people re-use the cap on the same bottle (i don't).
As said, invert them (or shake the hell out of them), warm them a little and they will probably be fine.

 

[Yob]

Sound advice, thanks guys..

might have to give SWMBO the option of having 4 or 5 crates in the loungeroom or a light bulb in the cupboard and let her decide

 

[Yob]

Sound advice, thanks guys..

might have to give SWMBO the option of having 4 or 5 crates in the loungeroom or a light bulb in the cupboard and let her decide

Seems that the idea of the crates in the lounge room was the worse of the evils... the thermometer says 19'c with the light on in the cupboard
will pull them out and invert them.. gunna need a second timer though <_< ..

this will be my first winter brewing, Iv'e got the ferment temps sorted.. just the carbing temps now it seems.

I reckon, given the bit of time Iv'e had thinking (and reading) about it now, that also the recent change in practice of racking to secondary to finish ferment and dry hopping, plus adding CC to the programme prior to bottling.... and the recent cooling of temps in general (Vic) have conspired againsed me here.

still, thanks for the advice, with a bit of luck and a bit of care in a week or so drinkable?

Does it need to be carbed to be conditioning nicely? Do I have to carb it and still wait?

 

[O'Henry]

Nah, carbing up is part of conditioning. But the other stuff will still be happening. Plus, the extended time to carb up may result in smaller bubbles, which is always nice. Did you try using a syringe on the beers you opened before? If you can make a head using the syringe to squirt some of the beer into the glass, then it is carbonated, just very lowly...

 

[Yob]

[quote name='O'Henry' post='640125' date='Jun 6 2010, 10:21 PM']Nah, carbing up is part of conditioning. But the other stuff will still be happening. Plus, the extended time to carb up may result in smaller bubbles, which is always nice. Did you try using a syringe on the beers you opened before? If you can make a head using the syringe to squirt some of the beer into the glass, then it is carbonated, just very lowly...[/quote]
er.. no mate I didnt.. I decanted the bottle to a jug, then poured off a glass, you can really tell its not carbed up in the jug though so I really was just having a taster at that point.. couple sips.. bit of a chug.. just for taste like.. there were signs.. very bloody small ones.. of carbing but still very flat yeah?

well I will bring the temps up.. Iv'e now inverted them in their crates and rearranged the shelving a bit.. give em the warm for a week and crack another one eh?
:icon_cheers:

 

[O'Henry]

Yeah, for sure. It gets pretty cold where I used to live and the brew I made in June last year wasn't carbed till Nov. It was a 9% beer though, with no extra yeast at bottling and a long cold condition. Just give it time. No consolation though when you are waiting for it so you have beer to drink!

 

[Nick JD]

Some houses have an internal cupboard that houses the hot water cylinder. It's a brilliant place to stash your bottles in winter to carb them up. Years ago I used to sequentially carb up my beers a quarter of a brew at a time because the whole batch wouldn't fit in there.

 

[Yob]

Well I took them out last night and put them right way up again now they are warm and just to suspend the yeast again, warmish to the touch so here's hoping.

but

I'm now faced with the choice of what to do with my current brew that just reached FG (1010) today and was 1012 4 days ago.. I have been Cold Conditioning which has led to my current situation.. in that they probably didn't get to carbing temps from the CC I gave them.. makes a bit of sense to me now...

anyway, when I took the reading tonight I drank most of the hydrometer tube trying to decide if I should CC, bottle now or leave it on the cake for a few more days just to clean itself up a bit... effed if I can decide..

maybe I should keep on taking hydrometer readings and just drink it from the primary until I can decide <_<

all I know is that if I drop the temps to cc, I will be in the same position with bottles that wont carb up unless Iv'e got some sort of temp control sorted.. Im pretty sure SWMBO go mental if I said the light was a permanent set up :blink:

waddaya reckon?
:icon_drunk: