Forget something?

Man I am an idiot.

First batch of beer. Finally ready to bottle. Bottling bucket had a small leak at the seal but otherwise it went pretty well I thought. I got all two cases of bottles capped and ready to store for 3 weeks or more.

Then I realized I forgot one TINY little thing:

The priming sugar was still sitting in the pan on the stove.

Obviously the beer will be flat. But will it be drinkable or should I just toss it?

Stupid stupid stupid I know. I was sober doing this, believe it or not. Just got distracted, then came back and skipped a crucial step.

Another crazy thought: Could I just pop the caps off, add priming sugar solution to each and then recap with new caps?

Well, it will be fine, but flat.

What I'd recommend doing at this point is buying some "carb tabs". You just open the bottles, drop in the caplets, and then recap (with new caps). It'll be a pain, but it will save the beer.

I wouldn't add a teaspoon of sugar to each beer, because of "nucleation points". Each little grain of sugar will cause a mini-volcano, so the whole bottle will come spewing out.

I agree with Yooper...... besides the fact that adding sugar to the bottles will be a PITA, the irregular amounts added to each bottle will likely cause some to be over carbed and some under carbed.....

YooperBrew said:

Well, it will be fine, but flat.

What I'd recommend doing at this point is buying some "carb tabs". You just open the bottles, drop in the caplets, and then recap (with new caps). It'll be a pain, but it will save the beer.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the good advice. I just checked my local brew supply store and now I have another excuse to make the trip.

I don't expect much out of the batch, given that it is my first, but it is good to know it isn't ruined.

Thanks again.