Capper broke, now what?

[D-Train]

Today is Monday. Last Thursday (4 days ago) I went to bottle a batch and my capper broke on beer 16 (about 2/3 of batch remained). The capper was complete non-functional at that point.

I very lightly poured 4 beers back into the bottling bucket, trying not to oxygenate, then put all of the beer back into my secondary carboy. That's where it remains today.

A couple of forum searches told me to that I should let the priming sugar convert, reprime, and rebottle. I'll try a sample first to make sure it still tastes good.

My question is - there is been no visible airlock activity. How long do I wait before it's ok to reprime and attempt bottle day #2?

 

[unionrdr]

I'd say no more than 5 days. That small amount of sugar shouldn't take long. I used it as a good excuse to get the Super Agata bench capper myself.

 

[BigFloyd]

I used it as a good excuse to get the Super Agata bench capper myself.

+1. That bench capper is so much better than that stupid wing capper I first had. Mounted on a 3/4" 24x30" board, it's stable yet portable.

 

[unionrdr]

I bought a table at Walmart to use for bottling. Setting a pot holder under it keeps it from scratching or sliding around in my case.

 

[D-Train]

Thanks for the feedback. I almost used this as an opportunity to buy a bench capper but Northern Brewer replaced the capper for me. Apparently there was a bad batch, though to be fair I was probably using more force than necessary (and 'fessed up to this at the store). I'm lucky to have such a great store in my town and they'll continue to get my business even if they aren't the closest to me.

5 days sounds good. Tomorrow night is bottling round #2. Hope the beer wasn't contaminated or staled in the fiasco.

 

[BierMuncher]

I think you'll be just fine.

 

[D-Train]

Thanks BierMuncher! Your Centennial Ale is next in the pipeline and has been fermenting since last week.

 

[D-Train]

I just wanted to follow up and say thanks again for the advice. I waited 5 days and then transferred back into the bottling bucket along with new corn sugar. I've been "sampling" the beers from round #2 the last couple of days and can't tell a difference between these and round #1.