First brew - no fizz!

[biffer]

Hi all. Just finished my first brew. Used a coopers lager kit, all seems to have gone well, tastes fine, but there's barely any carbonation, despite having put two carbonation drops into each bottle when bottling it.

Any idea

1 what went wrong
2 any thing it can do to fix it, or gas it up on opening the bottles

At

 

[pittsy]

You need 2 weeks at 20c ish for bottles to be gassed up and maybe longer if cooler , then a few weeks in cold afterwards too.

 

[mike77]

2 carbonation drops should be more than enough. As pittsy pointed out it needs to be stored in a warm place for a week or two. If you didn't do this then move it into the warmth now and hopefully it should be ok.

 

[kentmark]

+1 for moving back into the warm for a while. Rescued one of my early brews like this.

 

[biffer]

Yep, it sat for a fortnight in my spare room, about 20C (same place where the fermentation took place so should be a high enough temp for the conditioning). Not sure what's gone wrong.

 

[RobertP]

My first brew was pretty flat too. I used Coopers carbonation drops to prime with. I've never used them since and I've not had a flat beer either.

I guess they must work or they wouldn't sell them but I found them useless. Ordinary granulated sugar does the job.

 

[LeithR]

Not sure what you have done here But,
Lager kits require more priming sugar than English style beers require. You need to prime with 5g/pint or 10g/Litre to get the fizz you need for a lager. You need to keep it in the warm (comfortable domestic temperature) for 2 weeks then move it into the Garage/shed or somewhere else cold for up to 4/6 weeks to condition and completely clear. This should give you a lager thats lively when you open it to drink

 

[GavH]

I've only just encountered my first 'failed carbonation' having kegged an IPA, sat at 20C for a fortnight then lowered for another fortnight only to discover flat, cloudy ale. Re-primed and trying again but I feel the OPs frustration.