There's just not enough fizz...

[dedken]

Evening all,

I've been bottle conditioning my raspberry-influenced lager for 5 weeks now but while the flavour has definitely improved over the time period, when I last cracked one open there just wasn't enough fizz for a lager. I primed and bottled it in exactly the same fashion as my previous lager, which I had no problems with. Is it possible the pectin haze which exists in this brew is somehow suppressing carbonation? Can I add more priming sugar and then recap the bottles? If so how much more sugar should I risk? Or should I just pour it on the garden?

Any thoughts?

Cheers in anticipation

[Zatoichi]

Sounds like the bottles were stored in an environment that was too cold for the yeast to do its thing thus leaving the beer with a haze and no fizz. Personally I would store the bottles in the house (unless thats where they were in the first place!) for 2 weeks and see if the yeast wakes up and carbonates your beer.

As for re priming them I wouldn't as the risk of oxygenation is too high, but then again I have never bottled myself. Hopefully somebody wiser in this area will be along with the definitive answer shortly.

[dedken]

I stored the bottles in the house for about 3 weeks in a room with a temperature approx14-15C, after which I transfered them to a cold shed. The haze has been there since day 1 of bottling - it's pectin from the fruit which hasn't been broken down.

[trucker5774]

I have reprimed many times. I have never had a completely flat bottle to start with....................but have opened a bottle and added about half the normal amount of priming sugar as normal. I then treat the bottles as for the normal priming routine. If you add dry sugar it will foam up. Added as a solution seems to solve the problem. There obviously has to be viable yeast in the bottle for it to carbonate. I use PET bottles so have never had a problem with exploding bottles.

[dedken]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try and calculate how much I need for a solution.

It's not that the bottle brew is completely flat, it's that it's carbonated more like an ale and lager definitely needs a bit more. We all know how good flat lager is - not very!