Uncarbed beer

Hey guys, I made a batch of Brewers Best Oktober Fest for a tasting I'm having Sat night... I made it about a month ago, and on bottling day me and my buddy forgot to add priming sugar now i have 2.5 cases of uncarbed beer... if I chill it would it still be drinkable? Or should I just dump the batch? I dont have a co2 or the means to keg right now!

I understand if I recarb the beer that will take atleast 7 days... SWMBO is having a Halloween party Sat and I was going to have the tasting then!

Well, you could drink it, won't hurt you any. Or, you could try to carefully open all the bottles, pour them into your bottling bucket with the priming sugar (careful not to aerate too much), and re-bottle them. Not sure how many people have had success doing that though..

SouthieBrewer79 said:

I understand if I recarb the beer that will take atleast 7 days... SWMBO is having a Halloween party Sat and I was going to have the tasting then!

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7 days is not enough time. The minimum recommendation is 3 weeks.

Open the bottles put the appropriate amount of sugar in, recap. Then give a a good shake and put them somewhere decently warm like 75-80F I would agitate them again the next day or two as well. In a week they will be carbonated somewhat at least. This is not the best thing to do but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.....

You could use carb drops for a more accurate distribution. Might screw it up if you're just trying to measure small amounts of sugar.

But yeah, the 75-80 idea is solid - it'll be good beer, just not REALLY good beer.

Well - basically you are screwed but the above is worth a try! Maybe you can get lucky and have foamers! They only take a week LOL

Chalk it up to a lesson and perhaps less beer drinking at botteling time - sorry man!

BTW - getting them real cold will help but they will still taste flat. Do the above and you will have drinkable been but in a few weeks.

I've carbed bottles (32oz size) in 7 days. Added suger directly to the bottle, added wort and swirled. Actaully might have been under 7 days.

You could as TimT put it open them all and add sugar, I think for a 12 oz bottle it is 3/4 tsp. I would not put them back in the buckent and add sugar and rebottle that way. To hard to get the beer in without mixing in O2 really well and ruining them.

One way to speed this up is to 'flip' the bottles every day or even 12 hours. This will constantly put the yeast back into suspension and help mix the sugar which will be a lump on the bottom initially. But again I think I've gotton 32 oz bottles carbed in 4 days in a basement, so maybe low 70's

thank you ALL for your suggestions! When I figure out what im going to do, ill let you guys know! THANKS for the tips!

i think your best bet is to add carb drops or small amounts of sugar and recap as to lessen the chance of oxidation...they keep on shaking and flipping!

If all else fails just don't bring them out until every1 has had a few

TimT said:

Open the bottles put the appropriate amount of sugar in, recap. Then give a a good shake and put them somewhere decently warm like 75-80F I would agitate them again the next day or two as well. In a week they will be carbonated somewhat at least. This is not the best thing to do but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.....

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I wouldn't recomend the "good shake" part, unless you want to aerate all your beer... but, yes, add sugar to the bottles, recap, turn them upside down a few times, maybe give them a few swirls. Just try not to aerate them too much. Good luck!

I can't imagine having an Oktoberfest ready in a month under any circumstances...

Just acquire some priming tablets, sanitize some fresh caps, spray the bottle tops down with starsan, then open-carb tablet-close. They'll be fine, it'll just be more of a Novemberfest

beerchef17 said:

if all else fails just don't bring them out until every1 has had a few

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+1

Use them for chugging competitions. A "buy in" for the rest of your beers, perhaps.

I have forgotten the sugar at bottling time before and poured the priming sugar directly into the bottles without issue. Time on the other hand is not a solvable problem. If you still haven't primed them, you're looking at 4 days which is just not enough time to get a reasonable level of carbonation. I have served undercarbed beers to friends before and my advice to you is don't. Especially if they are not brewers. You can tell them the funny story about how you forgot the sugar and how you pulled through the best you could at the last minute to "save the tasting" but in the end most people won't get past the undercarbonation. If you can set up a different date 3-4 weeks out, that's the route I would go.

bottlebomber said:

I can't imagine having an Oktoberfest ready in a month under any circumstances...

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He has a good point. Octoberfests from what I remember reading are usually brewed several months ahead of time and left to bottle condition for like 6 months.

Thank you for all the tips and help guys! I have a buddy with a c02 tank and extra corny keg... I'm going to TRY by the grace of God to get some free time and pull this off! I WILL NEVER FORGET TO ADD SUGAR AGAIN!!! :rockin: