Flat Beer

[stubrew]

Hello
I'm new to home brew and i just open my first tallie and its pretty flat. also a cloudy. was woundering what went wrong? I bottle 10 or so 375mm stubbies and the were pretty fizzy i don't know whats going on! Stuart

 

[Offline]

Hi Stubrew,

Welcome to AHB

More info would be good. what did you do differently between the tallies and the stubbies?
Did you prime (add fermentables to the bottles, sugar/malt) with twice as much for the tallies as the stubbies? Twice the volume needs twice the CO2/priming.
Did they all spend the time after bottling at the same temperature in the same place?
Im just guessing something must have been different?

Offline

 

[stubrew]

I'm pretty sure i put the right amount sugar in to the tallies. they both sat for the same time in the same place so i can;t understand what went wring.

 

[Stuster]

Hello, Stu. (Seems like Stu's and homebrewing go together. :lol: )

From what you said, I guess there are a few possibilities. Either you forgot the sugar in this one bottle (my guess ) or there was some residue in the bottles from cleaning which killed the yeast in this bottle, or the cap didn't seal tight and the carbonation escaped. So what did you use to clean the bottles? How well did you rinse them?

 

[stubrew]

I used brigalow bottle washing power.i think i rinsed them well but who knows.

 

[brettprevans]

it will occational happend but there must be a reason. I for one have had my first batch ever ccome out uncarbed. which is annoying cause its my Imperial Stout. I used the normal cleaning resgiem and 1.5 carb drops per tallie. oh well. you could try cracking one open and dropping another carb drop (im assuming thats what your using) into the bnottle and seeing if that carbs it up. if so, just recarb and recap all your bottles.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

I'm pretty sure i put the right amount sugar in to the tallies. they both sat for the same time in the same place so i can;t understand what went wring.

Have you cracked a second tally yet ?

 

[Screwtop]

Did you use a carbonation calculator to determine the correct amount of priming sugar. These calculators take into account the storage temp, volume and FG of the beer. Cirtmorgue2, high alcohol hinders bottle fermentation.

 

[brettprevans]

yeah I know. Im going to take my own advise and crack open all the bottles and drop another carb drop into the bottles then recap. hopefully that will fix the problem. cause its a damn nice beer. its just so think and rich that drinking a tallie of flat RIS is hard going (had 1 last weekend). If thata doesnt wor I'll be chucking into a keg (once its up and running) and I'll force carb it.

 

[Stuster]

citymorgue, the problem is more likely to be the yeast than a lack of sugar (assuming you did remember to prime them ). So adding more sugar might not be the answer. Adding yeast is more likely to help IMO.

 

[brettprevans]

true true. I suppose I could make up a liquid starter of champaigne and windsor yeasts (thats I brewed with) and pour a little into each tallie. any ideas on the amount of liquid yeast mix per bottle I should stick in? %alc is about 11-12%

 

[Stuster]

No real idea about how much to use, but I'd guess not much at all. You only want it to munch on some simple sugars that you've left there for them. The only trick is that the environment will be hard going for them with all that alcohol in there. US-05 is a very hardy yeast so that might be the go.

 

[stubrew]

yeah cracked the second one and it was the same so i may try to recarb. i need to get some drops cause i use sugar last time.

 

[stubrew]

If i was to recarb my brew how long do i leave it for? before cracking another.

 

[Stuster]

Sugar's fine to use. Carb drops are just expensive sugar IMO. How long to leave it depends on how warm you store it. There should be at least some carbonation after a week though.

 

[Insight]

If i was to recarb my brew how long do i leave it for? before cracking another.

Condition above 16C for 2 weeks mate. Cheers

 

[stubrew]

ok its just that i have all the bottles in the fridge at the moment so is it going to be all right to take it out and put back in. i'm going to get some of those drops that way i know it the right amount.

 

[Stuster]

ok its just that i have all the bottles in the fridge at the moment so is it going to be all right to take it out and put back in. i'm going to get some of those drops that way i know it the right amount.

Wait, are you saying that all the bottles have been in the fridge? They're not going to carb up there as it's too cold for the yeast to work. :huh:

 

[samhighley]

Yikes, if you've had them in the fridge since bottling then whatever you do, DO NOT ADD MORE SUGAR!

Move them to a warm place for a few weeks, and they'll carbonate using the sugar that you've already put in the bottle.

Temperature is the key. The bottles need to be warm enough (+16C) for the yeast to activate and consume the priming sugar.

Sam

 

[stubrew]

They havn't been in the fridge the whole time. i left them out of the fridge when i first bottled them for about a week and a half to 2 weeks.