First time brewer - flat ale

atlbb

Hi, we've just brewed ale for the first time, and think we must have gone wrong somewhere! We bought the full kit including Woodfordes Sundew and all seemed to go ok. We bottled and used 2 crafty fox carbonation drops per bottle, tightening caps and shaking to dissolve the drops and then left the bottles for 2 weeks in the spare room. We have tried 3 bottles and all are completely flat. Can anyone suggest where we have gone wrong? I'm sure the caps were on tightly as we were shaking each bottle for ages to get the carbonation drops to dissolve so I can't think where else we could have lost the carbonation? Any help would be appreciated as we would like to try again and don't want to make the same mistake again! Thanks

HBO_Staff

Welcome, the good news is that everything sounds to be fine here and there is probably nothing to worry about, it may be that the brew is still cloudy too. The main reason why the brew is still flat is usually due to the temperature, to help the secondary fermentation in the bottles get going and produce the carbonation it is best to store the bottles somewhere warm. Ideally move the bottles somewhere around 20 degrees C or so for a week, this will help the priming drops and yeast suspended in the liquid to secondary ferment.

You can then leave the bottles there, or move somewhere a few degrees cooler to help it clear. The brew is usually ready to drink once it clears, but for best results try to leave in the bottles (away from UV light) for at least a few weeks or more - this allows the full flavours to develop as it continues to condition - the longer the better

atlbb

Thank you. Is there an approx time to leave it from bottling to it being ready to drink?

HBO_Staff

It can really vary from brew to brew, as a general rule once the brew looks clear and the bottles are carbonated they can be drank, with beers and lagers this tends to be a minimum of 2 weeks if they have had a week in the warmth to help them carbonate, if cooler though it can be much longer. Ideally try to leave a brew in the bottles for a good 4 weeks to allow the flavours to develop, we always try to leave ours for a couple of months minimum as the flavours just keep improving - brewing a batch ahead can help as you have one to drink and another conditioning in the bottles.

Some brews such as the Coopers European lager say to leave for at least 12 weeks in the bottles, and it is common for a brew to have a poor or bad taste in the early stages simply because they are not ready yet - but they can really develop into great brews given time to condition

atlbb

Thanks v much, that is really helpful!