Carbonation Issues

How much sugar?
How long did you give the bottles to carbonate?
At what temperature?

 

Did your beers ferment down to about the final gravities you were expecting?

 

It doesn't take much yeast to carbonate. But if it had quit fermenting your beer (weak/stressed/high ABV/whatever) it could explain the lack of carbonation. But for 4 batches in a row... I'm really thinking it might be a capping issue.

I wonder if your bottles were really holding all the carbonation from your soda test. Slight leaks could explain no noticeable carbonation in your beers, and less carbonation in your soda (after only 5 days).

 

first and foremost, weigh your priming sugar. volume is not your friend here.
carb tablets are no better and best avoided imo.

checking your capper is actually quite easy.
get a six pack of commercial beer. recap a few very cold beers immediately after opening. check again in a week or so. if they are flat then there you are. even with the release of gas those commercial beers should still be well carbed. if not you have a capping issue.

Cheers.

 

I had this same issue on a DIPA batch I did a few months back.

The problem was that I was capping too hard for some reason. I could shake the bottle and they wouldn't foam up, but the caps being fastened too tight left some air pockets and crevices in all of the bottles, with the exception of the three 22 ounce bottles that I used.

 

FWIW I went through the same thing last summer. I checked my brew logs and I hadn't done anything different that I noticed. I had 3 batches in a row turn out with weak carbonation and a fourth that was pancake flat. I've done about 4 or 5 more batches since then and haven't had the problem since. In summation, I've no idea why it happened, but I have obviously solved the problem.

 

Make sure they are twist off bottles

 

I think you mean "are not twist off bottle"

 

Buy another capper. I actually own two of them – one as a backup just in case the old one decides to crap out on me halfway into bottling. But, @billandsuz brings up a good point. I'd test that out first to make sure it is indeed the capper that's causing the issue. Hope you figure it out!

 

Lionshead maybe? Some of the Mexican beers too? It's probably best the OP uses the same "style" of bottle that he bottles with such as SN style stubby vs longneck, and how much of a collar there is under the lip (think goose island vs. other longnecks, or lagunitas vs. other stubbies)

 

What vendor did you purchase your bottle caps from. Which brand of bottle caps are they?

Cheers!

 

I just recently read comments on the Northern Brewer website that some folks have reported issues with bottle caps they purchased from them. One example is below:

“However, for some reason when I used the gold caps, I would estimate 40-50% did not seal properly and I wasted the majority of a great batch of beer. The beer tastes fine, but it is flat and is random within the bottles opened.” Posted 7/14/15.

Maybe your issue is the particular caps vs. the capper? Just a thought.

Cheers!