Why Is My Beer Not Bubbly?

[kuntushi]

I've made a few batches of beer, but some recent ones seem to be very flat (but still hiss slightly when being opened).

I'll give a quick run down of the procedure, hopefully I can find the problem in the chain.

Amber Ale: Fermented 23L for 1 week, then racked 18L and 5L seperately. Bulk primed (about 150g of sugar) the 18L straight away and bottled. Put the 5L in the fridge for a week (like a clearing cube, but only a 5L container), took it out, let it sit overnight, syphoned it to my carboy and bottled it using 2 carbonation drops per tallie.
Result: 18L of beer is bubbly, 5L is not (but hissed a little when opening).

Wheat beer: Fermented 23L for 1 week, then racked 23L and refridgerated for a week. Syphoned to another carboy, bulk primed (200g), stirred for about 30 seconds, and bottled.
Result: Had 2 beers, one was fizzy, one was flat (although it hissed a little when opening).

Was very strange a bulk primed batch had one flat and one fizzy. One was glass and one was plastic, but I doubt that'd matter.

Anyway, the only consitent thing in both flat beers is racking in the fridge. I thought you could rack in the fridge (isn't that what most people do with clearing cubes?), but maybe it let too much yeast settle and there was none left for bottle conditioning. That is my conclusion anyway. If anyone has some other suggestions or better ways to do things, please let me know. :icon_cheers:

 

[pk.sax]

The only thing I can suggest to check if the chilling is doing the yeast too much harm is to open one bottle from the crash chilled ones and add dextrose and seal with cling wrap and rubber band, then see if the cling wrap domes from yeast action. I have 10L of beer chilling in the fridge, clearing as I want to avoid any added finings. I'll be interested to hear what you find out. I'll bottle soon too so yeah, will post if anything unwelcome happens. My first time chilling to clear too.

btw, what temperature do your bottles get to while bottle conditioning and how long did you leave them to carbonate? Chilled and cleared beer might need higher temp/longer condition than non chilled beer is my thinking.

 

[felten]

Its strange that there is a difference side by side, were the beers stored at the same temp? and for how long? I've successfully cc'd beers for a week without any damage before.

Are you using a bench capper or hand capper? For the glass ones, make sure you are getting a nice tight seal.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

i would have said it was crash chilling, clear beer equals no yeast <_<

I had a brew that i cooled to 12 for 2 days and it still struggling for carb after month sitting at 20 in the bottle. After these event i have decided it's not worth chilling for me :blink:

When i keg, different story :beerbang:

 

[Phoney]

i would have said it was crash chilling, clear beer equals no yeast <_<

What, what?

I crash chill all of my beers and never have an issue with carbing up in the bottle. In winter they can take up to 8 weeks, but they carb up eventually.

 

[Shed101]

How long did you leave the 5l at room temperature to carb up?

With the wheat beer, did you make a sugar solution to stir in, or just stir sugar?

I forgot to make a good solution once and added sugar to chilled beer and had very inconsistent carbonation ... of course sugar doesn't dissolve evenly in cold beer!
If that's what you've done, too, you could have some whale spouts when you open a few of the bottles.

 

[kuntushi]

Thanks guys, some insightful stuff here. To answer some questions:

1. Bottles just sit under the house in Brisbane, I'd say it sits around 20 - 25. But I'll try that thing with the glad wrap and let you know how it goes.
2. Used a hand capper, but have a bench one now. But, the flat beer was the plastic bottle one anyway.

The amber ale 5L were left to get to room temp before bottling, then used carb drops, so shouldn't have to worry about the mixing there.

The wheat beer, I made a solution of sugar water first, then added it. But yes, the beer was still quite cold when I did that and bottled... say about 10-15 degrees. Maybe the one that was fizzy was one of the last I bottled and had warmed up a fair bit before bottling?

I think the problem may be that I haven't waited long enough. The amber ales have only been bottled for 2 weeks, the wheat beer 1. I wasn't aware crash chilling would cause the carbonation to take longer.

Also, I have been putting it in a normal fridge, so it chills at about 4 degrees. Is that too cold?

Me and my mates also talked about adding a bit more of the same yeast to the batch when bulk priming. As the yeast can't really grow much (only 200g of sugar across 30 bottles), it shouldn't cloud up the beer again, but should kick start carbonation a fair bit. Does that sound like a good idea?

 

[petesbrew]

Thanks guys, some insightful stuff here. To answer some questions:

I think the problem may be that I haven't waited long enough. The amber ales have only been bottled for 2 weeks, the wheat beer 1. I wasn't aware crash chilling would cause the carbonation to take longer.

quote]

Here's your problem. They take at least 2 weeks to carb up, sometimes longer.

