Bottle-Conditioned IPA - Carbonation Issues

“I popped the cap off and heard a weak "psssp" (not nearly as strong as I was expecting).” Well, that is a good sign. That means that there is some ‘active’ yeast that is producing CO2 as part of the bottle conditioning process.

I have never cold crashed an ale prior to bottling so I have no personal experience but since you have some CO2 being produced it is my guess you just need to let these bottles further condition and hope for the best.

I personally wait at least 2 weeks before trying one of my bottle conditioned beers and often I will wait 3 weeks.

I am guessing that just some patience is needed here.

Cheers!

 

Alternatively, the problem may not be with the yeast, but with the quantity of priming sugar. As noted by @JackHorzempa , it appears that there is some CO2 being produced which means that there is some yeast in suspension in the bottles.

Perhaps there wasn't enough sugar in each bottle, or you didn't mix the sugar evenly this time. Depending on how you go about adding sugar, you may not have gotten the sugar to dissolve evenly into the beer before bottling, since it is harder for sugar to dissolve into a colder liquid.

If you're not in a rush, give it some time and see what happens.

 

The Home Brewer's Prime Directive
Relax ... Don't Worry ... Have a home brew.

At no point do you need to start uncapping and adding yeast to each individual bottle.
Instead...here's what you should do
1) Relax
2) Don't Worry
3) Have a home brew
4) Move bottles to a warmer place in the house
5) Rouse the yeast (i.e., spin or invert the bottles gently every couple of three days for a week)
6) Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3.

 

I would not worry yet.
I have had several stronger beers lately that have taken longer than I expected to carbonate. I was really worried right away but after a few weeks they were good to go.

 

+1.

 

Time heals all wounds . . . and allows for bottle-carbing to be complete. The 7 days of cold crashing and 1 packet of yeast are not the problem. Most likely you just need more time. I have cold crashed for a month and then bottle-carbed to 3.0v with no problems (2 -3 weeks, but that's not a problem). The beauty of bottle carbing is it takes very little yeast to complete the task, it may take a little longer but barring some anomaly it will get done. If you are sure the sugar was measuredd & stirred, the caps are tight, and you stored at the proper carb temp then nothing to do but wait. Do not schedule any panic maneuvers until 3+ weeks.

It would be nice if you re-opened this thread with the details when you get the correct carb level.

 

Not to hijack the thread here...but I'm having a problem w/ carbonation as well. I think it might be because used sugar tabs, bottled and stored in the fridge for two weeks. ***Is it too late to move the beer from the fridge and leave it out at room temperature to enhance the process. I cracked open a beer last night and only heard a slight hiss.

 

Are you saying your beers have been in the fridge ever since bottling? If so, then yes, take them out of the fridge.

 

Yes, they have been in the fridge since bottling. I didn't know if taking them out would further complicate things.

 

If you don't take them out, they are not going to carbonate.

 

Thanks, I'm new to this and didn't know if the adjusting of temperatures would complicate matters. I'll take them out as soon as I get home!

 

Should he shake them a little bit after they've warmed up? I would assume leaving them in the fridge would drop most of the yeast down to the bottom, would that have an impact on their eventual carbonation?

 

Abuse only occurs if you let the beers get too hot (say 90 degrees F) or let it freeze, so you'll be okay.

It will probably help a bit to swirl the bottles and invert them momentarily to get things back into suspension, but with a slight 'hiss' sound already on the first bottle that @ryegene opened, I think things will be okay.

 

Yeast go dormant at such temps. You need bottles to be at roughly the same temp as fermentation to bottle condition. Room temp works, the yeast will go back to active duty and metabolize sugars left in the bottle to CO2 and other by-products.