Cooked up a Scottish Ale.
http://morebeer.com/view_product/18346/ ... t_Beer_Kit
All went well during the cook (very Breaking Bad). I wanted to really get a clean, clear beer so after 2 weeks in primary I put it into secondary for 6 weeks. Dropped some gelatin in and a few days later bottled.
Bottle conditioning the beer. After 4 weeks at about 68 degrees I have mostly flat beer. What do I mean by mostly? Well, some of the bottles give me a little his when I open them, but no carbonation of note. Some bottles are completely quiet. One bottle that was only filled up to the shoulders was nicely carbonated! (and really very tasty).
So I can think of two places where I may have screwed the pooch.
First, I didn't get enough stirring action when I added the bottle conditioning sugar (I may not have stirred at all and just let the turbulence distribute the sugar - I now make sure that I give it a gentle stir after all of the beer is moved into the bottling bucket). Maybe inconsistent bottle sugar?
Second, between the highish alcohol levels, the longer time in secondary and the stripping out of yeast with the jello shot, there isn't enough yeast left to carb the bottles.
So, any thoughts on the more likely culprit? Or other problems?
Should I leave the bottles hanging around for 3-4 months and see if they carb? (and do I risk bottle bombs if some have a lot more sugar than others - I wonder if the bad mixing plus the natural tendency for Scottish heavy to have higher residual sugars is a recipe for shattered glass)