Why is my beer flat?

Jacko · Post by **Jacko** » Monday Feb 06, 2006 10:42 am

I have recently opened a few brews that were about 5-6 weeks old and they are nearly dead flat and have no head.

What might be causing my beer to be flat?

They are bottled in coopers 740ml pet bottles and were primed with dextrose.

The flavour is ok, but being nearly completly flat makes for an ordinary beer.

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Monday Feb 06, 2006 10:50 am

Were the lids screwed down tight?

What temps were they stored at?

Cheers,
Greg

Jacko · Post by **Jacko** » Monday Feb 06, 2006 2:12 pm

They were stored between approx 17c-22c and the lids were brand new and screwed on tightly.

Cheers...

JaCk_SpArRoW · Post by **JaCk_SpArRoW** » Monday Feb 06, 2006 2:16 pm

How much dextrose did you use?

Daron · Post by **Daron** » Monday Feb 06, 2006 3:33 pm

This has happened to me and I just opened them all and added some carbonation drops. Wait a week or two and you have fizzy beer.

Worth buying the drops as it works a treat

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Monday Feb 06, 2006 3:33 pm

I suggest warming them up a bit, and rotating the bottles (end over end) once or twice a day. The yeast may just need rousing- lazy buggers!

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Monday Feb 06, 2006 7:32 pm

My first two are out then (was hoping for an easy fix

), try Chris' and if still no joy try the carb drop.

Cheers,
Greg

Jacko · Post by **Jacko** » Tuesday Feb 07, 2006 9:11 am

Thanks guys...

I will give your suggestions a try and hopefully be able to salvage my brew.

cheers...

r.magnay · Post by **r.magnay** » Tuesday Feb 07, 2006 1:54 pm

Yeah I had some of a batch do the same thing, I dropped one drop in each bottle and it worked no worries, you may need to get them pretty cool first or you may have a boil over.

501 · Post by **501** » Tuesday Feb 07, 2006 2:00 pm

I am Not reccomending the 'Brewcraft' carb drops.

2 batches I did with them got some strange looking shit in the bottles.

Have since experimented and Only the brewcraft primed bottles got the strange film.

It is either an infection or protein film ?

cheers 501

r.magnay · Post by **r.magnay** » Tuesday Feb 07, 2006 8:48 pm

Dunno, I used Coopers drops!

Paleman · Post by **Paleman** » Wednesday Feb 08, 2006 2:48 pm

If i'm not mistaken, dextrose takes longer to carb up than normal white sugar.

Adding extra drops may cause too much fizziness, or even bombs.

Try Chris's method, a good stir of each bottle, then be patient for another month or two. Then re-evaluate.

Joel · Post by **Joel** » Friday Feb 10, 2006 6:17 pm

Hello All,

I've used the Coopers Carb Drops and they really do work a treat! No stuffing around with measuring spoons and the like - looking to bulk prime on the next one, just to see the difference! The head on my coopers lager (after using the carb drops) is 'ok'. I say 'ok' because it probably could be better. But the beer is good, and that why we're all here right?

guy poppe · Post by **guy poppe** » Friday Feb 10, 2006 10:25 pm

I had the same problem. It turned out that the pet bottles could not hold the pressure. I had used plastic water bottles. Pop bottles work fine,

Regards Guy