[davidgzach]

Good luck.  Sounds like you may have had some bad bottles.  Before opening them, can you identify 2 that were filled at different times?  One at the start and one at the end of bottling.  See if one is carbonated?

Just a thought before cracking open all your bottles.

Dave

[jckemmer]

I had thought about that.  Possibly due to uneven priming sugar distribution, some bottles were under primed and others got too much.  Further "testing" revealed that it all seems to be flat.

It's difficult to go back and "should have done" something, so we went forward.

My wife has a SodaStream device made for infusing carbonation into H2O for bubbly water.  We just wondered.  We tried it.  Let me tell you, this is the solution to a problem I hope never to have again.  One blast from the CO2 bottle and I had wonderful head and fizz.  Forced carbonation baby step.  I have no keg or CO2 bottle, and it wouldn't have helped in the bottle, anyway.  This is a solution for those in that unfortunate position.

Thanks to all for great advice for my next time at the bottling bucket!

[Delo]

My wife has a SodaStream device made for infusing carbonation into H2O for bubbly water.  We just wondered.  We tried it.  Let me tell you, this is the solution to a problem I hope never to have again.  One blast from the CO2 bottle and I had wonderful head and fizz.  Forced carbonation baby step.  I have no keg or CO2 bottle, and it wouldn't have helped in the bottle, anyway.  This is a solution for those in that unfortunate position.

I have been wondering how well this works. I brought a growler to a friends house that was flat. I'm still having issues bottling from keg to growler or bottle. They had a sodastream but no co2 canister so I never got to try it.   I'm glad to hear it worked.

I have a bottled Christmas ale that has been slow to carbonate, the same amount of time as yours. I gave most of them away knowing they might not be fully carbonated by Christmas and told people to wait a week or so before drinking them. The ones I have opened recently were still flat.  I used the same process I always do, which is pretty much the same thing you did and others suggested, and for some reason they werent carbonated. I can only think that the temps in our house were low and slowed the yeast down...or there is a problem with the yeast. Still tastes good. I might have to check one tonight.

[morticaixavier]

I had thought about that.  Possibly due to uneven priming sugar distribution, some bottles were under primed and others got too much.  Further "testing" revealed that it all seems to be flat.

It's difficult to go back and "should have done" something, so we went forward.

My wife has a SodaStream device made for infusing carbonation into H2O for bubbly water.  We just wondered.  We tried it.  Let me tell you, this is the solution to a problem I hope never to have again.  One blast from the CO2 bottle and I had wonderful head and fizz.  Forced carbonation baby step.  I have no keg or CO2 bottle, and it wouldn't have helped in the bottle, anyway.  This is a solution for those in that unfortunate position.

Thanks to all for great advice for my next time at the bottling bucket!

glad you figured out a solution!

Another thought I had on the cause was a bad capper. My capper will sometimes leave one crimp a little up from the rest. I have taken to turning the capper a quarter turn and re-crimping. You didn't mention that the beer tasted sweet so it seems like the priming sugar must have fermented so unless you a) didn't add it in the first place or b) accidentally used way to little priming sugar it seems like it must have escaped as or after it was generated.

I've read about folks who will put a balloon over each bottle neck to make sure the caps are on. seems like a huge PITA to me but I suppose if it is a continuing problem it's a place to look. I hope for your sake that this won't be an ongoing issue for you!

[denny]

How hot is the sugar water when you mix it with the beer? Maybe you killed the yeast.

I used to worry about that, but then I realized I was adding a cup of boiling liquid to 5 gal. of room temp. liquid.  That negates the temp difference pretty quickly.  I've never had a problem putting boiling primer into a bucket, then siphoning beer onto it.

[Joe Sr.]

Another thought I had on the cause was a bad capper. My capper will sometimes leave one crimp a little up from the rest. I have taken to turning the capper a quarter turn and re-crimping.

Back in the day when I bottled everything, every bottle got a double-crimp.  I would even use two different cappers to be sure.

Not so paranoid anymore and haven't had any problems with flat beer.  But I don't bottle so much since I keg most of it. 

[ridesalot]

I rack beer first so I know how much there is. If you calculate priming sugar based on 5 gallons, but only have 4 then you will be over carbonated. Add sugar after if it is mixed gently is no problem. I never keg only bottle. Sugar, corn sugar, dem, all act differently.

[morticaixavier]

I rack beer first so I know how much there is. If you calculate priming sugar based on 5 gallons, but only have 4 then you will be over carbonated. Add sugar after if it is mixed gently is no problem. I never keg only bottle. Sugar, corn sugar, dem, all act differently.

it shouldn't be that hard to estimate how much beer is going to get from your primary to your bottling bucket. I can't imagine being off by a gallon unless something tragic happens in the transfer. If there is 5.5 gallons in the primary and ~.5 gallons worth of trub/yeast/goop at the bottom, unless you leave way too much behind you'll get 5 into the bottling bucket.

I'm not saying your way doesn't work but why bother/take the chance on stirring when you don't have to?

[euge]

I agree with Jon. I've never had that much evaporate off during primary and I practice a form of open fermentation. And if it is an issue of missing your mark post boil then a top off or take note of any excess. It shouldn't be difficult to dial in the volumes for any fermenters.

But usually I prime the keg and then any excess goes into PET bottles. So fermenter volume isn't much of an issue.

[erockrph]

My wife has a SodaStream device made for infusing carbonation into H2O for bubbly water.  We just wondered.  We tried it.  Let me tell you, this is the solution to a problem I hope never to have again.  One blast from the CO2 bottle and I had wonderful head and fizz.  Forced carbonation baby step.  I have no keg or CO2 bottle, and it wouldn't have helped in the bottle, anyway.  This is a solution for those in that unfortunate position.

I have been wondering how well this works. I brought a growler to a friends house that was flat. I'm still having issues bottling from keg to growler or bottle. They had a sodastream but no co2 canister so I never got to try it.   I'm glad to hear it worked.

I've often wondered the same thing. My thought was that you might be able to force carb using Mr Beer PET bottles, although I wasn't sure if they fit in a SodaStream.

[Delo]

They probably use only some proprietary bottle.  Ill have to bring a Mr beer bottle with me next time I go over and check…provided I can find them. I can bring my Christmas ale because it still didn’t carbonate. Hope the OP's did.

[Jeff M]

Isnt a Sodastream essentially a Carb Stone with high psi?  Might be easier to just use your gas setup with a .5 micron carb stone at 40PSi for 10 seconds.  Might be worth testing