Bottles didn't carb, can I keg?

[RedBeardBrewer]

I tried bottle carbonating with DME for the first time. Just cracked open a nice Pale Ale after 3.5 weeks with absolutely no carbonation. I have always used priming sugar in the past and never had an issue. I have experienced slow carbonation occasionally but never like this, it is totally flat. I must save this beer because frankly it is delicious while flat, so it should be awesome if carbonated.

I am considering these 2 options
1) adding carbonation tabs to the bottles and re-capping
2) I just bought a korny keg setup, so I could empty the bottles into a keg and force carbonate it.


I have never done either of these so I was hoping for some of your experiences/advice here.

Thanks

 

[iijakii]

The ONLY course of action is to add the tabs and recap. Any other thing you do will oxidize them, no matter how careful you are.

 

[cshamilton]

I tried bottle carbonating with DME for the first time. Just cracked open a nice Pale Ale after 3.5 weeks with absolutely no carbonation. I have always used priming sugar in the past and never had an issue. I have experienced slow carbonation occasionally but never like this, it is totally flat. I must save this beer because frankly it is delicious while flat, so it should be awesome if carbonated.

I am considering these 2 options
1) adding carbonation tabs to the bottles and re-capping
2) I just bought a korny keg setup, so I could empty the bottles into a keg and force carbonate it.

I have never done either of these so I was hoping for some of your experiences/advice here.

Thanks

3. Wait!

How much DME did you use and what size batch? Assume you boiled a cup or two of water and added your DME the poured the priming solution into a bottling bucket.

How big was this beer? High alcohol can slow things down and DME probably takes a bit longer to ferment out compared to sugar.

 

[RedBeardBrewer]

Just went over my notes:
Bottled 6/16/12
DME was 1.25 cups boiled in 2 cups water
Batch size: 5 gallons
ABV: 5.5

 

[cshamilton]

Just went over my notes:
Bottled 6/16/12
DME was 1.25 cups boiled in 2 cups water
Batch size: 5 gallons
ABV: 5.5

That's probably enough DME to get 2.4 volumes - though weighing it out is better.

At this point rouse the yeast by swirling the bottles, keep at 70 F for at least one more week and chill the bottle for 24+ hours. Patience will be rewarded.

 

[zacster]

I kegged my flat bottled beer about a month ago with my new corny setup. It worked out just fine. I used my bottling bucket to pour the beer from the bottles carefully, then siphoned into the keg. This was on a Friday, by Sunday, the beer was gone. No worries about oxidation in that timeframe.