I didn't leave my beer long enough to carbonate - what can I do?

Yes

I'm not sure if this is a good idea, while I haven't found any literature to support my claim, I would regard this the same as taking your milk jug out of the fridge, let it sit out on a shelf for a week & then put it back in the fridge. Since both are heat pasteurized, you're asking for trouble from possible Thermo & Hyperthermophilic organisms that lived through the wort boil.

I've had this problem too...for whatever reason the beer just didn't carbonate/condition well...I've had some in the fridge now for 2-3 months and it has actually gotten progressively more carbonated, in fact I have a small batch of Trappist that now foams out of the bottle when I open one and it is so effervescent when poured into a Pils glass there is no avoiding taking yeast & other sediment with it.

You may not have used enough priming sugar/malt/speise to properly carbonate it during the conditioning period.

Just chalk this one up as a lesson, adjust your priming solution if necessary or allow future batches to condition for an additional week at room temp. I always pop one when I think they're ready..if no or too few bubbles the rest stay put for just a while longer.

I have about 15 bottles or so of an IPA that are flat as a pancake, but still taste good, I know IPA's should be low in carbonation, but a few bubbles are nice to tickle the nose & throat.

Some people even use a packet of lager yeast...or so I've read, never done that myself. Try another batch & try again, maybe by the time you bottle the new batch, the old batch will have worked up a few bubbles.

Anyway, there's some options.

Kent

I have 750ml bottles and I used two sugar drops as recommended. I've always done that and had no problems, it just needed more time for carbonation before putting in the fridge. I will, however, simply leave it in the fridge and wait (I have other beer I can be drinking hehe) and try it again in a month or two and see what it's like then.

Thanks,

Richard

Richard:

You can take it out of the fridge ... no problem whatsoever. Go ahead and take it out and let it carbonate. Homebrewers do it all the time. (Next time, just put one at a time in the fridge and test them until you're happy with the carbonation and THEN put them all into the fridge if you want).

Beer is NOT like milk. For one thing, homebrew beer is NOT pastuerized!

In a beer, the yeast have consumed almost all the "good" stuff that lead to spoilage. Not true in milk - all the good stuff is still in there ready to be eaten.

The beer is acidic and has hops, both of which help prevent bacterial action.

A sealed beer is stable for YEARS, regardless of reasonable temperature (of course, VERY high temp (100F+) will cause it to break down - it will taste bad but will still be "safe" to drink). Milk is NOT stable and will eventually spoil - refridgerated or not. I guess that simply means that pastuerization isn't 100% effective and it leaves **something** (bacteria) that will eventually overwhelm.

Derric

OK...my bad...I just assumed....

Kent

Your having put it in the fridge slowed down the metabolism of the yeasts whose final mini-fermentation in the bottle makes the carbonation

Yodar

They already alluded to knowing that. They want to know if taking it out of the refrigerator and allowing it to warm back up will allow the bottles to finish carbonating.

The anwer was given, it was correct, yet you felt you needed to repeat what the OP already knew. I guess you just like seeing your posts appear?