Flat bottled beer

[twoshots]

I recently brewed a Brewferm Triple and for the first time I racked to secondary to clear. This was motivated only by a need to free up my primary FV. After a few weeks I also needed my 'secondary' as myself and a work mate are on hedgerow apple tree watch and we have collectively found more than a dozen.... Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked, so I bottle primed (1 tsp per 500ml) and used a Little Bottler on the bottom of the 'secondary'.

As I bottled I noticed that the beer toward the bottom came out a little cloudy (i.e. the first beer out with tap at the bottom) and frothed up immediately when primed. The later bottles came out clear and had barely any fizz/froth on priming. This struck me as odd as I have only primed pressure barrels previously which usually froth quite a bit.

I was a little concerned at the difference but assumed like all things brewing I should just forget about it for 2 weeks. Two weeks on I have just opened the first bottle as a carbonation tester. I chose one of the clearer ones I bottled and as I feared it is almost completely flat. An ever so slight 'pssstt' on opening the bottle and totally flat once poured.

So, how long should a cleared beer take to carbonate? (At say 20 deg). I'm not worried about the taste it's still very young and won't be sampled properly until Xmas. I am worried that I'll have half a batch of mostly flat Belgian rocket fuel. :electric:

 

[Drunken Horse]

Did you give it any time in the cold? Once the priming sugar has made the carbon dioxide it needs to go somewhere cool to absorb that into the beer.

 

[Fil]

Also no matter how careful i am to prime each n every bottle i still get a duff one every now n again where i missed out the sugar much better to prime in one if u can, avoids the possibility of the odd blank..

even tho it appeared clear going into the bottle, unless you left it at crash cooling temps for a week or so before bottling it will have been teaming with little yeasties even if u cldnt see em.

how much sediment had settled in the bottle bottom, if sparse then it probably is down to missing the priming sugar out

 

[Bowl sprayer]

I agree with Fil as I have had the same happen to me.

When I prime bottles now I do it with dextrose before I add the beer. Then I can do an easy head count to make sure they all have sugar in. Then 2 weeks warm and two weeks cold. About 1 teaspoon of dextrose per 500mil bottle for Brewferm kits does the job.

Racking Brewferm kits does seem to help cut down the bottle conditioning time needed. I sampled an Abdij last night that has been sat in the warm for 2 weeks. Very tasty already for a beer that everyone says needs a long maturation period. Already tasting like Old Tom. Happy days! Come the winter it will be perfect.

 

[twoshots]

When I prime bottles now I do it with dextrose before I add the beer. Then I can do an easy head count to make sure they all have sugar in. Then 2 weeks warm and two weeks cold. About 1 teaspoon of dextrose per 500mil bottle for Brewferm kits does the job.

This how I did it. All bottles were primed, none were missed. Two weeks in the warm followed by two days in the fridge. Flat as a pancake :cry:

I didn't crash cool, both FVs are in the pantry so sit at 20ish degrees. There wasn't a great deal of sediment but there was some. Oh well, best test another then to sooth my worries...

 

[cask is best]

Hi. I'm sure you will find that you will get a nice carbonated beer with a head to last the whole glass. I have found my brews sometimes take two months before they have a head to last the glass. Trouble is i have half finished the 40 pints by then.

The last brew i did [ This week] Stated. When bottled two days warm. Then move to a cool place [ Garage] for clearing and maturing for at least two weeks but beer will continue to improve the longer it is left. Two weeks in the warm may have something to do with it. I very much doubt this tho because in summer mine are forever in the warm.

Anyway give them a little more time and hopefully they will have got better. But that's the problem we all have until we have a production line going.
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