bottle carbonating an Imperial IPA??

It has been 3weeks since I bottled an imperial IPA sitting at 9.45%bv and it has yet to carbonate.  While I oddly still enjoy it flat, when could I expect it to be carbonated?  and if it hasn’t can I just re-cap the test bottle?

The Barley Wine that I made last year (10.5 %) took awhile to carbonate.  Give it some more time.

Did you add yeast at bottling?  My last barley wine I did and it carbed up nicely in two weeks.  Also, right after I started brewing I brewed a Ruination clone…well I underpitched it, it still tasted great.  But I didn’t know to add yeast at bottling and they were all flat, everyone of them.  But I still drank em!

Now I keg everything but one barleywine a year.  Problem solved.

More importantly, what yeast did you use? How much priming sugar? Have you tried a bottle from each end of bottling (sometimes the priming sugar doesn’t mix well, then your first bottles can be overcarbed, the end bottles undercarbed)? Do you have a good seal on the bottles (a chance if using a swing type bottle with older gaskets)?

I used 4 oz of corn sugar fo the priming during bottling, did not pitch anymore yeast.  If I were to pitch more yeast how much would I pitch?  I bottled about 4.5gal.  I have tried 3 bottles one fromt he front end, and two from the back end…

about .5 packs of dry yeast. is good.

With a beer that high in alcohol adding yeast at bottling time is your best bet for carbonation.  I had two batches of duds before I figured it out (thanks to this forum).  My last barley wine at 10.5% was carbonated in a couple weeks and I added I believe a teaspoon of yeast slurry (I may be wrong but I can’t find my notes to be sure) at bottling time.

For now I would just wait a little longer

If you still don’t carbonate you might want to try is shaking the bottles up a bit to get any yeast in the bottle back in suspension and then let the bottles sit at room temp for several weeks.  I had a scotch ale I did this too that did carbonate eventually but it took over a month.

Be patient and have another homebrew while you’re waiting.

Also, I think this is a case where rehydrating dry yeast prior to adding it to the bottling bucket does help.  The yeast will be a lot happier being rehydrated with warm water than with 10+% beer  :slight_smile:

Thanks, I will be adding a few oz of dry yeast to my next 5gal batch of high % brew.  Question:  I have put the bottles in the fridge…will it effect the beer if I take them out to assume room temp again?  What is the rule on getting brew cold and warm again, I have always heard it is not good to do that…

How long were they at room temp before you put them in the fridge? It wouldn’t be unusual for a beer to need 2-3 weeks at >70°F in order to fully carbonate.

I’d get them back to room temp (or slightly warmer, 75-80°F, if you can), then invert them once or twice a day to get the yeast back in suspension. If there still isn’t any carbonation after a week of that, then I’d re-yeast. 1 g rehydrated dry yeast per 5 gal is the rule of thumb.

No problem going from cold to warm. And I hope you meant add a few grams, not oz., of yeast!

in deed grams :wink:

they were at room temp for 2wks prior to me moving them to the fridge (I thought they would be done) they have been in the fridge now for 3-4wks.

So am I understanding correct that I open and pour back into a priming bucket and re-pitch? or just make a yeast mix and add a few drops to each bottle and re-cap???  Or just put back at room temp and invert bottles to re-suspend the yeast in the bottle?

Thanks btw for all the input  :slight_smile:

I would give the bottles a chance to carbonate at room temp for several more weeks before any additional yeast additions.  All that uncapping and pouring would add unwanted oxygen to it and should only be a last resort.

I agree, I think you got them cold too quick.

thanx guys…will let you know in a few weeks