by Mob_Barley » Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:38 am
Maybe a little more information might help. First of all, what temperature were you fermenting at? 3 weeks is OK for a lager yeast at 48 deg, but not OK if you were fermenting at say 55 deg ie. it should have fermented fairly quickly at that temp and be done in a week or two. When you say you still had fermentation, were you judging that by the airlock? Sometimes the act of moving the carboy, disturbing the beer, or raising the temperature can cause some of the entrained CO2 to come out of suspension and cause the airlock to bubble, even though fermentation is finished. The best way to check to see if the fermentation is actually finished is to check the specific gravity. If it stays the same for three days in a row, then primary fermentation is probably complete and you can then rack to a bottling bucket, secondary, or a keg. If you didn't cold crash the beer and cause all the yeast to drop out, then you are probably ok and have plenty of yeast in suspension to carbonate the bottles. Give it a couple of weeks at room temperature and it should be carbonated. Look for the sediment at the bottom indicating the yeast have finished and settled out, then open a bottle. If still not carbonated, move them to a warmer place, like near a water heater, where the beer can get a little warmer, say 72-74 deg. Then open one bottle each week for a few weeks.
If after say four or five weeks and still no carbonation, you may have to try some tricks,like opening all your beers and pouring them back into a bottling bucket or fermenter, then adding more healthy yeast that will finish the job. I don't know if you can taste the amount of sugar you primed with, but you can probably assume it is still there since none of the bottles were carbonated. Just picth about a fourth of a packet of yeast into the bucket, re-bottle and keep it in a warm place. Check with someone that knows more about bottle conditioning beer as to if you primed with the correct amount of sugar in the first place.
Or, someone with a kegging setup and bottle filler will probably let you pour your beers into a keg and force carbonate them. You will still have a little residual sugar left from the priming though. It may be best to transfer to a carboy and lager for about six weeks, then decide if you want to force carbonate or re-prime and bottle condition.
As for the watery taste, it sounds like your volumes may have been a little off. How was the gravity prior to pitching your yeast? Did you hit the pre-boil gravity? I haven't made a kit in a VERY long time, so I don't remember what kind of instructions the kits have. Both of my kits had steeping grains in them and were pretty thorough. Let us know how it turns out, or if you have any more comments or questions.
I finally got internet after 13 days offshore, so I can finally get back to civilization.
"Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of good beer."