 

[pk.sax]

hehe.. 2 weeks and one week don't really cut it I suppose

I'm drinking mine more than a month after bottling and its drinking well now. Was even in the fermenter (primary+secondary) for maybe 3 weeks before I bottled. Time..... That adding yeast idea is good though. I wish I'd saved some of the yeast to reuse, saves tearing open a fresh packet. hmnnnn.

btw, I suppose you are tightening the plastic caps all the way. Like where it seems to stop momentarily and pushing on till the end. I noticed that with the first time I used plastic ones with new caps, need to be screwed down beyond the seal. Could be happening.. just saying.

 

[kuntushi]

Yeah, without racking my beers have been fully carbonated at 1 week. I just figured it'd be the same, didn't really think THAT much yeast was taken out. No matter, I know now.

Still strange that one wheat beer was carbed up, must have just been lucky and got a good amount of yeast in it.

 

[Nick JD]

Still strange that one wheat beer was carbed up, must have just been lucky and got a good amount of yeast in it.

The first bottle poured often gets a fair whack of yeast in it - as does the last. I set these two aside because they are always the "first tasters" for me. Usually they're carbed sufficiently to be drinkable in a week when the rest of the batch needs 3 weeks to have a good level of carbonation. They're usually a bit green and hazy though - but I take that into account - usually I'm excited to try my new recipe.

I once had a lager that was so, so, so clear it never carbed up properly. Wose than that is you could taste the priming sugar so it was sweet, and flat. I made up a batch of new yeast and poured in a few mls to each bottle and a week later they were carbed fine. So yes, insufficient yeast in the bottle can result in flat beer - sometimes the yeast just says, screw this, I'm going to sleep, there's not enough oxygen to breed up again.

 

[malt_shovel]

Thanks guys, some insightful stuff here. To answer some questions:

The wheat beer, I made a solution of sugar water first, then added it. But yes, the beer was still quite cold when I did that and bottled... say about 10-15 degrees. Maybe the one that was fizzy was one of the last I bottled and had warmed up a fair bit before bottling?

I think the problem may be that I haven't waited long enough. The amber ales have only been bottled for 2 weeks, the wheat beer 1. I wasn't aware crash chilling would cause the carbonation to take longer.

Also, I have been putting it in a normal fridge, so it chills at about 4 degrees. Is that too cold?

Me and my mates also talked about adding a bit more of the same yeast to the batch when bulk priming. As the yeast can't really grow much (only 200g of sugar across 30 bottles), it shouldn't cloud up the beer again, but should kick start carbonation a fair bit. Does that sound like a good idea?

Just a thought on how I do it to compare. When bulk priming, I make add the desired amount of sugar/corn syrup/DME to enough water to dissolve it easily (say around 200 - 300 ml), and then let it cool down to 20 degrees or so. Then I rack the fermented beer onto this, which mixes it all up well. Not sure if you are adding the priming solution to the racked beer / secondary and then giving it a mix, but I suspect you are getting uneven distribution of your priming sugar throughout your beer before bottling. This would lead to you to be a little concerned about gushers as another poster pointed out.

I have racked very cold beer that has been cold conditioning for days at near zero degrees using the above technique with no problems with fully carbed beer after 3 weeks of conditioning at ambient (20+) degrees.

Give the yeast some time, but if there was no priming solution then there will be no carbonation, and no amount of additional yeast will help either.

For the beers where carbonation drops were used, need to check the seal integrity of the lids / caps. Unless filtration has been used, you will almost always have yeast in suspension to prime bottles.

Hope that helps and let us know how you go.

:icon_chickcheers:

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

What, what?

I crash chill all of my beers and never have an issue with carbing up in the bottle. In winter they can take up to 8 weeks, but they carb up eventually.

I stand corrected, maybe the issue is that i try to drink them so quick!!

I've stayed away ever since :unsure:

What temp and how long so you leave them chilling?

 

[Nick JD]

What temp and how long so you leave them chilling?

Crash chilling's one thing, gelatine and polyclar at 1C for two weeks = beer with 40m visability. After 3 weeks @ 25C, a breath of whispy sediment on the bottom of the bottle and SFA carbonation.

 

[dcx3]

Does anyone ever roll there bottles like you do with wine?

 

[rotten]

I stand corrected, maybe the issue is that i try to drink them so quick!!

I've stayed away ever since :unsure:

What temp and how long so you leave them chilling?

I rack, then cc at about 4c for a week. Bottle cold with 1 tspn castor sugar, (equiv of two carb drops). Then I mature for at least 3-4 weeks in brewery shed @ 18+ c. 1 week is too soon. I do taste after 2 weeks just coz I can't help myself, they are always carbed, then I leave them alone!!

 

[kuntushi]

Thanks Nick_JD and malt_shovel, nice summary and advice. Thanks for the added assurance rotten.

I'll leave these for another 2 weeks and see how we go.

 

[kuntushi]

These are all now bubbly, I just had to wait longer