My first batch: Big Mistake?

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panthony

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I brewed my first batch 2wks ago; let it ferment for 2wks; made a mistake yesterday: transferred into a secondary fermenter, and mistakenly believed I was supposed to add priming sugar, which I did. Realized, too late, that I was not supposed to add the priming sugar until bottling stage. Now I have my primed brew sitting in a secondary fermenter (carboy), and do not know what to do next: throw it out? try to get it into bottles today? It has been in the carboy for 16hrs and there is no bubbling going on through my air lock... maybe also a bad sign? Any ideas??:confused:
 
Just let it ferment out. Realize you boosted you gavity by about .0005%. And when you decide to bottle, just add more sugar.

And get the idea that you should just dump your beer for a tiny mistake out of your mental vocabulary. You don't think about doing that just because of some tiny little mistake...You do that when you know your beer is bad....
 
Honestly I wouldn't worry about it. Airlock activity isn't a 100% guarantee of fermentation activity.

I'd let that finish out, maybe another week or two and check your gravity 3 days in a row. If it's the same over a 3 day period then prepare more priming sugar and bottle it up.

All you really did was up your ABV a bit, there are certain scenarios where simple sugars are added close to the end of primary fermentation (to help yeast in a big beer, for instance).

Relax, you still made beer ;)

Blake
 
Definitely don't dump it. You've got a couple of options, you could bottle it now, I can't imagine that too much fermentation has happened in just 16 hrs or you could let it ride for a couple of weeks while the yeast take care of the current priming solution then reprime and bottle.

If I were you, I'd bottle that today, I'd hate to let it sit only to add more sugar and risk the chance of overpriming which could result in bottle bombs.
 
Yep, homebrewing requires alot of patience, just check the gravity in a couple days and a couple days after that, if it hasn't moved you can bottle or condition longer to clear or whatever your next process was going to be.
 
panthony said:
I brewed my first batch 2wks ago; let it ferment for 2wks; made a mistake yesterday: transferred into a secondary fermenter, and mistakenly believed I was supposed to add priming sugar, which I did. Realized, too late, that I was not supposed to add the priming sugar until bottling stage. Now I have my primed brew sitting in a secondary fermenter (carboy), and do not know what to do next: throw it out? try to get it into bottles today? It has been in the carboy for 16hrs and there is no bubbling going on through my air lock... maybe also a bad sign? Any ideas??:confused:
Click to expand...

Leave it for a week. You should have no problems

Deltac
 
COLObrewer said:
Yep, homebrewing requires alot of patience, just check the gravity in a couple days and a couple days after that, if it hasn't moved you can bottle or condition longer to clear or whatever your next process was going to be.
Click to expand...

Excellent point, if you plan to let it ferment out, the hydrometer is your friend and will let you know when any fermentation activity sparked by the addition of the priming solution has ceased.
 
Leave it for two more weeks to allow the yeast to eat up all the sugar., you just added a bit of simple sugar to raise the ABV and feed the yeast; then re-do the bottling sugar and bottle.
 
Much appreciated... the beer stays in the carboy, and it sounds like all will be well... thanks again!:D
 
fishkid said:
Definitely don't dump it. You've got a couple of options, you could bottle it now, I can't imagine that too much fermentation has happened in just 16 hrs or you could let it ride for a couple of weeks while the yeast take care of the current priming solution then reprime and bottle.

If I were you, I'd bottle that today, I'd hate to let it sit only to add more sugar and risk the chance of overpriming which could result in bottle bombs.
Click to expand...

I tested a plastic bottle that I had put the primed beer into and within 24 hours the bottle was hard as a rock. There is a lot of yeast in the beer yet and it ferments the priming sugar out pretty quickly.
 

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