About 2 months ago, I bottled my first big beer, a 13.2% ABV Imperial Stout. The good news is that the beer tastes great, but the bad news is that is it way undercarbed, probably 1.0-1.5 vols CO2. With ~4.5 gallons of great stuff, I'm looking for a way to fix this. Here are details: It fermented with US-05 for 4 weeks in primary, FG 1.024. The beer then spent 3 weeks in a new 5gal whiskey barrel, and I then racked it to a bottling bucket. Using an online calculator aiming for 2.2 vols CO2, I added sucrose that had been boiled in water to the bottling bucket prior to racking and gently stirred to mix the sugar. I also added 1/4-1/2 pack of dry champagne yeast to the bottling bucket, but I forgot to rehydrate and just sprinkled them in (I suspect this is my problem). Bottling went well. I have kegging equipment, so one thought is to somehow transfer from the bottles to a keg and carb. I'm worried about oxidation along the way and the PITA of transferring back to bottles. I also thought about add a tiny amount of rehydrated champagne yeast to each bottle, assuming that there is residual sugar for more carbing. The other option is to just leave it alone and chalk it up to experience. Any suggestions? TIA.
I would leave it, or if it really bothers you, maybe pour it into a plastic bottle with a carbonator cap, shake it for a few seconds at 30 psi, and serve right away.
Sometimes high gravity beers can take a very long time to carbonate. I recommend you wait another couple of months and report back. Cheers!
Be proactive. Go buy lallemand cbc cask and bottle conditioning yeast, pop your bottles and using sterilized tweezers drop a grain or two of the yeast into each bottle. Recap said bottles and wait a couple of weeks. Boom, carbbed beer. I have done this. It does work. Is it risky? Sure, but fortune favors the bold.
Thanks all. I may experiment and leave some bottles as is and possibly use a carb cap for some, and add some cask ale yeast to some as well. I'll report updates.
I'd wait it out – a 13.2% abv RIS isn't gonna be a good summer beer anyways! I bet you they're right where you want them come fall. I bottled a RIS 2 years ago and was getting worried that they would never carb. Another half year down the road and they were too carbonated. I wouldn't tamper with them anymore if I were you. Not worth risking ruining that black gold that you put so much effort into.
Definitely wait it out. If there are no signs of improvement by winter, try re-yeasting as recommended above.
My only question is why just 2.2 vols. But. I have my opinions, and reasons. Looks like you did everything right. My vote is for your ignoring it a little longer. Or, if you must tinker with it. Don't do the whole batch. As others suspect. I'm pretty positive you'll be hitting the preferred vols soon enough. Big beers take a very long time to carb up. . It's worth it though.
IMHO the beer tastes outstanding except for the carbonation. Exactly why I'm inpatient, but I'll leave it for now.
Follow up. I just chilled and opened another bottle, exactly 3 months after bottling (with champagne yeast) and it's carbed up to my liking! Lesson learned - just be patient with bottle conditioning big beers. Here is a pic several minutes after pouring. Thanks for all the sage advice.
