Flat beer

[serum]

Hi all

I've just tasted a few bottles from a batch I did and they're pretty much flat. They were made from a Brewferm Ambiorix kit. I managed to hit the starting and target gravities bang on, then moved them to my garage for a few weeks to clarify as per the instructions. This was around christmas. I live in London so the weather was fairly mild apart from the wind, which they were sheltered from.

I used 150g plain white sugar to batch prime as the instructions say, which should be more than enough for a 15L batch. I then left them indoors for 2 weeks and moved to my garage for another 6 before trying it. The ones I've tried are completely flat. I can tell they'd be pretty nice if they had some life in them so I'm gutted.

What do you think might have caused this? it doesn't taste really sweet like you'd expect if the sugar hadn't fermented but there's little to no bubbling going on, even when poured in quite aggressively.

Is there any way of saving the batch?

 

[joe1002]

What bottles did you use? Are they sealed well?

 

[serum]

They're a mixture of bottles but mainly morland / black sheep / wychwood bottles which seem to cap really well. I've used caps from the same manufacturer before with no problem.

The only thing I can think of is that the temperature round here dropped considerably after xmas so is there a chance I put them in the cold too early? Will the yeast be dead now?

I've done a St Peter's IPA since then and it's carbed fine although it's not as strong a beer. My other Brewferm ones have gone alright when I've used the same method.

 

[MyQul]

Pocket Beer engine will sort you out - AKA 10ml syringe. Can get em from boots for a quid. Gives you a nice head on a virtually flat beer. Suck a bit of beer up into the syringe then squirt it back into your glass of beer. I tend to carbonate lowish anyway and I think my hands arent strong enough to really tighten down the bottle tops on my pet bottles so quite a bit of the CO2 seems to escape. So my beer never has a head when pouring. Couple of squirts with the engine and I got a nice inch or two of head on me beer

 

[serum]

Pocket Beer engine will sort you out - AKA 10ml syringe. Can get em from boots for a quid. Gives you a nice head on a virtually flat beer. Suck a bit of beer up into the syringe then squirt it back into your glass of beer. I tend to carbonate lowish anyway and I think my hands arent strong enough to really tighten down the bottle tops on my pet bottles so quite a bit of the CO2 seems to escape. So my beer never has a head when pouring. Couple of squirts with the engine and I got a nice inch or two of head on me beer

Thanks for the tip but it's not just the head that's the problem. This beer really needs some carbonation so it tastes right.

 

[Unclejona]

Call it Draft??

 

[winelight]

Even using exactly the same process, bottles, caps, capper, amount of priming sugar, two different brews can result in totally different carbonation levels - one with a few bubbles, the other with a massive overflowing head. I have no idea why nor what can be done about it. The only thing I can think of is the house being cooler in winter when the bottles are supposedly carbonating.

 

[serum]

I might try shaking a few of them up a bit and bringing them indoors. This is a shame as I can tell they'd be nice with a bit of fizz. As things stand I can't drink it without feeling like I'm downing a pint I've left in a glass overnight after a drinking session. That certainly leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

 

[chrig]

Its worth filling one plastic bottle as well as your glass ones so you can give it a squeeze to test carbonation. some will take longer to carbonate, and its been cold recently. I've had some take several weeks in the warm.

 

[serum]

I think this must have been a bottling error. I just brought a few indoors and opened one and got about half a pint of head. That's cheered me up. I thought I was going to have to bin the whole batch.

 

[rats_eyes]

I thought I'd done the same to my abdij, the first one i had was flat as a pancake. The next one was much better a few weeks later. Letting it warm up a bit before drinking helped, but my bottle store might be a bit colder up here in Aberdeen, can be anywhere between 10c and -2.

 

[pms67]

Hi,ive done the Diabolo and the Grand Cru,both needed at least 5 weeks in the warm and 1
week in cold before fully carbed.Brewferm are one of the best 1 can kits around but
take 2-3 times longer than Coopers for.example.Quality beer if you can wait !
Good luck mate

 

[Pensive]

Had you thought about using a soda stream? Bit of a bodge but it might improve your situation.

 

[serum]

I took 5 bottles back into the house a few weeks ago and shook them up to see what happens. I've just bunged one in the fridge and will test it in a little while so fingers crossed.

I've not got a soda stream but the thought did cross my mind. Has anyone ever tried that?