Help me save my under-carbed batch

[bp262]

Hey guys,

I was trying to carb up a 5 gal batch of Irish Red Ale to style. Punched in my numbers for 1.225 co2 volume and got 1oz (28g) of cane sugar to add (this was my mistake, I meant to do 2.25!!). Now 5 weeks later and I get just the slightest puff on opening, no head and little if ANY carbonation after being in the fridge for 2 days. At room temp they produce a little head, but still no real carb. Bottles have been held at 65-70 for the 5 week duration and were rolled at week 3 when found they were uncarbed, I just don't think I got enough sugar in there at bottling time and I think that's all I'm going to get.

I pulled one bottle and took a hydro, it's at my Final Gravity (1.010). I poured the dregs into a pseudo starter and it's started fermenting, so my yeast is OK.

Here's my thought on saving this batch:

1. Dissolve and boil 2.5 oz sugar into just over 100mL of water (I have roughly 50 bottles)
2. Using a pipette move 2 mL of solution into uncapped bottle
3. Re-cap then roll to suspend yeast
4. Wait 3 weeks at 70F

What a pain, but not sure what else to do...

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Blake

 

[BendBrewer]

Have you stuck any in the fridge for a week?

 

[jonmohno]

1 0z for 5 gallons?

 

[FensterBos]

I've had that problem before, but decided just to drink the beer anyway.
The only two solutions I can think of is using an eyedropper in each beer as you mentioned or pouring it all into a bottling bucket and then starting the process over again.
But because of infection and oxidation concerns I would go with the painstakingly annoying eyedropper method. But that is just me; I am sure there is a better way to do this.

 

[bp262]

Have you stuck any in the fridge for a week?

2 days i the fridge... and just... nothing (or nearly nothing, the weakest, most tragic pfft you've ever heard) and the beer is flat as a board.

jonmohno - I know... it should have been 3 oz for 2.2 vol, but I accidentally wrote down 1.2 and didn't question it when calculating...

FensterBos - That's what I was thinking (eyedropper). I don't want to risk oxidation from pouring back into bottling bucket.

Blake

 

[jonmohno]

If this were to happen to me id almost splurge for those carb tabs assuming you have 5 gallons? I guess a dropper would be almost as easy.way cheaper too. I would go for 4 oz. I did 1 oz per gallon on my irish red draught and about to drink one tonight @2 weeks bottled i checked one a week ago and was real good.

 

[Sithdad]

A friend of mine had a problem with a batch of his not carbing up. We're pretty sure he didn't mix up the beer and the priming solution. I had heard about people using raisins and he tried one in a 12oz bottle. He left it alone for a week at room temp and he said it really carbed up. He's going to redo the ones that are flat and add only 1/2 a raisin to them this time.

 

[bp262]

If this were to happen to me id almost splurge for those carb tabs assuming you have 5 gallons? I guess a dropper would be almost as easy.way cheaper too. I would go for 4 oz. I did 1 oz per gallon on my irish red draught and about to drink one tonight @2 weeks bottled i checked one a week ago and was real good.

Carb tabs, brilliant!

I use Cooper's about a week ago, popped each bottle and tossed in one tab per bottle and re-capped. After just one week we are WAY farther along than before. Maybe next time I'll give raisins a try, sounds like a fun experiment.

My only explanation at this point would be that I never even actually added the sugar, since 1.2 vol still should have given me SOME carbonation.

Thanks,
Blake