Need Some Help Please...

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MoronBrothersBrewery

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2011
Messages
64
Reaction score
1
Location
Miami
Bottled a clone of Avery's Maharaja (thanks JP & Chad for the recipe) two weeks ago. After I capped all 28 (22oz) bottles, I quickly noticed that I had forgotten the priming sugar! So, I uncapped the all the bottles, put about a teaspoon of cane sugar in each, and recapped. Yesterday, the beer was 2 weeks old, so I tried one and it was completely flat, zero carbonation. Now what? Is there anything else I should do?

Thanks.
 
Yeah, if you have no carb at 2 weeks, then wait two more. Next time, don't even touch it till 3 weeks... it is a real shame to open beers that aren't done yet, then later think "crap, i'm out of that awesome beer, wish I hadn't opened those early bottles".

Next time, be sure to mix all your priming sugar in the bottling bucket. Do a search for how to do it.

Also (and this is a big deal), after you've warm conditioned, you need to put a beer in the fridge for a week (at least three-four days) to be sure that all the co2 in the head space has actually dissolved into the beer.
 
I was in such a hurry to finish bottling, I completely forgot to add the sugar. I had 3.8 oz of cane sugar dissolved in some warm water and just FORGOT. I've had some batches carbonate at 1 week, so that's why I tried one this weekend. I'll take your advice and be PATIENT.
Thanks!
 
Bottled a clone of Avery's Maharaja (thanks JP & Chad for the recipe) two weeks ago. After I capped all 28 (22oz) bottles, I quickly noticed that I had forgotten the priming sugar! So, I uncapped the all the bottles, put about a teaspoon of cane sugar in each, and recapped. Yesterday, the beer was 2 weeks old, so I tried one and it was completely flat, zero carbonation. Now what? Is there anything else I should do?

OK, so it has now been 4 weeks and still flat, zero carbonation. Should I continue to wait another 4 weeks, or maybe start thinking about another solution?
 
The big thin to remember is that, despite what you did, Maharaja is still a big beer AND you bottled in 22 ounce bottles. BOTH those things make carbonation take longer than normal 12 ounce bottles do.

I personally would keep waiting. Because I've had beers that take months to carb up. I've never had an issue with that not happening, even if it took 6 months on a huge beer.

Adding more sugar is never an option. If you already added sugar, unless you want bottle bombs, there is no need to add any more. The problem is not with the sugar, it's with the yeast. The sugar hasn't been consumed by the yeast YET.

If you really feel you need to do something, uncap the bottles, sprinkle some dry yeast in bottle, recap, and give a bit of a shake.

If you're feeling uber anal, rehydrate said yeast in water (or use liquid) get a children's medicine dropper with ML gradients like this,

medicine-dropper-310.jpg


Open beer bottle, suck up slurry into sanitized eyedropper, squirt 1 ml of yeast into bottle, then re-cap. Give the bottles a shake, and then walk away for another 2-3 weeks to give that yeast a chance to do the job.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top