Under carbonated...and a little sweet.

[Brendo1]

Howdy.
My first brew was a coopers lager that came with the coopers kit, like many peoples was, and after 2 weeks it was drinkable.
I've just finished testing it again and it been upgraded from drinkable to enjoyable at just over 3 weeks I think.
At the same time as testing the first brew I decided it was time to give the second brew a try which was a blackrock east india pale ale, 1kg of brewcraft brew enhancer 15, 500g LDM and safale s04.

Now...I *think* the brew has been in the bottle for nearly two weeks, The first bottle I opened had no bubbles at all, and went down the sink
I got a bit scared and decided to open another bottle and check for carbonation, poured a little off saw that it had some bubbles recapped it and stuck it upright in the freezer for half an hour. Upon tasting, it was rather lowly carbonated, and tasted a little bit sweet. The brew sat in the fermentor for 2 weeks solid, so i was under the impression all the sugars would have fermented out...So now im concerned there might be unfermented sugars in the bottles and I could be sitting on a bomb...but then again...it was only lowly carbonated... I'm not about to tip em all down the sink but I would like to know if anyone else has experienced the same thing with 'young' brews.

Any ideas/experiences/comments to help me out?

[warra48]

Please give us some further information.

What temperature did you ferment at?
Which yeast did you use?
What was your Starting Gravity?
What was your Gravity at bottling?
What did you prime with?
How much did you prime with?
What temperature have your bottles been at since bottling?

All may be well, and your beer might just need some more time to carbonate. If your beer is somewhat flat when opened, there's no need to tip them, and you won't have bottle bombs.
The sweet taste you perceive may not actually be sweetness at all, but rather the malt in your brew. That can come as a bit of a shock to new homebrewers who are used to commercial beers where virtually all flavour and body is basically absent.

[svyturys]

Hi Brendo,
I recently left 3 batches of bottles to carbonate in the same room. Two and a half batches carbonated perfectly within a week.
The others were sitting in another part of the room and most have now carbonated perfectly at 3 and a half weeks. I rotated these daily, (turning the bottle once, end over end, to get some yeasties off the bottom) and made sure that they were exposed to temp of 21C at least. Even then two or three bottles that were sitting in the middle of the crate need more time.
To check for carbonation I look for some evidence of condensation at the top off the bottle.
Of course Warra has set out to look for other culprits and rightly so, but temp and time seem to be the elements to look for in my experience.
BTW I did a cooper's kit with 1.5 k of LDME and threw in a teabag of POR hops. Lovely, full bodied drop with just the right amount of bitterness for my taste buds.
Maybe it's time to investigate the effect of hops in your future brews.
Cheers

[Brendo1]

What temperature did you ferment at?
Which yeast did you use?
What was your Starting Gravity?
What was your Gravity at bottling?
What did you prime with?
How much did you prime with?
What temperature have your bottles been at since bottling?

18-22, controlled with ice blocks on top of the lid and a towel wrapped around it.
SG, according to my hydrometer was 1080, my hydrometer, which was cracked when I bought it has since developed condensation inside it is being replaced.
Bottling gravity was 1011, according to the busted hydrometer after 13 days in the fermentor.
Primed with 2 coopers carbonation drops in each bottle.
Temperature has been consistently 22 degrees since bottling.

[warra48]

You seem to have done everything OK so far.
I think you basically need mroe time to allow your brew to carbonate.

If your SG was really 1080 and has dropped to 1011, your ueast has already done a massive job of chewing their way through a lot of goodies, and they're tired, and just need some more time to do the job.

I'd relax, and not toss any, but just wait longer.

[Chris]

Warm them a bit, and rotate the bottles end-over-end once or twice a day.

[Brendo1]

Lol, the last one of these I cracked open overflowed, and had some serious head, im guessing the bottles just needed a little longer to eat up the carbonation sugar, that might have been the sweetness I was tasting too. Haven't been too impressed with the beer yet though...the lager I made that came with the kit seemed better. Time will tell though.