i have made an oktoberfest/marzen. i lagered the beer for 3 weeks at around 34F with my temp controlled fridge. i have read and heard that there could still be enough yeast in suspension to carbonate the beer even though it is clear. i primed and bottled, waited a week just to check (patience is not one of my strong points) there was a hiss when i opened the bottle, but the beer was still flat with no head to speak of… i know its early and ive heard this can take 5-6 more weeks to fully carbonate. so my question is , should i be good just to let this beer sit and carbonate? i have other beer to drink so im not in a huge hurry on this, i just want to nip a problem in the bud early on , in case i need to open them and add some yeast.
thanks in advance for your responses
I would use patience.
With lagers, being not in a hurry is a good thing. Do you have the bottles at room temp? That will help. But, you’ve unmasked a problem folks have that brew lagers and just bottle- too much yeast can drop out and they need to add yeast at bottling. I’d give it a few weeks before I got too nervous.
You can go way longer than three weeks without having to reyeast; I’ve gone three months.
I would expect that, given more time this will continue to carb. The fact that you got a hiss after one week indicates that there is yeast at work and they should continue to work until the carbing sugar is consumed.
