Possible mistake?

Okay, so I had a wonderful day in which to work on nothing but brewing/bottling beer. I bottled up a batch of Red Ale that I had sitting in fermentor. Then I proceeded to get things ready to bottle my Imperial Blonde Ale. I boiled up the water and added 5 oz of corn sugar, cooled it down, added it to the bottling bucket. Transferred the beer from Fermentor to bottling bucket. Halfway into the transfer. I realized that the beer had only been brewed 7 days ago, and that it looked like it was still fermenting (and was very cloudy). So I made a quick decision to just transfer it from bottling bucket to my carboy and sit it in secondary fermentation.

My questions are these. Could I have just bottled it and been done with it, or was it better to rack to secondary? Did I greatly/significant place my beer at unnecessary risk for oxidation/contamination? Will the sugar help this, because it will force O2 out when fermenting? Is adding 5 oz of corn sugar going to mess anything up (like flavor)? And I have read about recipes where they add sugar at points during fermentation, and was wondering if 5 oz would make a significant or noticeable increase in alcohol? and if so, by how much (5 gallon batch)?

Put that carboy in the closet and forget about it for the next two weeks.

After that, bottle it up. Should be just fine. Maybe some oxidation, but I wouldnt worry too much about that.

Had you bottled it you could have ended up with bottle bombs...you dont want those. If fermentation was still going on then the co2 release would create dangerous levels of pressure in your bottles, resulting in little glass grenades just waiting to go off.

Do you have a hydrometer? If not you should go get one. Always take a hydrometer reading prior to bottling to make sure you've hit your final gravity and fermentation is stopped!

ok good. I was worried about the bottle bombs and thought it best to air on the side of caution. Besides adding corn sugar will only add alcohol to the beer anyway (which was part of the point of it being an imperial), right? Any idea how much?

and yes I have a hydrometer, but had no FG quotes to compare with. Recipe didn't have them....it was at about 1.019 so if it wasn't done it was at least fairly close. Started at 1.070.

The corn sugar will add about 2 gravity points. So...1.072.

+1 to letting it sit around for 2 weeks, and then taking a hydrometer reading. It will most likely be better for the flavor of the beer after all. Plus, oxidation really isn't too much of a problem unless you're aging the beer. Aging could be ok with a OG of 1.070, but I would probably drink all but a six pack of the batch within 2-3 months anyway.

brbecker87 said:

ok good. I was worried about the bottle bombs and thought it best to air on the side of caution. Besides adding corn sugar will only add alcohol to the beer anyway (which was part of the point of it being an imperial), right? Any idea how much?

and yes I have a hydrometer, but had no FG quotes to compare with. Recipe didn't have them....it was at about 1.019 so if it wasn't done it was at least fairly close. Started at 1.070.

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You're probably done at 1.019, but you should check again in a couple days to make sure it's still there. If so, do it again the next day and if you hit the same reading again, you're golden. If not, you've got to let it finish out until you get the same reading a few days in a row.

Thanks for the help guys. It's been sitting there for a few days now. Foamed up with a lot of Krausen the first day and it's just about gone now. I'm gonna let it in there a bit to clarify and such.