Carbonating after long secondary fermentation

[Crawfordid]

Im just about to bottle up my Imperial russian porter that has been brewing for the past wee while. Ive been having a problem recently of getting the beer to carbonate after secondary fermentation. My last beer took 3 months to be carbonated and my other batch is still not carbonated and its been about 2 months as well. I dont have a beer fridge so cant keep the beer at a constant temperature and is probably sitting at about 10 degrees which is likely the issue, but ive only noticed it being a problem since ive been doing secondary fermentations and not bottling straight from the primary which i am guessing is due to the amount of yeast present/active. The Russian porter will need several months anyway to condition but is there anything else I can do to quicken this up? Ive probably answered my own question and that the temperature is the main issue but is there anything else i can do?

Thanks guys

 

[Monkey]

Temp and time are the only things that can help you. I've got 2 brews which are struggling to carbonate right now in the kitchen. Like you I rack to a second fv, but this shouldn't cause issues, should still be yeast in suspension to do the job. Try and find somewhere warm to put it all, airing cupboard or similar, just not in direct sunlight. I have now decided not to do another brew and use my brew fridge to condition one of the batches, ramped up to 25 degrees and will let it sit there for a few weeks. My planned larger will just have to wait

 

[monkeyboy79]

I've got an RIS in secondary for 3 months+, and from my research, it is worth adding a specialist conditioning yeast. I was recomended CBC-1 (~6g for a 23l batch). The benfits are that it is tolerant of high alcohol levels, and can only ferment the simple sugars, so wont eat up the under-attenuated sugars & bottle bomb.

Only place I could find it for a reasonable price was here: http://www.geterbrewed.com/lallemand-cbc-1-dried-yeast/

 

[Crawfordid]

Interesting I've read about using champagne yeast to do something similar but fellow Brewers had concerns it would 'dry' the beer out. Did u put it in your secondary for a few days to make sure it wasn't fermenting like crazy then bottling once it had settled or just add then bottle which I imagine is a bit risky!

 

[BeerCat]

I kept a Lager in the garage for 6 weeks to condition and it carbed up really well. Put them in the airing cupboard and 3 weeks later was perfect. Best of luck.

 

[Richie_asg1]

I think it is something to do with the darker beers taking longer. My first coopers dark ale took ages to carbonate and is still not right after 3 or so weeks in the warm. I've only just moved it to the cool to condition further today. Lagers it seems like cooler temps to ferment at so could carry on in cooler conditions.

Do you remember what temperature you pitched at? I have a sneaky suspicion that I pitched high, so maybe the yeast that survived prefers warmer temps. Not based on science - just a hunch.

 

[Crawfordid]

I pitched it at 20 degrees. I take your point about the dark beers taking longer as the larger yeast will work better at lower temps! Still have the same problem with my wheat beer although again using an ale yeast

 

[monkeyboy79]

Interesting I've read about using champagne yeast to do something similar but fellow Brewers had concerns it would 'dry' the beer out.

Not sure about champagne yeast, the CBC should only ferment the bottling sugar, not any complex sugars left over from primary.
Ive not actually used it yet as my RIS is still in secondary, another month at least to go.

If you can make it through this mammoth thread, all the specifics are in there somewhere: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=238807

 

[boozy_shoes]

I've used this with good effect in the past to help carbonate strong beers that have been in secondary for a few months. I also have a barley wine in secondary that will receive a packet of this in the bottling bucket when it comes round to that; but thank you you've reminded me to order some!

http://themaltmiller.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=426