Reasons for low carbonation

[Ducatiboy stu]

Just while we're on the subject, for a newbie AG brewer, are there alternatives to the carbonation drops or is that all is used?

You can use sugar cubes,white sugar or malt extract.

Bulk priming is also a great method

 

[HBHB]

it's been about 2 weeks now and still very little carbonation. Annoying because it's an IPA!

Best you give it a stern talking to every day, twice a day for the next 4-5 weeks then.

After that, it'll behave itself, but might still be annoying, because it will still be an IPA.



h34r:

Ciderman - Bulk Priming. Never look back.

 

[jaypes]

Give the yeast a rouse in the bottle to get it back into suspension

 

[lswhi3]

Also, if I cold crash my beer while it's dry hopping, will that lead to extremely slow carbonation when I bottle in a day or 2 cos I'm deactivating the yeast?

 

[lswhi3]

And I'll see how giving it a stern talking to every day goes.
How many weeks are we talking here??

 

[lswhi3]

And should I warm the beer back to 18C on the electric blanket after I cold crash before bottling to the suspend the yeast? The purpose of the cold crash is to make the hops drop cos I didn't use a hop bag.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Cold crashing only puts the yeast to sleep. Once it warms up it will become moire active.

Time is your friend.

 

[lswhi3]

Sooo electric blanket? Time is not my friend. Time is killing my hop flavour

 

[verysupple]

Time = carbonation.

Unless there's no more sugar to ferment and therefore no more CO2 to be produced. The OP doesn't have to waste a beer for a hydrometer sample if they don't wnat to, and can just wait longer - which will probably work. But telling someone emphatically that more time will solve the problem, when it's possible it won't, is a bit missleading.

I think it's important to think about what could happen as well as knowing what usually happens.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Sooo electric blanket? Time is not my friend. Time is killing my hop flavour

um...no....

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Unless there's no more sugar to ferment and therefore no more CO2 to be produced. The OP doesn't have to waste a beer for a hydrometer sample if they don't wnat to, and can just wait longer - which will probably work. But telling someone emphatically that more time will solve the problem, when it's possible it won't, is a bit missleading.

I think it's important to think about what could happen as well as knowing what usually happens.

Good luck with 1 week carbonation.

 

[HBHB]

So I bottled into long necks and put two of the carb drops in. It's already been about six weeks since I bottled so I don't think more time will make too much of a different
The bottles are being stored in about 18-20c.

While the carbonation for my English pale ale is spot on, it wasn't intentional. My concern is that when I decide to make my APA, it's going to be to flat.

2 Carbonation drops is more than enough for an English PA and would result in a level of carbonation a little higher than the style generally calls for.

In an American Pale Ale, 2 will suffice. But, if you're looking for better/ultimate control over carbonation levels, then Bulk Priming is your answer, rather than a pre-measured but slightly variable packaged solution like carbonation drops.

Unless there's no more sugar to ferment and therefore no more CO2 to be produced. The OP doesn't have to waste a beer for a hydrometer sample if they don't wnat to, and can just wait longer - which will probably work. But telling someone emphatically that more time will solve the problem, when it's possible it won't, is a bit missleading.

I think it's important to think about what could happen as well as knowing what usually happens.

2 carbonation drops is plenty, so in this case, lack of sugar isn't really an issue. Time should fix it ... and the aforementioned stern talking to

Luke, generally speaking, carbonation is done and dusted in about 2 weeks, but if the beer has been chilled for a time, pending the variety of yeast used, it might take 6 weeks. There's lots of reasons carbonation can be slowed ie. low cell count in the transferred beer post chilling or even lagering, exhausted yeast suffering alcohol toxicity or just plain shagged out after a huge task ie big 1.105 OG Russian Imperial Stouts etc, highly flocculent yeasts left a little long, insufficient fermentable sugar, the list goes on.

Generally, for the average ale or lager, if stored cool with sufficient sugars available, it would normally only take 2 weeks but, it could be expected to take upwards of 6 weeks. Mangrove Jack's Burton Ale yeast as just one example, it will floc out pretty quickly once it's reached FG and could take 6 weeks to reach potential carbonation. It'll get there if you're patient and no harm will come to your beer as a result of patience.

Relax & find something else to drink in the meantime. :chug:

Martin

 

[r055c0]

Had the same problem over the last few weeks and was beginning to worry, funny how even though I've been brewing for 7+ years, every now and then I still need to read a post like this to remind me of the basics and reassure myself I don't need to panic

 

[superstock]

Each brew I bottle, I fill a plastic bottle with the same brew/prime. Easy to squeeze to see how carbonation is going.