Bottling Carbonation Issues: Can I transfer to Keg and Force Carbonate?

[dershbrew]

So, I brewed this English style barleywine and added some oak chips that I soaked in Crown's Maple Whiskey. Me being rather new to brewing and in a hurry, I underpitched my yeast, and did not bring water to a boil before stirring in my priming sugar. I had a bottle or 2 that was carbonated enough, 1 bottle exploded, and the rest have had hardly any carbonation at all. The flavor is very similar to Founder's Dirty Bastard scotch ale but obviously it would be a lot more enjoyable with some carbonation.

I now have a kegging setup and am wondering if I could pour all my bottles in my keg and force carbonate to salvage the beer. Has anyone done this or have any thoughts on the matter?

 

[Hopper5000]

How long has it been in the bottle? On bigger beers it can take a very long time to carbonate. That being said, I have had some of my bigger barleywines not carbonate for about a year. I popped all the tops and put it in a keg. The problem with doing this is you oxidize the beer when you do it...

 

[dershbrew]

i bottled these in march. oxidizing is my main concern. wondering if i can really slowly add them to the keg...

 

[Hopper5000]

you can, you can purge the keg and maybe keep like one or 2 psi pumping to continue flushing it out but you are going to oxidize it no matter how hard you try to prevent it. The degree it will actually do so depends on how good you are about it.

 

[duboman]

Transferring will definitely oxidize the beer! You can blend this beer with another that is carbonated by doing a half and half glass to try and save it and drink it.

On the other hand, if you can drink it fast you can keg it and carb it, oxidation doesn't show up immediately, it takes a bit of time so if you purge the keg with CO2 and keep a little pumping as you pour really slowly you might be able to salvage it if you can polish it off in a week or two

 

[tenbricks]

I'm in the same boat with a Grand Cru that hasn't carbed up after 8 months in the bottle, despite using champagne yeast for conditioning. My current plan is to empty them back into a carboy, not a keg.

Steep some grains, boil with enough amber LME to bump total abv a percent or two, then add that in too and ferment it cool with a high gravity yeast like WLP099. That will at the very least keep oxygen from being a problem. Could even ferment this in a keg with a spundig valve to naturally carb it.

The beer won't be what I was trying to make, but it will likely make a drinkable beer. Who knows, could even be an outstanding one.