newbie mistake with bottling?

[msa8967]

I bottled 2 five gallon batchs over the weekend and on the second batch I may have made a typical newbie mistake. I heated 2 cups of water to boiling and then mixed in the sugar. I allowed it to cool slightly and then added it to the bottling bucket. What I didn't do was boil both the water and the sugar for 5 minutes as recommended by most instructions. Is there anything I need to do to compensate for this mistake at this point? Will it just take longer to carbonate?

Thanks,

Mick

 

[msa8967]

Forgot to mention that I used the 4 grams of priming sugar that came included with the brewer's best kit.

 

[hopsoda]

grams? you should be fine that's hot enough to kill most all

 

[Neomich]

Should be fine, the whole idea is to bring the volume of liquid up to and past a temperature that kills all the bugs that could potentially be there. Boiling for a few minutes is probably a safer bet but if it was brought to a boil, then turned off, it should be okay. Sanitize everything else it will touch well and you should be alright.

For peace of mind, maybe allow it to boil longer. I just pop mine in the microwave for like 2 minutes of boiling (maybe 3, 3.5 minutes total) and haven't had a problem yet.

 

[brian_g]

I never have boiled my priming sugar for 5 min. The beer seems to be ok. I usually heat it up long enough to dissolve the sugar. A 5 min boil is probably safer from a sanitation perspective. It shouldn't change how long it take to carbonate. I'd can't imagine too many germs would do well going from a dehydrated state to being microwaved to close to boiling and then being dumped into alcohol.

 

[Stratotankard]

Your beer won't be infected, but if you only used 4 grams in 5 gallons, I doubt it will be carbed either. I'm going to assume you meant 4oz of priming sugar.

Personally I like carb drops so I don't have to worry about the boiling or mixing to ensure no under/over carbed bottles. Of course there was that batch I'd been drinking for a bit before bottling and forgot to put the tabs in any of my bottles. Was confused the next day when my bag of drops was unopened.

Terje

 

[brian_g]

Your beer won't be infected, but if you only used 4 grams in 5 gallons, I doubt it will be carbed either. I'm going to assume you meant 4oz of priming sugar.

Personally I like carb drops so I don't have to worry about the boiling or mixing to ensure no under/over carbed bottles. Of course there was that batch I'd been drinking for a bit before bottling and forgot to put the tabs in any of my bottles. Was confused the next day when my bag of drops was unopened.

Terje

Carb drops are fine, only if your going to add sugar to the bottles individually. If you add sugar to the whole batch (which is what I understood the OP was doing), you should use regular corn sugar as the carb drops take longer to dissolve. Personally, I've found that the carb drops are a little pricey and that it's not that difficult to measure out the priming sugar for individual bottles. It takes a little longer then the carb drops, but I'd prefer to save the money. I really haven't notice inconsistencies in carbonation from this. Usually, I prefer to add the sugar to the whole batch, the only time I don't is when I don't have a spare bottling bucket and have to bottle from the fermentor. I don't think it's that hard to dissolve the sugar and mix well. I do have to rack the beer into a bottling bucket, but this also helps remove some of the sediment.
In the end, whether you use carb drop or measure out the sugar individually or add it to the whole batch, it doesn't really matter, it's just personal preference. I've tried all three methods and have had successful carbonation with all of them.

 

[msa8967]

Your beer won't be infected, but if you only used 4 grams in 5 gallons, I doubt it will be carbed either. I'm going to assume you meant 4oz of priming sugar.

Personally I like carb drops so I don't have to worry about the boiling or mixing to ensure no under/over carbed bottles. Of course there was that batch I'd been drinking for a bit before bottling and forgot to put the tabs in any of my bottles. Was confused the next day when my bag of drops was unopened.

Terje

Yet another mistake, I meant to say 4 ounces of priming sugar, not 4 grams. Guess I was thinking metric for some reason. Godd to know that the beer wll be OK. I made sure to sanitize everything.

thanks for setting me mind at ease.

 

[fratermus]

What I didn't do was boil both the water and the sugar for 5 minutes as recommended by most instructions. Is there anything I need to do to compensate for this mistake at this point? Will it just take longer to carbonate?

As others have pointed out, it's no big deal.

I suspect the 5min boil rule has more to do with sanitization than soluability or fermentability. But sugar has a low enough water content that I would imagine that few bugazomes would make their home there.

 

[Zenman]

you'll be fine i just bring it to a boil for like 30 seconds and then stir sugar in, then put that mixture in the bottling bucket, then rack onto it. I've never had an issue.

 

[ChshreCat]

There are folks that measure sugar right out of the bag and into each bottle with a measuring spoon. You were more sanitary than that and they seem to make their beer come out.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

I've boiled mine for up to 15 minutes, and have also just pasturized, no ill effects.