Problem with carbonation

[Pilzman]

Hello all,

I just bottled about a week ago a lager that has a high alcohol content, (8.6%) and i cracked a beer open to see how it was going and it had very little carbonation. I know that it should be in the bottle at least 2 weeks but it seemed like it was nearly flat. I’m using 500ml bottles with 2 carbonation candy drops. The bottles are stored in my garage at about 55 degrees. I read that high alcohol can kill off all your yeast and I’m wondering if i should dump the batch and re yeast it then rebottle it or just leave them alone?
Thanks for your help.
Prost!
Pilzman

 

[Nosybear]

2 weeks is a guideline for bottles conditioned at room temperature. You are storing them in a 55 degree garage. It will take much longer to carbonate under those conditions, if they carbonate at all. Move them inside, warm them up and they should carbonate with no further issues.

 

[Hawkbox]

Yeah you need to carbonate before you cold crash them.

 

[RecklessBoon]

2 weeks is a guideline for bottles conditioned at room temperature. You are storing them in a 55 degree garage. It will take much longer to carbonate under those conditions, if they carbonate at all. Move them inside, warm them up and they should carbonate with no further issues.

Yep, I had this problem as well and moving them to a warmer area for a week ended up getting them carb'd the rest of the way before putting them in the fridge.

 

[4Bentley]

I also read that turning the bottles upside down for 3 days gets the yeast distributed again. I turned them back over for a few days more, and that worked for me on my last batch.

 

[Pilzman]

Thanks all-
I brought them in the house and will give them another week indoors and crack them open again. I was concerned that the yeast would be killed off because of the high alcohol content.

 

[Ole Shallywags]

Also, depending upon the drops used 2 seems like a low carbonation level. I put 5 of the coopers drops in my recent beer and that even feels low.