High Gravity beers and carbonation

“Question to the group is does carbonation take longer in higher gravity beers?” That is indeed the ‘reputation’ for higher gravity beers. I have never brewed a 10% ABV beer (the highest for me is 9.7%, so yeah I guess 10%). My beer (a BSDA) was pretty much carbonated at 1 month but not fully carbonated. I would suggest more patience is warranted here; maybe wait one more month before opening another bottle? I bottled my BSDA in May with the intention to ‘really’ start drinking these beers in another month or two.

Cheers!

 

Why does a higher gravity beer take longer to carbonate?

 

Two things...
1) Home-brewed malted beverages with a high ABV will benefit from adding fresh yeast at bottlin'time.
2) Carbonation can sometimes be improved by re-suspending the yeast. Grab a'hold a bottle by the top in one hand and its bottom in the other. Give the bottle a sharp twist a time or three as if you were replacing a light bulb.
3) According to Hoyle...Barleywines are carbed at a relatively low level (~1.8 vols).

 

Alcohol is toxic to yeast. The longer you make them sit in a high alcohol environment, the unhappier they are, and many don't survive. Smaller numbers of unhappy yeast take longer to get the job done. Here's a good read on bottle conditioning.

 

Reyeasting is the easiest option. Not that most of us brew enough to krausen to carbonate, but that's how Hair of the Dog bottle conditions.

 

I do this on all my bottled beers, works great, even on strong beers. I put all the bottles into my ferm fridge for 2 weeks set @ 70*F, then put them where they need to be (cellar, fridge, drop temp to lager, etc). I don't typically allow my high ABV beers to bulk age for months, only a few weeks. Even my sours are carbed up in 2 weeks (reyeasted).

 

Patience, young Jedi. Re-yeasting would have help, as your boys have already gone through quite a fight, but with sugar, time and an appropriate temperature, the beer will eventually carb.