Bottle priming error

[HughRichardson]

I just brewed a batch of Coopers Real Ale using 700 g LDM, half kilo of Dextrose, Fuggle hops and Safale SO4 yeast. Fermentation went fine at a steady 20 to 21 degrees C, and also the bottling.
However its been in the bottle two days now, and ordinarily I would expect the bottles to be hard by now with some sediment forming at bottom of the bottles.

I use 1.5 litre PET bottles which are generally ideal for the purpose. However with this batch, the bottles are still quite soft to touch, and there is hardly any visible sediment. I am coming to the conclusion that I might have used the Half Teaspoon measure to add the priming sugar instead of the One Teaspoon measure. This would mean that each 1.5 litre bottle was primed with about 1 Tsp sugar instead of the usual 2 Tsp.
Is there any possible remedial action I can take, or must I just resign myself to a rather flat batch?

 

[Yooper]

I just brewed a batch of Coopers Real Ale using 700 g LDM, half kilo of Dextrose, Fuggle hops and Safale SO4 yeast. Fermentation went fine at a steady 20 to 21 degrees C, and also the bottling.
However its been in the bottle two days now, and ordinarily I would expect the bottles to be hard by now with some sediment forming at bottom of the bottles.

I use 1.5 litre PET bottles which are generally ideal for the purpose. However with this batch, the bottles are still quite soft to touch, and there is hardly any visible sediment. I am coming to the conclusion that I might have used the Half Teaspoon measure to add the priming sugar instead of the One Teaspoon measure. This would mean that each 1.5 litre bottle was primed with about 1 Tsp sugar instead of the usual 2 Tsp.
Is there any possible remedial action I can take, or must I just resign myself to a rather flat batch?

Put them somewhere at 20C degrees, and check them again in 2.5 weeks. They'll probably be fine.

 

[crazychris66]

I had this same problem. I was alway getting flat beer with PET bottles. I switched to glass but did try to fix the problem first. I'm not sure if this is correct (please let me know if I'm wrong) but take the lid off and add more sugar to correct it to what you Normaly have and then shake them then put back for another 2+ weeks

 

[HughRichardson]

Thanks for the ideas.
I might try one botrtle with another tsp of sugar and see what happens. My worry is that it might just immediately froth up and lose a lot of beer wothout gaining much - but nothing ventured - nothing gained!!

 

[zachattack]

Just wait longer! Don't even thing about messing with it for another 3 weeks. Sometimes it can take months to carbonate, as Yooper suggested just make sure they don't get cold.

 

[HughRichardson]

Thank you to all for your useful ideas. As the responses fall into two categories:

1 Do nothing and wait upon events
2 Open the bottles and add a bit more priming sugar.​

I went down both routes and added extra priming to half the batch, and left the other half as is.
In two or three weeks time, I hope to be able to report on the relative successes of both ideas!
Cheers!

 

[crazychris66]

Thank you to all for your useful ideas. As the responses fall into two categories:
1 Do nothing and wait upon events
2 Open the bottles and add a bit more priming sugar.
I went down both routes and added extra priming to half the batch, and left the other half as is.
In two or three weeks time, I hope to be able to report on the relative successes of both ideas!
Cheers!

Did any froth up when adding more sugar?

 

[HughRichardson]

Good point!
Yes, it did froth quite violently, but there was always a three or four second pause after adding the sugar and that just gave enough time to get the tops back on, expel most of the air from the top and tighten down firmly!

 

[HughRichardson]

I have now tried bottles from this batch. Both the un-tampered and the re-primed bottles are pretty much fine. The beer does have a bit more of a bitter after taste than I would have liked, and I am not sure that the re-primed bottles are not just a little less bitter than the others. I suppose that would make sense as they have a bit more sugar on board.
However I think I would have to say that it has not really made too much difference one way or the other. Both are equally carbonated and have a very good frothy head!