first batch whoops

Hi everyone. Wish I had found this group before. I just finished making my first batch of homebrew, an amber ale from ontario beer kegs. I followed the instructions that came with it, although they were pretty vague. Last night was the night for tasting it. And it was flat. Zero carbonation. Looked and smelled like beer, even tasted like flat/ stale beer.

My question is should I just dump the batch, or any saving it.
Also what might have caused it to not carbonate, im in canada and it is hard to regulate the temp in my basement this time of year. If that makes a difference.
Thanks .

Can you give us the recipe and ingredients, so we can have a starting point?
Sounds like maybe the yeast batch was no good.
Did you get any krausen in the primary?
Give us a little background, and don't give up! Worse comes to worse, you can use your first in chili, or BBQ.

How did you carbonate it
Bottle or keg
How long between brewing and carbonating
Approximate temp of basement

BILLY BREW said:

Can you give us the recipe and ingredients, so we can have a starting point?
Sounds like maybe the yeast batch was no good.
Did you get any krausen in the primary?
Give us a little background, and don't give up! Worse comes to worse, you can use your first in chili, or BBQ.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply.
It says to
4 gallons of water to a boil, once boiling take off heat add 4lbs of the dry malt extract, stir in and return to boil.
Boil for 30 mins. Add 1oz of tettnang (hops) with 30 mins left in boil, add 1oz cascade hops with 5 mins left.
Once 30 mins up start cooling wort.
Sanitized all equipment.
I used a syphoning tube to transfer the wort to the fermenting bucket.
Aerated the wort by splashing it around the bucket as per the instructions, then added the yeast when the wort was  at 68'. The instructions called for adding it between 65-72.  Added sanitized water to the airlock and placed the bucket in my furnace room. Probablt the most consistent temp in my basement.
My wife wasnt going to let me keep my beer in the bedroom where I could keep an eye on it, maybe cuddle it before bed.
Waited 3 weeks like the intructions said, then transferred it too the bottling bucket. Added 3oz of maltodextrin, came with the kit. 3oz in boiling water cooled to room temperature stirred in the bucket before bottling.
Bottled 34 bottles and let them sit for 2 weeks as per inztructions.
Checked the temp of my basement it was 67'. Its an unfinished basement so hard to regulate might be a problem.
And I have no idea what krausen is,

ihikeut said:

How did you carbonate it
Bottle or keg
How long between brewing and carbonating
Approximate temp of basement

Click to expand...

Carbonated in the bottle, it was just over 3 weeks between brewing and carbonating. 24 days exactly. And the basement was 67' when I checked. I didnt actuallycheck til reading your post. Another mistake maybe.

The problem is that the maltodextrin is only slightly fermentable, so feeding it to the remaining yeast when you bottle is not going to give them much to chow on... which means very little carbonation, if any. There wasn't a packet of corn sugar in the kit? That's a more standard bottling/priming sugar.

cmbrougham said:

The problem is that the maltodextrin is only slightly fermentable, so feeding it to the remaining yeast when you bottle is not going to give them much to chow on... which means very little carbonation, if any. There wasn't a packet of corn sugar in the kit? That's a more standard bottling/priming sugar.

Click to expand...

Nope. Just a pound of maltodextrin. What would u recommend for fermentation then?

At this point I would sample one about every week to see if any carbonate. If they don't mix them half and half with a store bought brew. Better that then pouring them out or chancing a infection from trying to re-carbonate them.

If you like the taste, and want it carbonated, you could:

Make another batch of it.  Put half of each into two different fermentors, then open the bottles and pour them into each.  This will provide some oxygen, but don't worry about that.  Oxygenation won't matter at this point, because you'll be pitching new yeast into each, so the yeast will need the oxygen to multiply and build up their cell walls, etc. 

Then oxygenate and pitch yeast into each.  Do everything the same as before from here on, except use corn sugar or dme to carbonate when you bottle the 10 gallon batch.

I've done this once.  There is a slight chance of contamination, but if your sanitation was excellent, you should be fine.

I would not make another batch and pour the bottled flat beer in at bottling time.  This would oxygenate at the wrong time!

My vote though, is for letting them sit for about 2 weeks at a time and keep trying them.  I'd also move the bottles to a place where they are at 65F to 70F and give the yeast as much help as you can.

YOu can boil 3.5 ounces of sugar with enough water to make 500 ml and let cool. get everything clean and santized, your hands, a bottle opener, the capper, some caps, and a little medicine syringe like they sell at the drug store. Pop the cap on a bottle and hit it with 10ml of the syrup and recap. put it in a warm place (70-75 if you can) for a week or two and then chill and enjoy.

Everything you need to carbonate is in the bottle except the sugar the yeast will use to produce the co2. give them the yeast and seal them back up and your golden.

I'm willing to bet that either they left the sugar out accidentally and you were supposed to add the maltodextrin to the boil or the kit was just totally wonky.

maltodesxtrin is used to add body to a beer it is more or less totally non-fermentable.

Ontario beer kegs instruction suxx, I almost did the same mistake as you but I did call them before, cause my kit includes sugar. So I was not sure if i should put the sugar in or it it was for bottling. So I talk to the warehouse guys he was kinda busy preparing delivery, he told to throw it in that it won't hurt, so I ask him about the sugar for bottling, he told me to use any other type of sugar that they don't put it in cause they don't know if you are kegging or bottling.
So now after my 2 extract kits, I had one all grain kit, it when very well.

Then I wanted to order a 55 lbs 2 row malt instead of buying their kits, but the delivery was almost same as the grain, manage to find it here in Toronto so pick it up, brought the cost in my beer a lot.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Ill know better for next time. 

From everything I read, my first suggestion is to find a different kit builder to work with, or start building your own using BeerSmith and just order the ingredients you need. That way you get to start playing with your toys instead of someone elses!
;D

You know, I had a beer that I made many many years ago with the same problem so, I just set it aside and forgot about it for a few months. One day I decided to give it a try and, it was fine. I wouldn't dump it unless you have contamination issues. If it tastes good but it is flat, let it set. Try it in a few months. If it suck, chalk one up for education.

Get a couple of bottles out of the 67 degree area and get them to a warmer area  for a couple of weeks... too hot will kill off the yeast. It is recommended to bottle ferment in the ideal fermentation temperature range of the yeast you used. If that's where you are it might be a waiting game. Try storing a couple of bottles at room temp for a few weeks and see if they are more carbonated than the rest of your stock.

Also keep in mind that a basement floor may be much colder than the air temp. Get it off the floor if that is where you have it. I used to have that issues with carboys back in the day.

I don't have a real good idea on this issue but though i still like to taste your beer.