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The IPA I made has been sitting in bottles for 2 weeks around 73-75F and is not carbonating.

One thing I did prior to bottling was I cold crashed the secondary for about 1 day to get some floating dry hop residue to settle. I wonder if this made too much of the yeast settle out, affecting the carbonation now.

I have some dry yeast on hand. Is it appropriate to open the bottles add a few grains of dry yeast to them and recap? Has anyone attempted this, or have any other suggestions? the flavor and bitterness of this beer is actually very good right now, considering it is flat, it just needs to be carbonated. It would be a shame to dump this batch.

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  • Ok so I roused the yeast and put the bottles in a slightly warmer area for another week. I tried one after a week and it is still completely flat. I think I am going to try and uncap the bottles, add a few grains of dry yeast (safale-05), and recap. I am considering adding a small amount of priming sugar to each bottle as well, though I'm concerned this may create "bottle bombs". Originally I did add a litle more than 2/3 cup priming sugar solution to the bottling bucket. Anyone have any opinions on whether it is advisable to add a small amount of priming sugar to bottles at this point along w
    – Bob M.
    Jul 20, 2011 at 15:13
  • So last night I uncapped the bottles and added a few grains of dry yeast (safale-05) to them and recapped. I inverted them gently to mix. I noticed immediately some foam forming at the top of the beer in the bottles, so it appears to be working. I hope this does the trick. There definately was some co2 in the bottles when I uncapped them, though none seemed to give off an impressive sound when uncapping. I do have two swing top 2L growlers filled that seemed to be slightly more carbonated than the bottles. Anyway hopefully this will work, and I haven't negatively effected the beer.
    – Bob M.
    Jul 21, 2011 at 13:16
  • Just to follow up w/Everyone. About 2 weeks after I added yeast and recapped it finally started to carb. In fact it came out great and only got better with age. I did get some visible bacteria in a handful of bottles (shown on neck, not in the beer itself). I drank them as well and haven't really noticed any significant off flavors. I really believe in this case the yeast was just spent. I don't believe this batch would have carbed without adding the yeast. That being said I definately would not do this regularly and think it is definately a case by case scenario. Thnx all for the help.
    – Bob M.
    Sep 18, 2011 at 23:28
  • I got lazy and let a batch of IPA sit in the secondary for three weeks and had the same problem with little to no carbination. I opened them up and added a small amount of sugar to each bottle and waited two weeks. Ony thing I got was flat beer with some off flaver. I hated to throw it away then it was suggested to me the use of a keg. Carbination at your finger tips, now Im really lazy and dont bottle anymore. I am new to homebrewing and I am sure I have missed some note on exactly when you should bottle, in that none of my beer has been anywhere close to over carbinated when I bottled.
    – user2178
    Feb 19, 2012 at 16:06

2 Answers 2

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Well, wait another week. Sometimes it can be slow.

Assuming that's not the problem, the first suggestion would be to gently swirl the bottles individually to try and rouse some yeast. Cold crashing shouldn't have knocked them all out of suspension. It may have taken some of them out, but there still should be plenty to carb. Swirl, wait a week, and open one.

Looks like your carbing temperature is good, so that's not a problem.

Are you certain you remembered priming sugar? Not trying to be a smarty, but just something to ponder back on. If you possibly underused the sugar, you could try some carbonation drops - they work quite nicely.

But most importantly, give it at least 3 weeks. Yeast work on their own schedule, unfortunately!

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  • Thanks for the answer. I used btwn 2/3 to 3/4 cup of priming sugar. The ABV is kind of high. I meant for it to be around 9-10%, but was off on my OG and it is closer to 7.8-8% (FG around 1012-1014). Could this affect the rate of carbonation? I just moved the bottles to a warmer area 75-78F, maybe this will help, I don't want it to be too warm though.
    – Bob M.
    Jul 12, 2011 at 19:42
  • How long has the beer been fermenting in total? It's possible at that high of abv a lot of the yeast has died off, which could result in slower carbonation. If it had an especially long primary or secondary this could compound the problem. Also, what type of yeast did you use?
    – pjreddie
    Jul 12, 2011 at 19:59
  • Primary - 8 days, Secondary - 15 days, Bottles - 2 weeks. Yeast - Wyeast1056 American w/a starter resulted in a very vigorous fermentaiton. OG approx 1072, FG approx 1012-1014 (looking back at calcs it is closer to 7.6-7.8% ABV).
    – Bob M.
    Jul 12, 2011 at 20:08
  • So for now I moved the bottles to a slightly warmer location 75-78F and gently roused the yeast in them. I'll check one in a few days and see if it appears to be carbonating. I wouldn't be as concerned, except the 2 bottles I sampled seemed to be completely flat, not even slightly carbonated. Opening the cap let out a pathetic pft. No head on the pour and no bubbles in the drink.
    – Bob M.
    Jul 12, 2011 at 20:33
  • I agree with Ell, with the difference that it might take a little more than a week to carb if they are totally flat now. Just forget about the bottles for another 2-3 weeks. They'll probably be carbed just fine by then. I only had one batch ever that failed to carb adequately.
    – GHP
    Jul 13, 2011 at 12:59
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The cold crash likely just shocked your yeast into dormancy a bit. If you added an appropriate amount of priming sugar they should carbonate. It will just take more time. I always found two weeks a little short for me.

If you notice there is plenty of yeast on the bottom of the bottles you can gently invert them and rouse the yeast up into the beer. They'll spring back to life enough to carb things up and settle out again.

Rouse and give it another couple weeks. I bet it will be fine.

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  • So 1 week later it is still completely flat. I think I am going to try and uncap the bottles, add a few grains of dry yeast (safale-05), and recap. I am considering adding a small amount of priming sugar to each bottle as well, though I'm concerned this may create "bottle bombs". Originally I did add a litle more than 2/3 cup priming sugar solution to the bottling bucket. Anyone have any opinions on whether it is advisable to add a small amount of priming sugar to bottles at this point along with the yeast? @graham.
    – Bob M.
    Jul 20, 2011 at 15:37
  • I think you are being impatient. One more week isn't enough. I would have roused and waited a couple more weeks. It seems like something is already happening, so time is what you needed. Adding more dry yeast IMO is a bad idea as you probably can't do it cleanly enough. Good luck with it, I hope it comes together the way you want.
    – brewchez
    Jul 21, 2011 at 17:35

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