Beerworks President's Sierra Kit

[S.R.S]

I hope I've posted this on the right forum and had actually posted it on another kit forum but as it was an old thread I didnt think it was being read anymore.
Anyway it looks like most have had good results with this kit.
Unfortunately my experience has not been quite the same.
I have been carbonating the bottles for nearly 4 weeks and there is little carbonation and no head.
Could be a number of reasons and I pretty much stuck to the instructions except for leaving it in the FV for a little longer.
My only thought is I pitched the yeast into the wort at 26c which was probably too hot so may have killed some of the yeast off in which case I didnt have enough yeast left to carbonate with.
There was a gravity drop from 1.054 to 1.020 in the 1st 3 days so it was pretty aggressive then it stuck at 1.012 which is above the suggested fg.
It's also quite dark so potentially oxidized and a little sweet.
I'm not sure I would try this kit again but always willing to learn from my mistakes.
Any advice would be welcome thanks

 

[Sandimas]

Unfortunately my experience has not been quite the same.
I have been carbonating the bottles for nearly 4 weeks and there is little carbonation and no head.

A few things to check

• What temperature have you been carbonating the bottles at? Should be 18C or more.
• Did you use priming sugar or carbonation drops in the bottles? How much?
• How did you cap the bottles - crown caps? Are they properly sealed?

 

[S.R.S]

A few things to check

• What temperature have you been carbonating the bottles at? Should be 18C or more.
• Did you use priming sugar or carbonation drops in the bottles? How much?
• How did you cap the bottles - crown caps? Are they properly sealed?

thanks for your response;

• carbonating at 22c
• used priming sugar supplied with kit and batch primed from a bottling bucket. Same process as previous Youngs APA and AIPA kits which turned out great.
• Mixture of crown caps and plastic pet screw on. Sampled from each type of bottle and both no good. Yes they are properly see as far as I can see.

 

[S.R.S]

doesnt look like my response came through above.
thanks for your response;

• carbonating at 22c
• used priming sugar supplied with kit and batch primed from a bottling bucket. Same process as previous Youngs APA and AIPA kits which turned out great.
• Mixture of crown caps and plastic pet screw on. Sampled from each type of bottle and both no good. Yes they are properly see as far as I can see.

 

[terrym]

If you have left your bottled beer for 4 weeks in the warm and all the caps are properly sealed and the bottles have not carbed up at all, you only have a few more likely options i.e you failed to add the priming sugar (only you know that) or added nowhere near enough or the yeast is dead or there is absolutely no yeast in the beer, although the latter most unlikely unless you left it it the FV for a few weeks before bottling.
But if your beer is undrinkable at present and likely to end up down the sink, you could open the caps and add a pinch of fresh dry yeast to each bottle (perhaps just the screw caps to start with), then reseal then leave in a warm place to see if it carbs up, or use a syringe to inject air into the beer after pouring which will produce a beer a bit like cask beer.
The only other option is to leave it longer but I can't see that solving the problem.
I aim to bottle nearly clear beer and leave it in a room at about 18/19*C, and since I use mostly PET bottles know that my berrs are fully carbed within about 4/5days, occasionally less.

 

[Graz]

When you batch primed did you dissolve the sugar in boiling water first, cooled it and added to the bottling bucket or just added it directly?

For either option did you add the sugar before or after transferring the beer in?

Finally did you give it a gentle but purposeful stir before bottling?

Reason I ask is that if the sugar wan't properly distributed then you may have some bottles with hardly any priming sugar present (low/no carb) and some with a lot (& potential bottle bombs). If you make a glass of squash with the squash in first and then pour the water in slowly down the side of the glass you can end up with all the squash at the bottom and just water on top. Same can happen in the bottling bucket, dense sugar solution at the bottom, beer on top.

 

[S.R.S]

When you batch primed did you dissolve the sugar in boiling water first, cooled it and added to the bottling bucket or just added it directly?

For either option did you add the sugar before or after transferring the beer in?

Finally did you give it a gentle but purposeful stir before bottling?

Reason I ask is that if the sugar wan't properly distributed then you may have some bottles with hardly any priming sugar present (low/no carb) and some with a lot (& potential bottle bombs). If you make a glass of squash with the squash in first and then pour the water in slowly down the side of the glass you can end up with all the squash at the bottom and just water on top. Same can happen in the bottling bucket, dense sugar solution at the bottom, beer on top.

Yes boiled water to dissolve the sugar, added to bottling bucket before transferring beer on top, then stirred once done.
This all said, last night I opened a bottle that was better carbonated so after 4+ weeks, perhaps they will be okay, unless, as you say, some are better carbonated than others. We shall see!!

 

[YouFUMS]

I don't have enough brewing experience to suggest why you are having issues with the priming, but I have done this kit twice with fantastic results just using the supplied ingredients and instructions. The people at my local 'Lovebrewing' shop are always very helpful, so it may be worth contacting them. They may suggest a remedy, or even a replacement.