No carbonation in a barleywine Options

[troy]

The OG of the Barleywine was 1.098 and the FG 1.025. It was in a primary for 22 days and secondary for 51 days. I added priming sugar and bottled on October 16, and now, two weeks later I opened the one plastic bottle that I used to check carbonation. Unfortunately, the beer is completely flat and I checked the specific gravity, and it was 1.028. I guess I plan on opening every bottle and adding some yeast. I have some US-05.

What is the best way to go about this? Should I rehydrate the yeast and add some liquid to each bottle, or just sprinkle a little bit in. How much yeast do you think it will take to carb this stuff?

troy

[BelgianBoy]

The OG of the Barleywine was 1.098 and the FG 1.025. It was in a primary for 22 days and secondary for 51 days. I added priming sugar and bottled on October 16, and now, two weeks later I opened the one plastic bottle that I used to check carbonation. Unfortunately, the beer is completely flat and I checked the specific gravity, and it was 1.028. I guess I plan on opening every bottle and adding some yeast. I have some US-05.

What is the best way to go about this? Should I rehydrate the yeast and add some liquid to each bottle, or just sprinkle a little bit in. How much yeast do you think it will take to carb this stuff?

troy

What temp are you conditioning at? Do you have the equipment to keg and force carb?

[Jimmy James]

I guess I plan on opening every bottle and adding some yeast. I have some US-05.
What is the best way to go about this?

I have done this before with success. I am not claiming my way is best, but what I did was pour the packet of dry yeast into a small bowl. I got an espresso spoon (a really small spoon) and as I uncapped each bottle I transferred a few "grains" of dry yeast to each bottle and capped them. I did this for a Belgian around 9.5% alcohol that had sat a while and so when I racked/bottled not enough yeast went along to carb up. After adding the dry yeast I had them carbed up in a couple weeks.

[Montana]

You may want to let the beer condition in the bottle for a few more weeks or months, and check the temp that you have the barleywine at. It may just take a while until you get carbonation. The first barleywine I made it took a couple of months until I got carbonation in the bottle.

[Jimmy James]

You may want to let the beer condition in the bottle for a few more weeks or months, and check the temp that you have the barleywine at. It may just take a while until you get carbonation. The first barleywine I made it took a couple of months until I got carbonation in the bottle.

This is true also, I have just "waited out" a couple beers, and left them for months. I find though, that when I have used this approach the eventual carbonation has been uneven. Could be that some were carbing up at a slower rate than others and if I waited long enough maybe they would have evened out, but after 4 months I usually call it done.

I avoid this scenario now by adding a half packet of dry yeast to the bottling bucket along with the corn sugar when I bottle anything that has been sitting for a long while in secondary.

[smokey]

Yeah. Give it some time. I've had bottles of high gravity beer take forever to card, but they DID carb.

[mach5]

If you have uneven carbs, it sounds to me like you are not getting a uniform mix when you add the sugar to the bottling bucket. What is your procedure for priming and bottling, maybe that will shed some light on it?

[WhiteSoxFan]

I had this issue once before. I definitely recommend giving it at least a few more weeks in a warm (>70*) environment. Gently roll the bottles every couple of days to keep the yeast in suspension. If you still don't have the carb you want, add some more yeast. I had one batch that carbed up fine, but it took a good couple of months.

I had another batch that never carbed. What I did was open each bottle and sprinkled a "little bit" of Nottingham straight out of the packet. I wanted to limit extra handling of the yeast as much as possible, and I figured the inside of the packet and the inside of my bottles are both sanized.

It worked like a charm. After a few months of being frustrated by no carb, two weeks later they were all carbed up and ready to go. Good luck.

[troy]

Well, I opened another one tonight. They were in a closet where the temperature is pretty cool - mid-60s. I moved the bottles to the furnace/water heater room for 10 days in the hope that warmer temperature would get the yeast going. The bottle that I opened had a tiny fizz, but pouring in a glass I could see that there was no carbonation. It is still flat. I also took a hydrometer reading of the beer and it still has the priming sugar in there, unfermented. I am going to give more yeast a try in each bottle.

I have some WL036 Dusseldorf Alt slurry in the fridge that I could wake up and dose into each bottle, or I could sprinkle in some US-05 dry yeast into each bottle. Any suggestions as to which might work better?

troy

[IronGuillotine]

Check your alcohol level and your yeast's tolerance. Barley Wines are pretty high in alcohol. Your yeast may be dying before it ever gets a chance to carbonate.