So I brewed my first beer about two month ago and bottled it about one and a half weeks ago. Tried it and it doesn't seem to be carbonated. It's slightly carbonated but not to the point it needs to be. I'm not sure what went wrong or what to do. Any help is appreciated
#1- that's not near enough time for it to be fully carbonated as you stated. #2- when you were bottling, did you frequently gently stir the priming sugar in the bucket? If you didn't, most of the sugar sank down to the bottom of the bucket and you'll have some under carbonated bottles and some to be potential bottle bombs. One more thing, make sure you're storing your bottles around 70 F. The warmer, the faster it'll carbonate but within reason.
Also, you may of not had much yeast to carbonate since you waited over 2 months to bottle. Just let them sit and rotate the bottles every week or so, (gently). Good luck and let us know, just be patient. In the mean time, brew another batch!!
Get back to us in another week or so, 1.5 weeks is not going to be fully carbonated. But, good news, it sounds like the yeast are working, just give them more time.
Thanks, as always helpful advice. By rotate what did you mean? Is it similar to rotating fine wines? Should I be carbonating my beer on its side instead of standing up?
I would do nothing and just wait another week or two. Do not put them on their side. You want the yeast to settle at the bottom of the bottle for easy pouring. I doubt the yeast aren't up to the job too. Even when I rack to secondary for bulk aging and gelatin fine after I still have enough yeast left for natural carbonation.
I wasn't suggesting laying them on their side. I have had some batches that were slow at producing carbonation so i just grabbed the cap of the bottle and rotated the bottles back and forth slightly to agitate the yeast. It worked well for me. But just let them sit longer and they should be fine.
