Brewer's Best Conditioning Tablets save undercarbed bottles?

[blacklabel8829]

For one reason or another I have an undercarbonated yet great tasting bottled Nut Brown Ale. The proper amount of corn sugar was added, 4 weeks later they were undercarbed. I believe it was a yeast issue so I tried adding a few grains of yeast to a couple bottles and waiting 2 more weeks, but it's still not carbing up.

I have now bought Brewers Best conditioning tablets to try and save this. I just opened a bottle and dropped 3 tabs in, it instantly foamed up and overflowed all over the counter.

Sooooo, how should I be adding these to the bottles?

FWIW: The beer was 79F from conditioning and the tablets were fairly cool (just delivered from cold mail truck), was it just a temp thing?

 

[Kent88]

Whatever dissolved gases that are in your beer are going to be disturbed by any sugars or anything that you add at this point.

Unless this is for a contest or a special occasion, I'd say you're better off just leaving it and drinking it as is.

 

[RM-MN]

since your beer foamed over immediately after adding a carb tab the issue doesn't sound like a lack of carbonation. Perhaps you mean it doesn't form or hold a head which is a completely different problem.

If you are successful at adding carbonation tablets you likely will get bottle bombs. Don't do that.

If the problem is that it doesn't form or hold a head the problem is in your glassware. It has soap residue, probably from washing in the dishwasher which often has an anti-spotting agent. That agent works wonders for keeping the nice crystal from having water spots but it absolutely kills the head on beer. Hand wash your glass. Rinse it very well, then pour a bottle of beer into it.

 

[blacklabel8829]

since your beer foamed over immediately after adding a carb tab the issue doesn't sound like a lack of carbonation. Perhaps you mean it doesn't form or hold a head which is a completely different problem.

If you are successful at adding carbonation tablets you likely will get bottle bombs. Don't do that.

If the problem is that it doesn't form or hold a head the problem is in your glassware. It has soap residue, probably from washing in the dishwasher which often has an anti-spotting agent. That agent works wonders for keeping the nice crystal from having water spots but it absolutely kills the head on beer. Hand wash your glass. Rinse it very well, then pour a bottle of beer into it.

I really do not care about head retention. The issue is that it is VERY lightly carbonated, just enough that it still tastes completely flat after your 4th sip. Four others that have tasted it and agreed it is as close to flat as you can get in regards to carbonation. First time I have had this issue when bottling.

 

[RM-MN]

For one reason or another I have an undercarbonated yet great tasting bottled Nut Brown Ale. The proper amount of corn sugar was added, 4 weeks later they were undercarbed. I believe it was a yeast issue so I tried adding a few grains of yeast to a couple bottles and waiting 2 more weeks, but it's still not carbing up.

I have now bought Brewers Best conditioning tablets to try and save this. I just opened a bottle and dropped 3 tabs in, it instantly foamed up and overflowed all over the counter.

Sooooo, how should I be adding these to the bottles?

FWIW: The beer was 79F from conditioning and the tablets were fairly cool (just delivered from cold mail truck), was it just a temp thing?

OK, you have me convinced that they are undercarbonated. The highlighted part is why they foamed over so badly when you tried adding a carbonation tablet. The beer can hold much less CO2 at that temp than when cold so if you want to open the bottles to add the carbonation tablets you need to get them cold to reduce the CO2 pressure. The closer you get them to freezing without freezing them, the less likely foaming will be. I'd still be pretty cautious about how many carbonation tablets to add. I might grab just a couple bottles, add one tablet to each while cold, let them warm for a few days, then chill and pour. Then you will have a better idea of how much carbonation one tablet gets you. Dropping in 3 might be explosive.

 

[myndflyte]

The reason for the foaming is because the sugar created nucleation sites that cause CO2 to be released (think mentos and diet coke). If you make a sugar solution by dissolving some sugar in water, you could add some of that liquid to each bottle.