apeltes
Active Member
I added priming sugar to a batch late last night, but didn't fill bottles until morning. I estimate approximately 9 hours passed.
Question: will my batch carbonate?
Question: will my batch carbonate?
Delayed bottling
- Thread starter apeltes
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
You are going to need to re prime the bottles. What did you store your beer in overnight? Before you sit down to bottle you are going to need to make sure that the sugar you added last night fermented out. So you'll need to wait at least a day to be safe.
apeltes
Active Member
The beer sat in the bottling bucket overnight. It was soaked in bleach before use, and I'm sure it was clean. I bottled the batch. Will it be undercarbonated or totally flat?
But was it covered or was it open to oxydation and infection?
It will be totally flat, the yeast ate the sugar, the farted co2 and there wasn't a pressure vessel to contain and force the co2 into solution.
Was there a family emergency that forced you to leave bottling, or did you think you were supposed to do that?
only one way to find out since it's already bottled. Just wait and see, if its not carbed at all, I'm sure you could open them all and very carefully add a teaspoon of priming sugar to each bottle and re-cap them, then wait again...
EDIT: I may be wrong on the amount of priming sugar in each bottle, maybe someone else can verify the correct amount.
apeltes
Active Member
The bucket was covered and in a clean place. I'm not worried about infection.
After a couple of weeks, if it's flat, should I pour all of the bottles into the bucket to re-prime? Or should I add a dose to each bottle and re-cap?
I didn't plan to do this... just had too many things going on at once.
After a couple of weeks, if it's flat, should I pour all of the bottles into the bucket to re-prime? Or should I add a dose to each bottle and re-cap?
I didn't plan to do this... just had too many things going on at once.
You could pour them all back into the bottling bucket, but you have to be VERY careful about oxidation due to pouring, and you also have a greater risk of an infection. That's why I suggested adding the priming sugar to each bottle. It's not the most preferred method due to possible differences in the amount of sugar in each bottle, but I'm sure it would be the easiest and safest way to keep the beer good.
No, unless you like liquid carboard you definitley should NOT pour the beer back in a bucket. If it is low you should get some prime tabs and add them to the bottles.
apeltes
Active Member
I like beer better than cardboard, so I'll take that advice.
If I open the bottles to add prime tabs... won't there be at least some carbonation in there already? Do I risk over-carbonating? I originally added enough sugar to reach 2.7 volumes.
If I open the bottles to add prime tabs... won't there be at least some carbonation in there already? Do I risk over-carbonating? I originally added enough sugar to reach 2.7 volumes.
indigi
Well-Known Member
Don't add a teaspoon of sugar or whatever to each bottle, just pick up a pack of Cooper's Carb Tabs from your LHBS or an online store, and just drop in one per bottle. They're designed to quickly and completely dissolve. Granulated sugar can just sink to the bottom and not carbonate your beer, or you'll have some bottles that carb up and some that stay flat.
apeltes
Active Member
I like the idea of using tabs. But I doubt the bottles will be completely flat when I add the tabs. Is that a problem? Will I be making bottle bombs?
That's why you have put yourself in a difficult predicament, there's really no way to know how much co2 is already going to be present when you open the bottles. You're going to have to judge.
There's one brand (or used to be) of carb tabs that were like little breath mints. Kinda tiny, and iirc you used more than one tab/bottle. THOSE would be preferable than the sugar cube/nugget style of tab, you would have a great range of flexibilty.
This brand... Muntons.
Since you can use up to 5/bottle, you can judge how many you think you'll need and prime accordingly.
HumanGarbage
Well-Known Member
Wait and see if it works is my vote.
I bottled a batch while drunk (well more drunk than usual lol) and forgot sugar completely (doing a batch concurrently and distracted). I was going to dump them but got lazy as I didn't need the bottles at the time.
They sat for about ten weeks before I needed the bottles. To my surprise they were decently carbonated. Not perfect but certainly drinkable. I've tried it a few times to replicate those results and even with no sugar and beer with a FG below 1.008 it will work given enough time. Two months seems to be the magic number for me.
YMMV but if you don't want to dump or reprime it may be an option...
I bottled a batch while drunk (well more drunk than usual lol) and forgot sugar completely (doing a batch concurrently and distracted). I was going to dump them but got lazy as I didn't need the bottles at the time.
They sat for about ten weeks before I needed the bottles. To my surprise they were decently carbonated. Not perfect but certainly drinkable. I've tried it a few times to replicate those results and even with no sugar and beer with a FG below 1.008 it will work given enough time. Two months seems to be the magic number for me.
YMMV but if you don't want to dump or reprime it may be an option...
??? was it still fermenting when you bottled it? Once the fermentation is done, it's done. bottling it after completion (full completion) with no addition to fermentables should not end up in carbonation. But anyway back to the subject, just wait and see. You may have nothing at all to worry about. But if the carbonation is low/none, then add carb tabs accordingly. If you can't find carb tabs, then add corn sugar to it accordingly with good judgment.
indigi
Well-Known Member
The introduction of a small amount of oxygen (and hell, maybe even a tiny bit of bacteria) could cause a short burst of yeast growth and they might gnaw on some sugars before going back to sleep. In terms of gravity points, the amount they'd have to knock off to get an English-style level of carbonation in a batch is around .001
apeltes
Active Member
I opened a bottle 10 days after bottling. There was promising carbonation, so I left it. At this point, it's been 18 days and the carbonation is perfectly on-target. Go figure! I guess the yeast didn't consume much of the priming sugar overnight after all.
