Very little carbonation - help!

[awilki01]

Guys, I have a wee bit of a problem. I bottled my English Brown Ale about 8 days ago. Although a bit early, I just wanted to try it. I have virtually no carbonation at all. The beer is flat :(

After 8 days on other beers, I usually have pretty good carbonation.

I did have pressure in the bottle, but I guess it's just not good enough. The OG was 1.082 (lots of fermentables), and the FG was 1.030 - it should have got down to 1.020, but it never made it. Is the yeast inactive? If it was, wouldn't I have no pressure in the bottle?

Is there anything I can do to add carbonation to these beers? I made this batch for me and a friend I haven't seen in 3 years. It really makes me upset.

The beer does taste great though - other than the lack of carbonation.

Please help me out here? I just want it carbonated for my buddy!

[shifty brewer]

Give it another week. Sometimes I have beer that's ready to go in a matter of days, other times it takes a wee bit longer.

[awilki01]

If its not ready in another 7 days or so, what options do I have for carbonation?

[awilki01]

I think it quite possible that my yeast is intolerable to the higher alcohol levels.

Should I repitch the whole batch with some champagne yeast and rebottle?

If so, can you point me in the right direction on the procedure to repitch for carbonation? I don't want the champagne yeast to provide any more alchohol content, I just want it for pressure. I believe that once pressure reaches a certain point in the bottle, the yeast activity will halt. Am I correct in my assumption?

Regardless, I'm going to wait another 5 days or so before I resort to drastic measures.

[BluesHarp]

I had a Scottish Wee Heavy (OG 1.087, FG 1.023) that did that ...I did everything I could think of - moving the beer to a warmer spot, being patient (;)) ...but to no avail.

I ended up opening every bottle after sanitizing it (mixed up a plastic pitcher of no-rinse sani and let each bottle sit in it for a couple of minutes) and dropping in about a half dozen to a dozen flakes of champagne yeast with a tiny sanitized spoon.

I re-capped each bottle immediately after adding the yeast with a new cap that also had soaked in no-rinse sanitizer.

I inverted each bottle three or four times to get the new yeast in suspension and to stir up whatever old yeast might be lurking at the bottom; after a couple of weeks, I opened a bottle and found it perfectly carbonated. I haven't found a flat or "bad" bottle yet.

[awilki01]

How much longer should I wait before I consider the champagne yeast method? I am kind of in a time crunch here. My buddy is coming in 20 days, and I really want to enjoy this beer with him.

And, perhaps I am just not aware, but I always thought that fermented beer (especially mine at 7% abv) was very resilient to any outside microorganisms. Regardless, if I do resort to the champagne yeast method, I will sanitize the outside of the bottles first - just to be sure.

Regards,
Adam

[eyepah]

20 Days!??? Good God Man! Relax!

Carbonation will come. Have Faith in thy Yeast!

[BrewDog]

Patience. It'll carb up. It hasn't had enough time yet.