I embarked on replicating DFH’s Midas Touch as per Sam’s book instructions (US-05). The beer came great but it’s been almost 4 weeks and bottles came out with ultra low carbonation. I repitched a small amount of fresh US 05 at bottling fearing fermentation yeast stress due to high OG. Other posts suggest higher OG brews take longer to carb but… how long?
How long is a piece of string?
There are a lot of factors that come into play.
What were your O G and F G?
How much yeast did you pitch?
How much priming sugar did you use?
What temperature is the room the bottles are carbing in?
The last barleywine I made went from 1.093 to 1.018 (around 10% alc.) in a little over a week, using S-04. I bottled after several weeks of bulk aging and after two weeks it had a better head than any other beer I’ve ever brewed.
OG was 1.085, FG 1.015 measured with refractometer. Pitched about 2L of harvested US 05 yeast slurry with extremely vigorous fermentation using blow off tube. Ferm temp about 68 degrees primary (measured at carboy fermometer), secondary 70 degrees all on an air conditioned controlled room 2 wks primary, 3 wks secondary. Used 5 oz corn sugar on ~4.5 gal. Reyeasted at bottling with 30 ml of known active US-05 yeast slurry. Bottles are carbing at warmer spot ~ 72-74 degrees. Have a mix of Duvel 330 ml bottles w/oxigen barrier caps and Belgian 750 ml corked bottles. Tested the capped bottles for leakage with balloon and they are tight.
I would leave that high OG/FG beer for about 2 months before sampling it. I just bottled a Chimay Grand Reserve clone, OG 1.082, using WLP530 Belgian yeast. I won’t open the first one until probably October sometime. I’ll probably start pouring it daily around Christmas or so.
Good idea. I popped one of the small bottles and there is carb activity although a quite slow one.
That’s only about 9% ABV so they ought to carb up fairly quickly if you give the bottles a swirl every now and then to keep the yeast in suspension.
Thanks guys. Useful advice. I guess its all about combining tips with patience 
Having the same issue with a double IPA. OG 1.100 FG 1.014. Been 2 weeks very little carbonation. This was a five gallon batch, primed with 5 oz of corn sugar. Extremely low carbonation. I’m going to wait a bit I s’pose…
Tom-R2’s advice was right on. I sampled a bottle after several swirls spanning 2 additional weeks and they carb’ed perfectly. One item to point out is that corked belgian bottles were carbed much more, which makes me suspicious of the O2 barrier caps which according to some reviews have led some colleagues to low carbonation as well. In any case, its a wonderful recipe I recommend trying out if you re into belgian style ales.
I recently did a RIS that is taking a while to carbonate. Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.
[quote=“karithna”]I recently did a RIS that is taking a while to carbonate. Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.[/quote]Or pitch fresh yeast and keep the bottles warm and the yeast roused and have carbonation in 7-10 days. 
