So how screwed am I?

After bottling a batch yesterday right out of the fridge from cold crashing I was cleaning my gear and while getting the gunk out of the bottom of my bottling bucket I noticed a good sized hunk of my priming solution that had hardened into silly putty and didn't get dissolved into my beer. I'm not sure how much didn't get into the bottles. Maybe half, maybe all? Kinda sweating it. My hydrometer sample tasted really nice. I'd hate for this batch to be a flat bust.

 

While it wont be as carbed as you probably would have hoped for, I dont think all is lost here. Just have to give it time and see how it turns out. IF the hydrometer sample tasted good, you have already made good beer. Even half carbed beer will be a better than none.

What exactly did you use as a priming solution? Did you boil it for before mixing it with the beer?

 

Keep it in the bottles for 3 weeks, by then if it isn't carbed you can still drink it, but it will be flatter. If you don't want to risk it send it to me for evaluation and disposal...

 

How did you add the priming sugar for that to have happened?

I would suggest, since you don't know how much got into the beer, to just ride it out. If in 2 weeks the carbonation is weak, you could calculate out the amount of priming sugar you would need to carbonate the batch (not as much if there IS some carbonation in the bottles) and then just go through carefully opening each bottle and trying to accurately drop in the right amount of priming sugar per bottle. That's all I can think of. You won't want to pour them back into the bottling bucket cuz that has oxidation written all over it. Good luck

 

You should boil priming sugar in a bit of water first, then add it or rack on top of it, right before you bottle.

depending on how much sugar you lost, yes it will be flat or lightly carbed at best.

Cheers

 

Agreed, let the bottles sit a full three weeks in a warm dark closet and then chill a test bottle a full 24 hours in the fridge. See what the carbonation level is like. If it's acceptable, great. If not, you can crack open the bottles and reprime with 1/4 teaspoon of dextrose.

 

A buddy once forgot to add priming sugar before bottling. He wasn't completely sure if he had or not so we waited 3 weeks and then carefully added a couple conditioning tablets to each bottle. worked out great. Final carb was a little off, but still a great beer.

Good luck.

 

Or you could pretend it's English beer! But then you'd have to drink it a little warmer too...

 

That's true I forgot about the conditioning tablets. That's a good idea if you decide to open them up. Try to save your bottle caps if you can.

 

Thanks for all the replies. What happened was my corn sugar/water mix was a little on the thick side and the beer fresh out of the fridge just solidified it further.
Hopefully enough dissolved to give me some kind of carbonation.