First home brewing failure: failure to carbonate

In previous posts I had mentioned that the American Amber Ale I brewed several weeks back only bubbled for about three days, but still ended up as a very good tasting beer before bottling. The alcohol content was spot on so I know the yeast was present and doing its job. Last week marked the two week test from the bottling date.

The English Pale Ale came out wonderfully. Full of flavor, well carbonated... a very tasty finished product. The American Amber... well, it was flat, lifeless, like a pint of iced tea it was. Iced tea full of hoppy flavor. But no carbonation. So this becomes my first failure as a home brewer.

All is not lost though. Since the bottles are air-tight, there is still hope to salvage this fine brew. Here is what we are trying:

1. Pull a couple bottles out into a warmer place. It is possible that the environment was too cold and put the yeast to sleep. A little warmth will bring them back to life to feast on the priming sugar solution that was used (the same solution used in the English Pale).

2. Open the bottles and pour them in a keg. Force the carbonation with a gas system and drink from the keg. My problem with this is that I do not have a keg system, so will have to rely on Phil or Boone to have an empty for me to borrow AND keep the keg at one of their houses. I wouldn't trust either with a full keg of beer, but I guess that for storing five gallons, they would be entitled to their share.

3. Re-carbonate the bottles. We can always open the bottles, pour them back into a carboy, and start the carbonation and bottling process over again. This could be a chance to do another round of filtering.

We'll keep you updated as to which process we decide to go with.

- Tom.