I bottled my last batch about 3-4 weeks ago (a red ale extract kit I received from a friend.) So far I have no carbonation. I used 3/4 of priming sugar, just as the recipe called for. I've brewed around a dozen batches of beer, and I've never had this issue. I'm lost, and am looking for some input on what went wrong and what I can do to get it carbonated. Thanks everyone.
What is the temp of the room that the bottles are sitting in? Did you stir in the priming sugar well enough?
The bottles were placed in a chest freezer with a temperature controller set at 67*F. And I added the priming sugar the same way I've done it before. And that is by putting it in the bottom of my primary fermenter and flowing the wort over it as I transfer.
Hmmm seems like all should be well, my only other guess is that the yeast in the bottles is no longer viable for whatever reason. Either that or it just needs more time.
Try warming them up outside the chest freezer. If they are in contact with the bottom of the chest freezer or sides they could be a lot colder that 67F.
Can you see any yeast sediment in the bottom of the bottles? Are you sure they were capped properly? I've had similar issues that were helped by putting the bottles in a warmer location and giving them a vigorous shake. You have nothing to lose by experimenting with a couple of bottles.
Are they still sweet with priming sugar? Or did they prime, but the caps leaked? I doubt the second, but what if you put a couple grains of dry champagne yeast into a bottle and re-capped? (I'd do this in a plastic container in case it blows up, lol). Also, what was the final gravity? what's the gravity now?
I agree, it's the sugar content, not the yeast that would lead to bottle bombing. I also think that if a sample bottle tastes somewhat sweet from the priming sugar, the carbonation failure is likely a yeast of temperature issue.
I have had similar problems before. Find the warmest room of your house. Give each bottle a good swirl and leave them in there for another two weeks, at least. The past week in New Orleans was pretty warm, so if the chest freezer was coming on regularly, it could be blowing very cold air on the bottles. Freezers really are not engineered to maintain warmer temps. When you set the temp in the 60s and the freezer comes on and shuts off to regulate it, you are really short cycling the compressor.
I dont recall my exact gravities, but I know they were in proper range for completed fermentation. I'm going to try the swirl method and give them another week or so. If that doesn't work, I picked up some yeast to re-add to the bottles. Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I haven't taken a gravity reading since my final reading. Maybe I'll give that a check if the next one I open isn't carbonated.
You don't mention whether or not you boiled your priming sugar in water before adding it. If you just used straight sugar, it's possible that it didn't mix evenly or you left a lot of sugar at the bottom of your bottling bucket. I had something similar happen early in my brewing career. The first time I cold crashed a beer, I racked the cold beer onto my priming solution and I assume the beer being cold caused the sugar to recrystallize and not distribute evenly. This left some of my bottles flat and others over carbonated. Two of them even exploded. That's the only time I've ever had bottle bombs.
Hopefully my bottles won't become bombs, I've been lucky so far. But yes, I boiled the priming sugar first.
