High ABV Belgian ale not carbonating

[shoobs]

I brewed a high ABV Belgian ale that I bottled about 4 weeks ago. It appears that there is not remaining yeast in the bottles, as they aren't carbonating. Some details:

• Used Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity)
• OG was 1.111
• FG was 1.026
• ABV estimated at 11.3%
• Added about 250g of dextrose (monohydrate) to try and hit 3.5 volumes of CO2.
• First two weeks in the bottle were cold, then I put them in my fermentation chamber at 25C or so for the next two weeks. Forgot to connect the fridge powerpoint, though, so the chamber got up to 28C at one point.

Any suggestions on what to do? It is a delicious beer, but massively undercarbed. I have 29 pints of the stuff left sitting in the fermentation chamber, but not much is happening from what I can tell.

 

[kcurnow]

Just let it mature for a wee bit longer (try another 4 weeks). At 11.3% any remaining yeast will be working quite slowly to ferment the dextrose as this level of alcohol is pretty hostile even for high gravity yeast to referment in. Plus dextrose is not as fermentable as cane sugar as its a more complex sugar so again will take more effort to ferment.
I had a very high gravity beer that after 4 weeks was pretty much flat but after another couple of months was perfectly carbed.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

I had a similar issue with a belgian golden strong that had somehow hit 96% AA, but the gravity (ha) of that situation didn't hit home till after is bottled. I was convinced it was a write off, but 23 degrees and daily agitation for a fortnight fixed it up. Try agitating or even tipping them upside down.

 

[manticle]

Time. If considering reseeding, 1388 should do the trick.

 

[mje1980]

I'd imagine it'd taste pretty rough at only 4 weeks. Try it again in 3 months and see

 

[shoobs]

Cheers for the answers, all. I'll start a daily routine of agitating the bottles and see how we get on after a few more months.

 

[warra48]

Remember also that in a high gravity and alcohol environment, the yeast will be fairly tired, so it will take longer than normal to carbonate, even though the yeast has a high tolerance for alcohol.
Patience is probably all you need.

 

[shoobs]

Just an update - cracked another bottle. No fizz whatsoever. It has now been 9.5 weeks since I bottled, and nothing is showing any signs of action.

I've been agitating them every few days or so for the last 5 weeks.

 

[manticle]

Reseed with 1388.

 

[shoobs]

It won't attenuate higher and cause bottle bombs?

 

[philmud]

Adding more yeast won't attenuate any sugar that you hadn't planned on the original yeast attenuating. Ideally you added the dex to a fully attenuated beer, and the amount of dex was calibrated to carb to 3.5 volumes. If all of that is correct, you should be right.

 

[manticle]

Try with one or two bottles, wrap in glad wrap and see.
I can't guarantee - my experience though is that 1388 can cope with a bit extra abv and carbonate where other high grav belgian yeasts have failed. Experience is similar abv to yours. To attenuate to the point of bottle bombs would be surprising to me and would mean your yeast had stalled for other reasons. 1388 just has a touch more abv tolerance which should be enough to get some fizz.

 

[Markbeer]

hi. How long did you have this in the fermenter before bottling?

11.3% does not seem that high for that yeast.

 

[mofox1]

Possibly daft question, but how do you "reseed" bottles?

I've got a few (or 20, 30, or so) bottles of a ~10-11% imperial IPA done in Dec 2012 using us-05 which are barely carbed. Blended with a well carbed IPA, it's a ripper. But by itself it's like bitter watered down scotch with a whack of hops.


After all this time it might just be a write off, but do you just pop the caps, drop 10ml or something of starter in and recap? And what yeast? Tried to get WLP099 last time I was at core brewing but it wasn't in stock, hopefully next time I get my arse to FP they'll have it.

 

[shoobs]

hi. How long did you have this in the fermenter before bottling?

11.3% does not seem that high for that yeast.

Maybe 3 or 4 weeks? The fermentation stopped, I gave it a few swirls and another week, but there was no further change. I figured it had finished. OG is about right. Wyeast's alcohol tolerance spec is bloody useless - "11 to 12% ABV or higher".

Possibly daft question, but how do you "reseed" bottles?

I've got a few (or 20, 30, or so) bottles of a ~10-11% imperial IPA done in Dec 2012 using us-05 which are barely carbed. Blended with a well carbed IPA, it's a ripper. But by itself it's like bitter watered down scotch with a whack of hops.

I'd like to know this as well. I was going to use a smack pack and syringe 1 or 2mL of the contents into each bottle? Or is this overkill? I'd rather the taste of whatever is in the smack pack doesn't get into my beer.

 

[dent]

I disagree with the reseeding comments. That undercarbed beer is doing you a favour - it is saying "Don't drink me now". Wait six months at least - even 12 - I reckon you'll be rewarded by then.

 

[mofox1]

I disagree with the reseeding comments. That undercarbed beer is doing you a favour - it is saying "Don't drink me now". Wait six months at least - even 12 - I reckon you'll be rewarded by then.

I've waited almost 2 years... it's flat (almost).

 

[manticle]

I highly respect dent's opinion in almost every circumstance but yeah - 24 months - you need to reseed or drink still.

 

[mofox1]

I've waited almost 2 years... it's flat (almost).

Hmm. Posted that after a few... wasn't meant so sound so abrupt! :lol:

I highly respect dent's opinion in almost every circumstance but yeah - 24 months - you need to reseed or drink still.

I've blended it with various APA's / IPA's before... I think I gave up on it carbing up about a year ago.

Still, good advice for the OP.

 

[dent]

I was referring to the original post, which was for a 4 week old beer - which I see now was posted some time ago.

2 years? Yeah I agree, do what you gotta do.