Expert: John Snyder - 7/11/2009

Question
Dear John Snyder,
I am an extract brewer that has made @ 10 batches. My first 6 batches turned out great! I am in a slump and cant figure out why. I am very carefully sanitize everything with starsan. My yeast is about 2 weeks old. I am not getting carbonation/head on my beer. I do the 1 week in bucket/1 week in carboy. I do bottle and all are the same. I use 5oz of dextrose for priming. the beer tastes great, just no/little carbonation. Since I live in Florida in the summer could this be a storage issue? The beer does not go over 85/87 degrees. If this was an infection would there be off flavors/color? Please help.
Thank You,
Alex

Answer
Let me ask the following:
Have the last batches,during fermentation been active:I.E.having foam,brown residue and plenty of CO2 bubbles?

If so,yeast is ok.and fermentation was active,if no the yeast is no good.

the beer should really not go over 70-75 F,especially during the carbonation(priming)period,which should be minimum 3 weeks.
High temps could have killed the carryover yeast,and stopped,or prevented carbonation,completely.

Have you used a different bottle cap,or bottle.The caps may not be sealed,and as a consequence you are losing pressure in the bottle,the gas escaping,thus no or little carbonation,due to pressure loss.

If there were an infection,there would be an off taste.The type of taste would depend on the type of bacteria.

any further questions,will be glad to answer them

                    John