No carbonation in bottles.

[Robbo Dragon]

My last two batches of beer that I bottled are flat and I'm not sure what is the cause.
I usually keg each brew and bottle what doesn't fit in the keg. And haven't had any trouble in the past. But the last two batches have come out flat. I use coopers sugar drops as per directions on the pack. Any ideas?

 

[n87]

do you get the gas escape when you open the bottle?
How long sing you bottled, and at about what temp?

 

[Robbo Dragon]

There was a little bit of gas when I opened a bottle. This batch was bottled almost three weeks ago. I've kept them in the dark and at around 10c temp.

 

[The Judge]

10c is too low for bottle conditioning over a 3 week period.

For an ale, it's too low and you need to raise the temp otherwise you'll get zip carbonation.

For a lager, it's an ok temperature but you've probably got such a little amount of yeast in suspension that it'll take another 3-6 weeks to properly carbonate. Rest assured it will eventually get there.

 

[Rocker1986]

Every time natural bottle carbonation fails, it'll be one or more of these that caused it:

No priming sugar (obviously not in this case)
No viable yeast in bottles (unlikely)
Bottles not sealed properly
Temp too low (most likely here)

Natural carbonation in bottles (or kegs) relies on fermentation in a sealed container, otherwise, it simply doesn't happen.

 

[Robbo Dragon]

It's amazing how things can dawn on you once you start typing looking for answers in a forum. I was just thinking about the temp and thought hmmm... I checked all the caps and they seemed fine. So now I will try and bring the temp up and wait a bit longer. Thanks.

 

[The Judge]

My first home brew ever:
Bottled the brew, put bottles in fridge, went on holiday for 4 weeks, returned to find no carbonation, scratched head, contemplated chucking all of it away, thought better of it, read about yeast activity at low temperatures, realised how little I knew about fermentation, raised temperature, drank beer, and never told anyone until now.

 

[desitter]

Yeah, temperature seems too low. For peace of mind you could also slap a balloon / franga over the neck of a bottle and see if it shows any sign of filling with gas during conditioning. If so your caps are not sealing. My money is on the temperature though.

 

[CanMan]

My first home brew ever:
Bottled the brew, put bottles in fridge, went on holiday for 4 weeks, returned to find no carbonation, scratched head, contemplated chucking all of it away, thought better of it, read about yeast activity at low temperatures, realised how little I knew about fermentation, raised temperature, drank beer, and never told anyone until now.

Haha. That's honesty for you.

 

[panzerd18]

You can't ferment with an Ale yeast at 10c, so why would they ferment in a bottle at 10c...