Karl's 90 Shilling Ale

Brewed this beer and left in carboy for four weeks, FG close to brewing information. Transferred to secondary and left set for another two weeks (don’t rush the beer :slight_smile: ). Bottled using 3.2 Oz cane sugar. Left alone for ten days. Opened one to see how the CO2 was going. Seemed flat. Not crisp at all. Used S-04 for my yeast and saw where it ferments slower. Could my beer just be slow and the bottling time needs to be much longer? I think I used the correct amount of cane sugar for the carbonization suggested for strong Scottish ales. This was a five gallon brew.

What temp are your bottles stored at? If they are in a cool place it can take a while to carbonate.

I store all my beer in the basement of my house. Typical temp down here is about 67 or 68 degrees. Seems right and the beer is always in a nice dark place with no way for sunlight to get to them. We have had relatively cool weather but not enough to run the furnace much. We leave the window shades up and get lots of sunlight into the top of the house to keep it nice and comfortable. The house is brick and does not cool off fast.

10 days is not enough time for a relatively high ABV beer to carbonate, especially at a relatively low temp(for priming).
Give her another week or 2 and you’ll probably be fine. If you can get the temp a little higher that will help. I use a heating pad sometimes when my basement is below 70. It’s also not a bad idea to give each bottle a little shake to resuspend the yeast.