Low carbonation

[Moondoggy]

After bottle conditioning for 14 days my batch of Brewers Best Classic English Pale Ale has no head and very little carbonation.

It was a 5 gallon batch and I utilized White Labs English Ale Yeast #WLP002.

The fermentation period was 15 days in the primary and I racked on the 15th day.

I primed the beer with the supplied sugar and have been waiting patiently.

I have tasted the beer after bottle conditioning for 7, 10 and now 14 days.

Each time I have noticed slight increases in carbonation and the taste is good although flat.

I am perplexed since my first batch of Brewers Best Brown Ale was fully carbonated after 10 days, holds a huge head and is tasty.

This is only my second batch and I was wondering if this is a common occurrence?

Furthermore, I read in a thread that shaking the bottles my re-suspend the yeast allowing for additional carbonation. Is there any truth to this?

[Stodbrew]

What's the temp. your bottles are conditioning at? If it's too low, it may take a while longer.

[Moondoggy]

In the closet at 68 to 70 degrees constant. Very dark and I covered the cases with a blanket.

[Stodbrew]

That should definitely be warm enough. the only other possibility I can think of is maybe the priming sugar didn't get mixed in thoroughly enough and some bottles didn't get their share. Other bottles could still be fine.

[Moondoggy]

This time I added the sugar to the bottom of the bottling bucket to begin with and transfered the beer on top.

I did not stir and I probably should have. I'll wait longer and hope for the best.

Any thoughts on the shaking the bottle idea?

[Stodbrew]

I'm not sure shaking the bottle would do anything, if there's no sugar in there. But I suppose it couldn't hurt at this point.

[Moondoggy]

First, I really appreaciate your time on this.

One last question. Is there any type of contamination that would prohibit carbonation?

The beer does taste good it is just flat, lifeless and thin. It is a little cloudy but nothing severe.

[Stodbrew]

I can't think of any kind of contamination that would prohibit carbonation. If there were any kind, you would smell it and/or taste it, and you would know if it was contaminated. You would think that it would be properly mixed the way you did it, so I'm kind of at a loss, although, I'm still going with my original assessment.

Any time you need help, that's why we are all here, to help each other out as much as possible!

Cheers!

Steve

[Moondoggy]

Patience is a virtue. Thanks again Steve.

Sincerely,
John

[Moondoggy]

Well. I just threw a thermometer in the closet.

It has been very cold in Michigan the last couple of weeks.

The closet is at 60 degrees.

I am going to pull out the beer and put in a warmer area for a few days and try that.

[Stodbrew]

Cool. Let us know how it turns out.

[Moondoggy]

If I were more diligent in tracking what my temps were and not assuming how warm the closet was I would have known how cold it was and that it was the cause of my problem.

Fortunately, the beer has come full circle and is carbonated, holds a head and taste great.

Thanks for the “kung fu” Stodbrew!

[Stodbrew]

Glad to hear everything worked out!

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by Stodbrew
I'm not sure shaking the bottle would do anything, if there's no sugar in there. But I suppose it couldn't hurt at this point.

Only reason I could see to shake the bottles would be if you had managed to floc out all of the yeast in the bottles by storing at a very low temp.

Ahhhhh -- I see this turned out ok.