I bottled a Belgian Strong Dark (9.75% abv) nearly a month ago. Five-gallon batch, primed with cane sugar-- I believe 4 oz (don’t have notes in front of me). I’ve periodically tested bottles for the last two weeks. Tastes great, but no carbonation yet. How long should I give them to carbonate before giving up? And is there a way to remedy?
Make sure they are above 70F and give them more time. At least another 3 weeks at that temp and check them.
If they are still flat, the easiest thing to do is to get a packet of dry yeast and some tweezers, open every bottle, add a couple of grains of yeast, then recap. Hopefully that will fix the problem.
I had the same thing happen to me years ago with a 10.5% Barleywine. I tried warming them and adding yeast to no avail…and wound up just drinking it undercarbonated. It was an awesome BW and I got a lot of rave reviews eventhough it was almost still.
Try Tom’s suggestion with the yeast if they don’t carbonate after warming. I would try it on a few bottles before you go full bore on the whole batch.
If it looks like the yeast has settled, you can also try inverting them once or twice to keep it in suspension while the bottles are warmer.
Well how about some more info- did you use a secondary? How long in primary what type of yeast etc.
That’s a pretty strong brew and the beat-up yeast might not have survived the journey. Maybe further compounded by transfer/racking technique with too much attention to not letting enough sediment into the mix. You could try opening and dosing each bottle with some fermenting wort, then recap.
The last Belgian Strong I brewed took 15 weeks to properly carbonate, I would just wait, they’ll eventually get there