Hopefully I can get some help as to what the heck is going on. My last 2 batches of 5 gallon extract kits have not been carbonated in their bottles after priming was done with sugar. Granted I upgraded my extract kit to include extra fermentables to give a higher ABV, but I don’t think I overdid it and all the yeast was used up (but maybe that’s the answer).
Has anyone else ever experienced this? The first batch was close to 13% ABV, which I attributed to being too high octane. I proceeded to open every bottle and drop a few sugar tabs into each, with no favorable results.
My second bath was lower octane, only 8% ABV, but again no carbonation, except for one bottle that I opened. This was the last bottle that I filled, and wasn’t filled as the others because I ran out of beer. There was approx. 3-4 inches of headspace in the bottle, but this bottle was actually carbonated.
So, my question is, did I overdo my recipe, and use up all my yeast during fermentation? If that’s the case, then why did the one bottle mentioned above carbonate with extra headspace in the bottle?
Any help or assistance would be greatly appreciated.
13% is a stretch for a lot of yeasts; that one may need reyeasting. And at least a month in the bottle. But other than that I’d also like to hear the answers to what, @flars is asking; plus what amount of what sugar was used it bottling.
To add to what was said above, if you primed at bottling, you don’t want to add more sugar.
More time and a warm area will usually work. As a last resort you can add more yeast to each bottle.
When I bottled, I would add a 1/2 pack of rehydrated dry yeast at bottling for insurance.
13% is enough alcohol to kill most beer yeasts. If it really is that high, it isn’t going to carbonate unless you add a yeast that has a high alcohol tolerance. Most wine yeasts can handle that, but very few can handle getting pitched into a high alcohol environment without a lot of preparation first.
If the high alcohol is the problem with that brew, something else is causing the problem with the 8% beer, and we can’t figure that out without more info. How long did you wait after fermentation was done before you bottled it? What yeast did you use? What temperature did you store the bottles at? Did you buy discount crown caps that didn’t include a rubber coating on the inside surface?
I don’t know if you can, but it is possible that it isn’t a process failure, but rather an equipment failure that is responsible for the problems. Something like bad bottle caps, using the wrong kind of bottles or a capper that doesn’t crimp the caps tight enough.
Thanks for the response. I haven’t been on here in awhile.
I used dry Safale yeast in both batches. The first one has been done for probably 2 months now, and the second about a month.
I did move both to a warmer environment. I did have them in my basement in Central PA, with an intermittent fire going. So now they are both in the “living” quarters of my house…
Thanks for the response. Sorry for the late reply.
I never heard of adding extra yeast at bottling before. Do you run the risk of exploding bottles? I guess if fermentation is complete, the only sugars for the yeast to consume would be the priming sugar, but I would still be scared of a ticking time bomb.
Adding extra yeast at bottling is not a problem. Adding too much sugar at bottling or bottling a batch that hasn’t finished fermenting is a big problem that can lead to bottle bombs at the worst, and gushers at the best.
Yep, because you were correct with your first statement. Mother additional yeast is only going to eat up the any sugar that has been added (your priming sugar). Bottle bombs occurr when too much priming sugar is added or fermentation wasn’t complete.
