Carbonation Problem

[Cantaloupe]

For our 4th batch my brother in law and I were making an American Red. All went well until we started bottling. We added the priming sugar to the bottling bucket and began to siphon from the fermenter. We got through most of the bottling but once we neared the bottom of the bucket we realized that some sugar had stuck to the bottom. It was difficult to tell how much it was, it didn't seem like much so we finished our last few bottles and let sit 2 weeks. Obviously it was too much because the beer is flat. Not completely flat though. It does still taste very good. Is there any way to either add more sugar to each bottle or fix the carbonation somehow without messing up the batch?

 

[nathani]

Yup. Just trow in a bit of sugar into each bottle and recap. I have no idea how much sugar you want to add (haven't bottle conditioned in a while), but the yeast should be able to eat up the sugar and carb your beer. You may want to let it sit a bit longer than 2 weeks though. Those yeast are probably nearing the end of their life and will be sluggish. You'll also probably end up with varying degrees of carbonation doing it this way (each 1/4 tsp or whatever will be slightly different), but better than dumping all the bottles back to the bucket and aerating them.

This is all assuming you really want them more carbonated than they are. If they're still pretty decent even at low carb, I would probably just call it a brewing lesson and get it right the next time.

 

[wildwest450]

You need to wait at least 3 weeks, with the beer around 70f or so before it's fully carbed. Then make needed adjustments.


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[the_mox]

I would be careful adding sugar to each bottle...dont want bottle bombs going off. glass and beer flying through the air is never fun.

 

[mojotele]

I do have one question - how did you add the sugar to the bottling bucket? I just find it curious that A) sugar stuck to the bottom and B) you could actually notice it. Did you just put the priming sugar straight into the bucket without dissolving it in boiling water?

 

[the_mox]

I do have one question - how did you add the sugar to the bottling bucket? I just find it curious that A) sugar stuck to the bottom and B) you could actually notice it. Did you just put the priming sugar straight into the bucket without dissolving it in boiling water?

I was just coming back to ask this question...beat me too it

 

[nathani]

Good call everyone.

I assumed the sugar was successfully take up by the yeast already. But yes, what temp is the beer being conditioned at? As said it should be around 70f. Also you could wait another week or so to make double sure that any sugar that can be taken up has been taken up. How much sugar was left after racking was done. Did you notice that the last few beer racked are really carbonated?

Guess I should find out more about the problem before offering a solution.

 

[mojotele]

Guess I should find out more about the problem before offering a solution.

I can never find a good source, but Einstein is always attributed something like this quote:

"If I had one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and five minutes finding the solution."

It really does work. I see a lot of people on these forums spewing multiple solutions to a problem without adequately determining what the problem is. I'm guilty of it myself.

 

[Cantaloupe]

Yeah, we forgot to boil the sugar, which we had done on the previous batches. On this one we got in a hurry and forgot that step, not sure what we were thinking. I think we were busy enjoying our other batches. Guess I'll chalk this up as a learning experience. Thanks everyone.