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Flat beer with Fizz Drops – help a newbie!

Northern Brewer General
#1

Much to my disappointment, my first bottle of Off the Topper made from the one gallon kit was completely flat a little more than two weeks after bottling. It was my first time using the Fizz Drops instead of bottling with either honey or maple syrup. I’m pretty sure that everything was sanitized properly, as I’ve done the same thing for previous batches and they came out over-carbonated if anything. My test bottle was only refrigerated for a couple hours, as I was impatient and really wanted to see how it came out.

The beer sat for two weeks after bottling with the Fizz Drops that came with the kit, but temperatures were definitely colder than 65-70 degrees. Do I just give it more time, flip the bottles upside down to get the yeast active, or actively cool it for longer? Really appreciative of any suggestions as I’m about a week away from bottling two more batches of different beer and want to get those right.

#2

At your conditioning temperature give the beer a few more weeks. Fizz drops have been known to take longer than table sugar or dextrose.

#3

Best advice I have gotten off this forum was to ditch the Fizz Drops and start using Domino Sugar Cube Dots. I just pop one per 12oz bottle of beer instead of the Fizz Drops. I haven’t had a bad bottling yet since doing that. I also always flip the bottles upside out several times while they are conditioning to make sure all the sugar gets distributed.

#4

I generally see better results with fizz drops when I refrigerate for 2 days.

#5

Thank you all for your recommendations. Maybe I just need to give it more time, but after flipping the bottles twice in the last week and bringing them up to a warmer temperature, I tried a bottle that had spent two days refrigerated and there was no change – still completely flat.

I’m going to give it more time, but I’m also intrigued by the Domino Sugar Cube Dots. Since I’ve already put the Fizz Drops in, I’d imagine that uncapping/adding a sugar cube dot/recapping would be a bad idea, right?

Thanks again for your replies. I was hoping to report back with good news, but it looks like I need to put more time into seeing this batch through.

#6

It would not be safe to add more sugar until you have given this beer more time to condition at the warmer temperature. If the fizz drops are working you will hear a release of CO2 from the bottle even without chilling the beer. Wait two weeks before checking another bottle that is being held at 70° to 75°F.

Did you see any evidence of undissolved fizz drop in the last beer you poured?

#7

It’s frustrating but that is the tough part about most of homebrewing.

#8

Your patience will likely be rewarded. Don’t dump the bottles - sample one every two weeks until either the carbonation “kicks in” or you’re out of bottles.

With my one gallon batches, I’ve had a couple of bottles in a couple of batches that I kept for 4-5 months for when distant friends come to visit. The carbonation in these bottles (using fizz drops) has always been good in these bottles.

#9

I wonder ifn you don’t git a stainless steel skewer, sanitize it, then open the beer bottle go in there and try break those crappy drops apart, you know, stab at it with those steely knives…… Then re-cap and wait… again. I believe Flars was the first I read that mentioned sugar cubes… Hopefully he bought some commodities or even stocks accordingly! Sneezles61

#10

I didn’t want anyone to think I wasn’t grateful for all the advice. Our temperatures got warmer, I shook the bottles a couple times, and today finally got the beer I was hoping to get. Thanks for all the help.

I’ve got a couple more batches carbonating in bottles using the Domino’s dots. Excited to sample those… after waiting longer than I think I need to.

1 Like
#11

Higher temps seem to help quite a bit IME.

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