Too Much Sugar?

[Milan]

Hello All,

I just finished bottling my first batch which is a Chimay Red Clone. The recipe called for adding 16 oz Candi Sugar but since I am making a 3 gal batch, I adjusted it to 9.5 oz. I'm not sure this is a problem but I added this sugar during the priming stage just prior to bottling and not during the primary fermentation stage. With this much sugar, the beer was extremely sweet at bottling time but I assume this will take care of itself in the bottle.

Its been 2 days now and no bottles have yet exploded. I'm not sure its going to be an issue but should I plan on venting the bottles and recap to make sure this does not happen?

Thanks.

 

[brewit2it]

Hello All,

I just finished bottling my first batch which is a Chimay Red Clone. The recipe called for adding 16 oz Candi Sugar but since I am making a 3 gal batch, I adjusted it to 9.5 oz. I'm not sure this is a problem but I added this sugar during the priming stage just prior to bottling and not during the primary fermentation stage. With this much sugar, the beer was extremely sweet at bottling time but I assume this will take care of itself in the bottle.

Its been 2 days now and no bottles have yet exploded. I'm not sure its going to be an issue but should I plan on venting the bottles and recap to make sure this does not happen?

Thanks.

Did you also add other priming sugar? Even if you didn't 9.5 oz in a 3 gallon batch is almost a certain reipe for bottle bombs. I think I'd uncap them then set new santized caps on them but not cap them and let them sit for a few days then cap them and hope for the best.

 

[blizzard]

I don't have my calculator with me, but I would say that is too much sugar for normal 12 oz bottles and I would worry about bottle bombs. Plan to vent them and re-cap. Next time add that sugar to the primary.

 

[D0ug]

Did you add the candi in addition to your priming sugar? If so you may want to have a plan in place for excess CO2 production. If you used it in stead of priming sugar, you probably still will need to watch out for over carbing or bottle bombs as you probably only needed about 3 oz. of sugar to prime that batch.

As you probably figured out, for Belgians that use it, the candi sugar is added during the boil with the rest of the fermentables

 

[Captain Damage]

9.5 oz of sugar in 3 gallons is quite a lot. That will give you about 6.5 volumes of CO2 carbonation. Uncapping and recapping as Blizzard suggests - maybe after a week(?) (maybe less) is probably the only way to save them.

 

[Milan]

I used 16 oz bottles and used the candi sugar instead of the priming sugar. Sounds like I need to vent them. How long should I let it vent and is contamination going to be an issue?

 

[CortexBomb]

One other thing you should be aware of:

The sugar being added to the boil has a second effect: it thins the body of the beer because it is easier for the yeast to break down. Even once the beer is done, it is going to have a much thicker body than a normal Belgian because of that.