Bottle Conditioning Time for Ale Brewed with Honey

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Mdwstbrlvr, Mar 1, 2017.

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  1. Mdwstbrlvr

    Mdwstbrlvr Initiate (0) Nov 12, 2011 Illinois

    I was wondering if anyone else has noticed a significant increase in the time it takes for their homebrew to carbonate when they used honey in their boil? I've brewed an IPA using 2 lbs of honey at the end of the boil a few times (OG approx 1.070), primed with 2/3 cup dextrose for bottling. I always find myself dumping a bottle or two of flat beer due to opening them too early. I have brewed several ales with just LME/DME (no honey) before and have been enjoying them with just over a week after bottling. But with this recipe I'm finding that anything opened 10 - 12 days or even two weeks is flat. With my most recent batch, I'm going on 17 days without a trace of carbonation, . I'm debating if I should wait longer or if it's a lost cause and if I should pop them open and throw a little fresh yeast into each bottle. I really don't like to let an IPA sit in bottles too long. Anybody have experience, thoughts, ideas?
     
    #1 Mdwstbrlvr, Mar 1, 2017
  2. minderbender

    minderbender Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2009 New York

    I doubt the honey is to blame, it's mostly simple sugars. I would give it a little more time, two weeks is the minimum before I even open a bottle. If the fermentation went normally, I also very much doubt the yeast are to blame, unless the beer was aged for a very long time after primary fermentation (like over 6 months). How warm are you storing these bottles?
     
    #2 minderbender, Mar 1, 2017
    machalel and crcostel like this.
  3. GreenKrusty101

    GreenKrusty101 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2008 Nevada

    Well, honey should be pretty close to regular sugar (100% fermentable) ..but honey is a liquid and contains some water so use a tad more to carb...should be a calculator out there somewhere if you are so inclined.

    Oh wait, u said you used it in the boil? Nevermind :rolling_eyes:
     
    #3 GreenKrusty101, Mar 1, 2017
  4. crcostel

    crcostel Initiate (0) Feb 26, 2006 Illinois

    Agree with @minderbender - I've never opened a bottle before 2 weeks and usually wait 3.
     
    #4 crcostel, Mar 1, 2017
  5. GormBrewhouse

    GormBrewhouse Pooh-Bah (2,111) Jun 24, 2015 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah

    Honey ain't the issue. I make an IPA with honey at least 3 times a year, no problems. What temp is the brew stored at? And what did u sanitize yer bottles with.
     
    #5 GormBrewhouse, Mar 2, 2017
  6. GreenKrusty101

    GreenKrusty101 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2008 Nevada

    Don't do that :slight_smile:
     
    #6 GreenKrusty101, Mar 2, 2017
    crcostel, corbmoster and GormBrewhouse like this.
  7. Mdwstbrlvr

    Mdwstbrlvr Initiate (0) Nov 12, 2011 Illinois

    Thanks everyone for the responses! During secondary and bottling, the brew was stored somewhere around 72 degrees. It was in secondary for only a month, I try to keep the time from brew day to the beer hitting my mouth as short as possible for IPA's. But just before bottling it did sit in another room for a few hours that was probably more around 50 degrees. I was wondering if too much of the yeast settled out due to that time in the colder room, which is why I was thinking about cracking them and throwing in a pinch of yeast. The bottles do show sediment in the bottom every night when I go in to give them a good swirl (hoping to get the yeast going again), but I'm thinking they're done.

    For sanitizing I ran the bottles through a cycle in the dishwasher to get out any dirt/dust, then sanitized them by dipping them in star-san solution using the star-san recommended ratio of water/sanitizer. The bottles sat several minutes upside down from the time I sanitized them to when I started filling them.

    I think that based on everyone's responses I'll wait a couple more days, putting me at three weeks, and try again before I take the time and effort to re-open the bottles, and risk infection.

    Thanks!
     
    #7 Mdwstbrlvr, Mar 2, 2017
  8. minderbender

    minderbender Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2009 New York

    To my mind the most likely culprit is the amount of priming sugar used. From what you've described, the yeast should have been fine, and I don't think re-yeasting would accomplish anything.
     
    #8 minderbender, Mar 2, 2017
  9. minderbender

    minderbender Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2009 New York

    I mean, admittedly, it's weird that you're not getting any carbonation at all. If the priming sugar were insufficient, it should just be a matter of having low carbonation, not none. But on the other hand, plenty of people cold-crash and then bottle with no added yeast, and achieve carbonation without difficulty. I really don't think the yeast are the problem. Nor do I think your sanitizing methods are to blame. And your temperatures all seem reasonable, at that temperature I would expect my bottles to be pretty much fully carbonated after two weeks.

    By the way, a couple of notes for future reference:

    1. A month in secondary is unnecessary for this style of beer (really for most styles of beer). You could typically bottle an IPA after two weeks of primary fermentation (no secondary), and some would bottle even sooner than that.

    2. The dishwasher is not great for cleaning bottles. The mouths are too small, the water won't get into all of them. You should clean them by hand. Then only a single sanitizing step is necessary—you could use the dishwasher on a "sanitize" cycle, or you could use StarSan. It's not necessary to do both (although it is not harmful).

    3. I would advise weighing the priming sugar rather than measuring it by volume. Weight is more precise. Also, it's fine to use table sugar instead of corn sugar, and table sugar is probably cheaper. That said, for table sugar the amount called for is different, so just make sure you take into account whichever priming sugar you are using. There is info on priming here, and this calculator is handy too. Just note that the temperature to use is the highest temperature the beer has reached since fermentation ended, which is not necessarily the beer's current temperature.
     
    #9 minderbender, Mar 2, 2017
  10. redgorillabreath

    redgorillabreath Zealot (511) Mar 29, 2015 Pennsylvania

    Fwiw, the one times I had carb troubles was with Wyeast 1728. But not every time. One time was definitely related to the yeast giving up the ghost. It was a pumpkin Stout that sat in secondary for a couple of months. I eventually added champagne yeast and it carbed right up.
     
    #10 redgorillabreath, Mar 3, 2017
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