Flat Beer?

[BeaverBeer]

Hi folks, long time no chat. I left the homebrewing to the side until I got some cooler weather (ie that wet patch in Feb. we had in Sydney)

My recent batch of home brew has partially failed. It's a Cascade Imperial Voyage Pale Ale, with 1kg Coopers Brewing sugar and 500g Coopers LDME thrown in. OG was 1064? Brew time was 10 days, FG was 1010. Now using Cascade's Excel spreadsheet, the final alcohol % is off the chart, 7%ish?

I bottled it all in brand new batch of Coopers plastic bottles with 2 sugar drops per bottle. I've left it in the bottle since 24/02/08. I cracked one about 2 weeks after bottling and it had barely any head or bubbles. I had another tonight, which brings me to the "partially failed" factor. While this second bottle still has no head or bubbles to write home about, I quaffed a bottle of Corona as a starter after work, then one of the above concoction, and I am well tanked. My question after all this ranting is: is there a way to give this batch some more life, ie bubbles? The flavour and potency are quite enjoyable, after all.

 

[K&K]

Hi Beaver,

I'd give it a month before opening a bottle. In my experience it takes around a month before I see a decent amount of carbonation but large bubbles and then I usually see improvements (smaller bubbles) around 2-3 weeks after this. Also you may want to consider bulk priming using dextrose as this is easier and cheaper than using the sugar drops.

Just my thoughts cheers,

Travis

 

[MCT]

Just out of curiosity, if the bottles aren't carbed enough, would it be OK to open the bottles, drop another carb drop in and recap?

 

[BeaverBeer]

Just out of curiosity, if the bottles aren't carbed enough, would it be OK to open the bottles, drop another carb drop in and recap?

That's what I was thinking, especially since they're brand new bottle/caps and were wound on tight. On the oher hand, I assume something went wrong in the cleaning dept, ie residual sanitiser or traces of detergent somewhere?

I've been looking into kegs/fridges as the next stage, but until I get consistent successful brews I won't be going there.

Hi Beaver,

I'd give it a month before opening a bottle. In my experience it takes around a month before I see a decent amount of carbonation but large bubbles and then I usually see improvements (smaller bubbles) around 2-3 weeks after this. Also you may want to consider bulk priming using dextrose as this is easier and cheaper than using the sugar drops.

I'll give it another few weeks and get back to you. In the meantime I'm planning the next batch, a Mexican I reckon.

Night for now, I've a feeling tonight's slumber will be swift and heavy. :icon_cheers:

 

[KGB]

That is strong at 7%, but I'd expect it with such a high OG and a FG of 1010. If you wanted to repeat the brew with less aclohol, try using only half the coopers brew sugar.
Even though the bottles are new, were they cleaned before use? New doesn't necessarily mean clean, and certainly doesn't mean sanitised or sterilised. Don't go rinsing those PET bottles in hot water though, unless you want your longies to turn into stubbies.

 

[FE2EK]

Hi Guys, A little bit off topic, 10 days ago i bottled a Coopers draught and for something different i carbed 6 bottles with a similar amount of honey to the amount of sugar that would be normally used. They carbed up very nicely in one week, tried a normal sugar carbed bottle and it had minor carb' as would be expected for 7 days. Nicer taste too.

Geoff

 

[pint of lager]

Just out of curiosity, if the bottles aren't carbed enough, would it be OK to open the bottles, drop another carb drop in and recap?

Don't do this. Your beers will end up way overcarbonated. You may even find they turn into PET bombs.

Make sure you keep the bottles at the correct fermentation temperature while they are carbing up.

Higher alcohol beers do often take longer to carb up.