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I made a strong scotch ale. Bottled it up, 2 weeks later no carbonation. Is there a way to save this batch? OG 1.095, Used Safale US-05, 2 weeks in primary, 6 weeks in secondary, FG 1.030, I used corn sugar to prime and I was pretty careful to mix it. I stored the bottles at 60 degrees for 2 weeks after I bottled (I know, too cool) I have now moved them to 70 degrees.
If the storage in the warm doesn't produce carbonation, what would you do next?
With a beer that strong, you probably should have repitched at bottling. There are several factors that the yeast must fight in this situation, including:
There's good news, though. That strain should be able to tolerate alcohol around 12%, and that strain has low-medium flocculation, so there should be enough viable yeast in your bottles to repopulate and consume the priming sugar. It will just take some time for the yeast to work in such a harsh environment.
I always see slow carbonation times when I bottle condition with such strong beers. Four weeks is not uncommon, and that's at 68°F.
Leave your beer at 70°F and check a bottle weekly - and wait two weeks on the first bottle if you can afford it, since it will need as much time as you can give it.
I would be surprised if the brew didn't carbonate in another 3-4 weeks, but should that be the case, you may have to pour them back into a carboy and repitch yeast (a more robust strain like champagne yeast) before rebottling.
60f shouldn't be cold enough to kill the yeast, but cold enough to slow it down drastically. If the beer tasted fine prior to bottling, it should be OK after a couple of weeks at 70f.
I opened a bottle after a 10 days at warmer temps and.... there are signs of carbonation!!! So, I guess I'll let it keep going and hope time and temp do the trick. Thanks for the help! Is there anything else I can do do ensure it continues? (I think I saw a post on here about stirring up the yeast by shaking (for lack of a better term) the bottles.
