Flat Bottles Of Beer

[Deja_vu]

Couldn't help it, only 10 days have passed since I bottled my first batch, but i really had to give it a taste. It was bright and tasted alright, fruity and sharp in bitterness.
I used a can of coopers pale ale and Brew Enhancer 2 with american ale yeast i bought, fermented at 16-18 degrees for two weeks and dry hopped (got excited) 24 grams cascade once it stopped bubbling, didn't take og reading or anything, and bottled in PET longies and two of those carb drops per bottle.

The beer is flat though, I kept the bottles in the same room as my fermenter and they stayed around 16 degrees. Can I assume the temperature is the issue? All the newbie guides say keep your bottles somewhere warm, but they don't say why....

 

[Kingy]

ive overprimed my last batch of bottles and they still havent carbed up in just under 7 weeks because theyve sat at about 10 degrees. But they are progressing and ive wasted 2 longys just checking this out.

If i were you id leave for another 2 weeks then try again

 

[Doogiechap]

Couldn't help it, only 10 days have passed since I bottled my first batch, but i really had to give it a taste. It was bright and tasted alright, fruity and sharp in bitterness.
I used a can of coopers pale ale and Brew Enhancer 2 with american ale yeast i bought, fermented at 16-18 degrees for two weeks and dry hopped (got excited) 24 grams cascade once it stopped bubbling, didn't take og reading or anything, and bottled in PET longies and two of those carb drops per bottle.

The beer is flat though, I kept the bottles in the same room as my fermenter and they stayed around 16 degrees. Can I assume the temperature is the issue? All the newbie guides say keep your bottles somewhere warm, but they don't say why....

G'day Marcus,
The warm temps are needed to keep the yeast active so they can convert those carb drops into alcohol and carbon dioxide (for the carbonation of said brew). If your temps are held a bit closer to say 20 degrees you will get some carbonation starting to occur. Give it another 2 weeks or so at some higher temps and se how it goes. If things are still patchy you may wish to invert your bottles to 'rouse the yeast' then perhaps add a few degrees to their environment (internal hot water service cavities are great places for this sort of thing or a dead fridge with a 25-40 watt bulb inside.
Happy carbing
Cheers
Doug

 

[Deja_vu]

Lord, grant me patience, and do it now!

Thanks guys, i will let you know how they go, but I can't guarantee that I won't be picking off one or two before then!

 

[MSR]

Couldn't help it, only 10 days have passed since I bottled my first batch, but i really had to give it a taste. It was bright and tasted alright, fruity and sharp in bitterness.
I used a can of coopers pale ale and Brew Enhancer 2 with american ale yeast i bought, fermented at 16-18 degrees for two weeks and dry hopped (got excited) 24 grams cascade once it stopped bubbling, didn't take og reading or anything, and bottled in PET longies and two of those carb drops per bottle.

The beer is flat though, I kept the bottles in the same room as my fermenter and they stayed around 16 degrees. Can I assume the temperature is the issue? All the newbie guides say keep your bottles somewhere warm, but they don't say why....

Had the same thing happen to me, I was storing my beer in the garage out of the way of my wife. When i opened a bottle it was flat as a tack. Moved all of them inside and within a week they were fully carbed.

 

[Rother]

Like the others have said... the yeasite bits get lazy when its too cold... They might like to be a bit warmer.

Also, Ive started rolling my bottles every few days... to stir up the yeasties at the bottom of the bottle that arent doing anything... kick them back into action...

 

[afromaiko]

My bottles have all been flat too, even after three weeks. I've been keeping them inside the house, but I guess they only get warmed up in the evenings when we have the heater on. I'm using PET bottles, and I assumed the caps might have been on the way out. Perhaps I'll give them a bit of a shake and put them in a box on top of my spare heat pad for a while and see if that livens things up a bit.

 

[Steve]

If you bottled in plastic you'll know when they're carbed enough as the bottles go hard. If they're still soft dont bother wasting a bottle. Get them a bit warmer.
Cheers
Steve

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I had some PET bottles stored in the garage that were flat. I found out that it was because SWMBO backed the car over them... :blink: