help, bottles not carbonating, what do I do

[Emc]

so i made one of the belgiums from Jamils book. fermented great, left it in the primary for 4 weeks to condition etc. Cold crashed for 3 days (this is the first beer I ever cold crashed), then added priming sugar and bottled as normal. Priming sugar added to bottling bucket, beer racked to that, then on to bottles. So I have had the bottle in my spare bedroom, again like I always do, for the last 2 weeks to build carbonation. I know it was a little early to try one, Ive always gone by the 3 weeks at 70 theory, but I had to know. Put one in the fridge last night to get cold, and when I cracked it open, dead flat. Not a hint of carbonation. Thoughts, suggestions, advice? Sit it out and see what happens? Dry putting it all back in a bottling bucket with more priming sugar and a neutral yeast strain and re-bottle and PRAY that it doesn't oxidize or get infected?

[Whitebeard_Brewer]

Do any of the bottles have any sediment in them?? First thing I would do is check that, and GENTLY shake them to rouse the yeasties...and give them another week or so. If that doesn't do the trick, then I think your only option is the last choice you gave, open them all, add a neutral yeast, and recap, and PRAY. Not sure I would add more sugar tho, if the yeast didn't consume it the first time, it's still in there, adding more may cause an over carbonation problem, and potential bombs.

HTH

Let us know what you decided, and how it turns out. Good luck brotha!!

edit: One other thing to check, is make sure the bottles are getting capped correctly....they could be loosing CO2 that way.

[BlueLoon]

I'd check another one, could be just a bad cap job on one. Rouse the yeast like the previous reply said and get them warmer.
If you do decide to dose them again you should add yeast, wait to see if the yeast eats the previous sugar. Like a day or so. Then when done dose and bottle again. It won't be the same beer. At least my friend's beer that he did this to was not the same.

[dougriddle]

Totally had some bad capping jobs in my day. I have to get down on eye level now after I cap to make sure they are on well enough. I also had a few twist off bottles that snuck their way into my rotation once. Those did not carb well at all.

[brewinhard]

If you brewed a high gravity ABV% beer and let it sit on the yeast for 4 wks followed by a cold crash for 3 days, then your yeast may be weak, tired and unable to carbonate your beer from the added priming sugar. What was your OG and yeast used?

Whenever I bottle a beer that is 7-8% or stronger, I ALWAYS will add fresh yeast at bottling time to ensure proper conditioning. I have suffered flat batches twice with stronger beers before I learned my lesson. If you think this is the case, then you could always rehydrate some dry yeast in cooled, boiled water and carefully pop each cap and add 1 mL of yeast solution into each bottle and recap with new caps. A baby syringe works great for this.

[Emc]

Ok so I am technologically challenged. Was going to put up a pic as the follow up, but since I'm an idiot and can't out how... Decided to sit it out and wait. Left them in out spare room covered from light hoping that would be warm enough. Would gentley swirl a bottle from time to time looking for any sign of carbonation. Felt like I was seeing little bubbles in the head space after another few weeks, cracked one open tonight, beautiful head, nice lacing. Thanks again for everyones replies.